We stayed and got ready at the remarkable The Mansion on Delaware Avenue. I attended their rehearsal (which is always a huge bonus for me as a photographer), and was invited to their rehearsal dinner, which was so thoughtful and appreciated. They took incredible care of me while I was in town. I happily flew out to Buffalo to spend the weekend with Mark and Danielle. It was a beautiful expression of their love, their journey and their excitement at what lies ahead. It wasn’t about forgetting where they had been, it was about recognizing that they had to go through those experiences to be able to end up together.

This wedding was a celebration of their journeys. This time, they choose to walk forward together. Then years after their paths took them apart, they found themselves standing in front of one another once again. They kept in contact off and on over the years. Their lives went in different directions.

Meeting in college, professions of love expressed at the eleventh hour, someone choosing to walk away.

It is a love story 16 years in the making. In 1876, Olmsted proclaimed Buffalo to be “the best planned city … in the United States, if not the world.” Today our city retains its remarkable urban fabric thanks to the vision of this extraordinary man, as well as the support of thousands of Buffalonians and friends who enjoy the parks every day.I learned the story of Danielle and Mark’s relationship during their engagement session. Olmsted wanted these areas to be “more park-like than town-like,” an effect he most certainly achieved. These parkways were designed to allow visitors to travel from one park to another without leaving the serenity of these green spaces. The original concept for the tree-lined parkways and avenues was to link the six main parks and integrate the park system with the city. The Buffalo Olmsted Park System is composed of six parks, seven parkways, eight landscaped circles and several smaller spaces. Frederick Law Olmsted believed the purpose of green space was to “refresh and delight the eye and through the eye, mind and spirit.” Upon touring the City of Buffalo in 1868, he convinced the city’s leaders that not one park – as in New York City’s Central Park – but multiple parks would better serve Buffalo’s needs.

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