St John Wedding weekend – Carli and Guillermo

This past May, I shot a wedding in the US Virgin Islands alongside James Law. He booked the wedding, and strongly suggested that I be flown out & booked to shoot it along with him, as having two first-shooters is invaluable the day of the wedding [especially for destination work].

(I’ll write a post on why I also don’t use assistant-shooters, and why I think booking first-rate shooters to second-shoot a wedding you’ve already booked is the best route – look for that post sometime this month)

Carli & Guillermo (Geesh for short) are both local to San Diego, but St John is a special place to them & their families. What better way to celebrate a marriage than to host it in a vacation destination?

Well, one of the risks of planning a wedding on a certain date is hoping to God that the weather holds up. This weekend, however – was full of non-stop rain from the day we arrived. You never know how long a storm is going to last in the Caribbean, it could be 10 minutes or it could be 10 days.

Carli did what any rational bride would do days prior to the wedding – FREAK OUT. Just kidding!  She kept a cool head on her shoulders and pictured a sunshine-filled wedding day in her mind, sending out the vibes for an awesome day. It must have worked, because come Saturday – the skies cleared and the sun came out just in time for their beach-side wedding.

Here are the photos from the weekend, including recital dinner & day-after session around the island!

Rain!

Awesome architecture.

Welcome cocktails.

Practicing for the big day.

A heart-felt “thank you” speech for everyone that made the trip down.

Morning time!

Carli had 2 pairs of shoes – one for the beach and one for the reception, so 2 shoe shots!

Awesome, awesome beach to get married.

Can’t imagine having a better time with all your closest friends & family in one of the most amazing places on earth – to CELEBRATE!

Some fun ‘formals.

Some fun ones around the island ‘pre-reception’.

And now that they’ve had an amazing day, how about dinner over-looking the island?  And look at that MOO- almost.  ; )

Toasts!

First dance.

Going through the edits, I came across this photo.  It’s nothing spectacular of an angle, but the ‘look’ that Carli is giving Geesh is so TRUE.  It’s the candid moments like these that I feel truly show the FEELINGS of the moment, and in this – I can see the happiness in Carli’s eyes knowing she’s found “the one”.

Party time.

Dancing on counter-tops?  Yes!