Rami and I had the absolute pleasure of shooting Cheril & Monica’s 15th Anniversary session. We were absolutely ecstatic to meet such a bad ass power couple not to mention have the privilege of taking their pictures and being there for such an important moment in their lives, but also in LGBTQIA+ history.

Their Story

This is Monica & Cheril! They first met in 2003 at The Center in NYC while Monica was performing poetry. They locked eyes across the room and Monica immediately knew there was something special about Cheril. They connected over email and aol messenger (omg aol had a chock hold on all of us back then!) and just feel deeply in love with each other! (So sweet!)

One year later Cheril proposed to Monica at The Historic StoneWall Inn (If you don’t know about the Stonewall Inn; you should look it up! But basically it is where the stonewall riots took place; where LGBTQ+ people rioted for rights back in 1969 and has been said to be the first pride ever.) Monica said yes! Even though at the time they still couldn’t legally get married. But on January 15th, 2007, they got married at the Oheka Castle in Huntington, NY!

15th Anniversary Photoshoot

Rami & I met up with Cheril & Monica on Janurary, 15th 2022 for their 15 year anniversary, and it was so incridblie insirpring to be around them! When I was younger, I never saw queer relationships. Much less relationships that have lasted as long as there’s! Now we have these roll models right in front of us giving us advice on how they’ve been married 15 years and had to deal with all the homophobia surrounding them. I truly felt like I was capturing history with this session. I mean queer weddings have only been legal nationally for 7 years and here I was capturing their 15 year wedding anniversary, it was so incredible special! Their story has inspired me, but I hope it also inspire the LGBTQ+ youth to know they can still have fulfilling relationships (if that’s what they want)! I know I was told growing up that being queer was a “party lifestyle” and it would mean that I would never find stability in my relationships. I know now how untrue that is, and I am happy there are so many beautiful relationships within the LGBTQIA+ community to prove that wrong!

It was obvious during our session that Cheril & Monica are still so incredible in love. They were so easy to photograph, because they were just goofing off and being all cute and in love the whole time! They had this fun energy surrounding their whole relationship and I can only hope that I am that in love when Rami & I have been together for 19 years.