My Origin Story-by Jenny Mac, Founder of Eloping is Fun

My journey as a professional photographer began at 13 when I received my first paycheck for a photo I took at a punk show at CBGB’s. Growing up immersed in the  NYC skateboarding and punk subculture, I discovered my calling early on to capture life behind the lens of a camera.

Me at CBGB’s a long time ago where I officially became a professional photographer 👆

After a round-the-world backpacking trip, I returned to NYC and studied photography at the School of Visual Arts. I originally wanted to be a humanitarian documentary photographer, which I did pursue for many years; I also flirted with fashion photography and ultimately landed on photojournalism and editorial travel photography. I traveled worldwide, shooting stories for magazines from Glamour to Newsweek while also pursuing my personal photography project of documenting the Tibetan diaspora throughout Nepal and India. I also had a chance to visit Tibet and explore the ancient monasteries. I exhibited that work in Mexico City in 2011, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama attended the opening. (Mic drop) I accomplished many of my goals as a photographer, and I am so grateful for all my experiences, all the people I met, and all the places my camera took me. 

I lived out of a backpack for a year and took a million photos 👆

In my late 20s, many photo editors and art directors I had been working with started getting married. At the time, there were no “cool wedding photographers.” These photo editors have impeccable style and taste and did not want to hire a traditional wedding photographer. These photo editors, who had become friends over the years, recognized that through my work and life experience, I had developed invaluable skills of quickly connecting with my subjects and putting them at ease. These skills translated perfectly into the role of a wedding photographer. So I started shooting weddings for a set of fashionable NYC art directors and magazine editors and never looked back.

I still cannot believe this happened but it did 👆. Those are my photos in the background, The Dalia Lama liked them 🎉

Photographing couples at the height of this awesome life adventure of getting married was the most authentic and powerful way to share my gifts and talents. My photos had a real impact and would be treasured for generations. I traveled worldwide shooting weddings, from Bali to the Blue Mountains, and I fell in love with working with couples to capture their vibe and magic through their wedding photos.

Within a few years of shooting cool Brooklyn weddings, I started photographing city hall weddings and elopements. I immediately connected with my city hall couples on many levels. This was my VIBE, I had found my tribe-huzzah…but after a few city hall nightmares -don’t ask- I’m still recovering. I decided to create a company dedicated exclusively to eloping. I knew the only way to make it work was to give couples the freedom to get married OUTSIDE of city hall and have the personalized, beautiful wedding ceremony they deserved. Instantly, I decided to call it Eloping Fun and reached out to my community of artists, poets, and performers to enlist them as licensed NYC officiants. 

One of my very 1st weddings 👆 A guest took this photo ❤️

The early days of Eloping were Fun and a blast. We tested things out and experimented around NYC to see what worked and, quite honestly, see what we could get away with. At one of our early weddings, we had a New Orleans-style marching band on the Brooklyn Bridge, and I was sure we would all get arrested. It turns out the cops were into it. 

We are now in the adulting phase of Eloping is Fun, focusing on a smooth, seamless wedding day. However, if you are up for pulling off something crazy, we are your people.

Seeing what we could get away with in the early days of Eloping is Fun👆

Most of the weddings we do at Eloping is Fun are micro weddings, which require a decent amount of experience, knowledge, and foresight. So, we developed an entire micro wedding team inside Eloping is Fun. We are now working with couples from all over the world to curate a more elaborate NYC destination wedding, as well as a full NYC itinerary of activities for couples and their guests.

We are for the long term; there has been a massive influx of elopement photographers in the past four years as elopements have become more common and accepted. We like to think that we played a small part in that, and the thing that inspired us when we started is still ever-present. Its innovation and expanding horizons and possibilities for couples looking to do something their way and their style. We owe everything to our cool-ass couples who wanted something different, and we are still paving that way together. 

I feel so blessed that I get to do this for a living, and we are slowly growing and expanding our gospel. Don’t be surprised when Eloping is Fun shows up in New Orleans or Mexico City in the near future.

We are just getting started.