How Did you Meet?:  Ally and Zak met through Ally’s twin brother; Ryan.  Ryan worked for Zak at Wunderburger/Chatham Brewing and they became good friends.  When Zak took on an executive Chef role at The Albany Pump Station, he had Ryan come work there as his sous chef.  They then let Ally know they were looking for more front of house staff, so she became waitressing and bartending there a couple nights a week.  Shortly after, Ally became the GM and Zak and her became good friends.  The friendship turned into something more and they have been together ever since.

Proposal Story:  Ally and Zak became engaged in December 2024 in Lake Placid.  They were away for the weekend celebrating a friend’s birthday.  On the last night of the trip, they made their way around town stopping at various bars and noticed a beautiful spot on the water covered in Christmas lights on every tree.  Their friend mentioned it would be a great spot for a group picture before they all left town.  Turns out it was where Zak would pop the question.

Shared Interests:  Ally and Zak share 3 dogs; Juno, Ana and Luna.  Zak has 3 kids who have welcomed Ally into their family with open arms.  She adores them all.  Zak owns a few Columbia County restaurants (The Gnome Bistro, Gnome Slice Pizza and cooks for Chatham Brewing).  When they aren’t at the restaurants, they try to squeeze in some date nights or heading to the boys’ sports games.  They love spending quality time with each other figuring out their next house project.  We met Ally, Zak and the three kids up at Olana for some quick family photos.  We then did some engagement shots of Ally and Zak there as well before driving into Hudson to the the Spotty Dog Books & Ale, which was formally the C.H. Evans Firehouse.  Zak knew the Evans family well and paid homage to them by shooting there.  We are looking forward to capturing their June 2026 wedding at the Barn at Liberty Farms in Ghent, NY.