At home with Amelia & Daniel
A small City Hall wedding, a wait on a bench, and a picture the couple still have different stories about.
Amelia and Daniel can agree on most things about their wedding. There were a handful of family members and close friends, a ceremony at City Hall, and a meal afterwards with everyone around one table. They wanted time to talk to their guests, and a day that did not require anyone to hurry between too many places.
The conversation on the bench is less settled. After the ceremony, while their friends gathered coats and finished talking in the hallway, the couple sat down to wait. A friend took a photograph. Amelia had turned toward Daniel with her hand on his arm; he was in the middle of saying something.
She thinks they were discussing the walk to lunch. He thinks he was asking whether she was hungry. Neither version is particularly grand, which suits them.
At home in the West Village, they like looking at pictures together. An art book opens on the small dining table; Amelia turns a page and Daniel asks to go back. When an anniversary prompted the idea of a portrait, they returned to the wedding folder and chose the bench photograph.
Her hand on his arm was the detail they particularly wanted to keep. It was a familiar gesture, as much part of their evenings at home as of the wedding.
In their discussion with Lucien at Atelier Vigée, he proposed several options: a wider view of the hallway, a closer crop retaining the bench, or a vertical portrait with a quieter background. They chose the vertical version, keeping their wedding clothes and the way they were turned toward each other. Lucien also suggested leaving some space above their heads and simplifying the smaller details of the dress and suit.
The portrait now shares their living room with books and the furniture they use every evening. The wedding photographs still contain the guests, the corridor and everything else left outside the painting.
As for what Daniel was saying, they are happy to keep both accounts.
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