I love shootings weddings and engagements. So much so that long ago I decided to specialize in them and not shoot anything else. As many of you know, last year I created a brand of glamour portraits to add my business, because I also have had a huge heart for women, and I now happily say that I specialize in photographing weddings and women. But I realized earlier this year, after celebrating my first anniversary, that my wedding brand was missing one huge area. The celebration of marriage. Not the celebration of getting married, which is definitely fun and exciting and beautiful, but the celebration of the beautiful thing that marriage is and can be. It’s more than two lives becoming one, but it’s about documenting how they are staying one. The rates of divorce in America are staggering with around 50% of couples divorcing before their 5th anniversary. Because marriage is not nearly the walk in the park and beauty and grace that a wedding day is. It’s so much deeper, so much more raw, so much more real. It takes a lot of hard work, and work that doesn’t come naturally for almost all people. And for that reason, I decided to launch Alicia Ann Anniversaries. While the details are still in the works of exactly what these sessions will entail, what I know is that I want to document couples that want to celebrate being married – whether they are blissfully married or really working through a very difficult time and want to reconnect with each other over a photo session.

Jocelyn and Harrison were the perfect couple to photograph as one of my first few Anniversary Sessions. I’ve known Jocelyn from the time she was 2 years old, I photographed their engagement and wedding, and I’ve watched their marriage grown and develop into something that is amazing and beautiful. They are an incredible example of what it means to love, honor and serve your spouse unconditionally. They don’t seek perfection in each other, but know that through their differences they have found their perfect match in one another. And three years after getting married, it is obvious that they are even more in love now than they were back when they were dating or newlyweds. Joc and Har love getting out of town and going into the city for dinner or to stay overnight, so we decided that the Big Apple was the perfect place for their Anniversary Session. We started on the stairs of the New York Public Library, a location I’ve wanted to shoot at for years, and it didn’t disappoint. After leaving the NYPL, we made our way to lower Manhattan to shoot on the Brooklyn Bridge right as the sun was setting and although it was about 30 degrees below zero and crazy windy, they were total champs and rocked those 10 minutes of chilly shooting.