Antoinette and Ryan's Wedding (Jamaica)

I knew Ryan from the days we both attended Northern Caribbean University in Jamaica. Well, I didn't really know know him, I had just seen him on campus and thought of him as the handsome business student. I may have only said hi in passing. Years passed and I became a photographer and he really enjoyed my work and referred me to his cousin, Joni who I had the pleasure of photographing her waterfall wedding last December in Jamaica. Well, some time after I was contacted about Joni's wedding, Ryan caught the wedding bug and informed me that he had recently gotten engaged and wanted me to photograph his wedding as well. Coool! :-) He informed me of his wedding venue, Coyaba Gardens and I became even more elated as it was a gorgeous venue that I remembered seeing beautiful pictures of from a friend who had taken her wedding coctail hour pictures there. I met his lovely bride-to-be at the time, Antoinette during a visit she made to Florida and it was very evident why Ryan happily decided to make her his wife. Antoinette is smart, beautiful with a winsome smile, pleasant, ambitious, organized, and not afraid of the kitchen! :-) lol

The months passed and it was time for their big day! :-) I enjoyed my time in Jamaica. I was pleasantly surprised when I met the event planner, Walter J Davis because he was a friend when we attended Ardenne High School in Jamaica together. I also saw a classmate from Ardenne, Denvo Thombs who was the DJ! :-) It was great reuniting with other friends from NCU, Joni, Christian, and Joni's family! :-) Walter did a great job with taking me to the wedding site earlier in the day allowing me to scout out the location and capture it's sheer beauty! I then went back to the hotel, Rooms on the Beach where I met with Antoinette and her entourage. Antoinette was so relaxed, smiling, and enjoying the preparation. One of the ladies assisted me with taking the clothing and accessories downstairs to the beach where I had fun placing them in cool places. I oh so loved photographing on that beach because the big yellow hotel next door, Jamaica Grande was my frequent hang out spot as a child thanks to my aunt who worked there and my mom who would take me there to stay for her job conventions and I always thought the view on the beach was one of the most picturesque views of Ocho Rios. So, I added that beach strip in my infamous wish list of places I wanted to take wedding related pictures. Well, everyone finished getting dressed and headed out in their name band sandals from Bridget Sandals.

The wedding ceremony and reception at Coyaba Gardens were wonderful and the decor was absolutely beautiful! :-) Ryan donned a tailor made suit by the highly acclaimed Jamaican designer, Dexter Huxtable. Antoinette looked fabulous in her dress that was made more dramatic with her cathedral length veil and her flowers were definitely unique accenting the island garden feel of her wedding. I really felt like as if I was in the Garden of Eden walking in the garden in the cool of the day about to witness Adam and Eve's wedding. The red carpet, the trumpeter heralding Antoinette's journey down the isle to the man of her dreams, the colorful petals gently lining her path, the lovely strains of singing, the birds caroling, and wide smiles that could light a room spread happily across both their faces enriched the paradise wedding experience. All in all, it was a wonderful day and I'm happy that they both loved the resulting slideshow! :-) Thanks again Antoinette and Ryan for choosing Shelly Edwards Photography to capture your big day and may your love, smiles, and laughter continue to make your hearts happy throughout the years! :-)

To view their slide show visit www.vimeo.com/22646744 or click the play arrow on the video below.

Antoinette and Ryan's Wedding Slideshow (Jamaica) from Shelly Edwards on Vimeo.

Kemi and Astor's Wedding Slideshow (Barbados)

Some of you will recognize Kemi's face as a bride's maid in a previous wedding I photographed for Abena and Shaka in Bermuda. That previous slideshow is at www.shellyedwardsdestinations.com/ASwedding We all had a wonderful time in Bermuda and Kemi is the 2nd of 3 bride's maids from that wedding that I have the pleasure and honor of photographing their wedding. Stay tuned for the 3rd bride's maid this summer in London. Kemi fell in love with that slideshow and went home telling everyone to watch it! :-) Sweeet! :-) Thanks Kem ;-) When her turn came around, I got the excited call and the booking to photograph her wedding in Barbados! :-) During our consultation, I was so touched and very happy when she described how ecstatic she was about marrying the man of her dreams, Astor! :-) I could hear her beaming with excitement over the phone! :-) lol I got to know Astor through his Facebook page and Skype conversations. I loved that he was excited about me photographing his wedding as well. Can I say how, I looooved their reception venue selection?! :-) Well, I guess I said it :-) lol As many of you know from my posts with previous weddings, I have this infamous wish list of things or places that I would love to photograph and a wedding venue with flamingos was one of the things I longed to photograph! So, the island of Inagua in Bahamas that has over 60,000 flamingos was so on my wish list! When I saw pictures of Kemi and Astor's venue, Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary with flamingos, I was beaming with excitement!!! :-) I called up the venue and they said that it was ok to take pictures with the flamingos and I was like, "YES!!!" :-) So, I looked forward to the 13 months before their wedding to run by quickly! :-)

Well, the long awaited trip to Barbados finally arrived and I finally got to visit Kemi's home town and see her, Astor, their family, and friends! :-) Kemi had arranged for me to have my own personal chauffeurs (3 in total) to take me around and 1 her brother, to take me to anywhere in the island that I wanted to visit, BIG things, just living the life!!!! :-) That is not a requirement for destination weddings so I felt very honored when Kemi and Astor went above and beyond for me! :D What was super precious as well was what happened the first time Kemi saw me in Barbados, she was very happy to see me and pinched my arm processing that I was really physically there, Awwwww!!! :-) That is one of the things that I love about my job, clients are not just a number, we usually become great friends and fans before and after the wedding! :-)

Kemi had informed me that family was very important to her and Astor so throughout the pictures I sought to create a quaint island feel by emphasizing the precious moments shared with their family and friends and the reaction of their family and friends. To honor Astor's Guyanese background and the 80 plus family members that flew in representing him from Guyana and around the world, his family held a Queh Queh (a tradition originally from Africa and celebrated in Guyana) where the bride is welcomed to the grooms family the day before the wedding amidst dancing, food, and traditional music (some of the songs played were incorporated in the slideshow). The wedding day came and it was fabulous! :-) I was touched during Astor's getting ready scene when his mother kept ironing is jacket much longer than she needed to as she recognized that this is the last time she might be ironing her only child's clothes, awwww, tear jerker! :-) I was happy when Astor had given me permission to do anything I wanted photographically and agreed to take pictures with his groomsmen at a fish boat yard that I fell for during my tour of the island! :-) I loved our time taking pictures there and Astor and his groomsmen got their swagger on and had fun! :-) I headed over to Kemi and finally saw her unveil her infamous dress that no one, except her mother was allowed to see before that moment! Maaannnn, that dress was really absolutely stunning!!!! :-) With the assistance of one her bride's maids, we took her dress out to get some cool shots and we chose a bus stop that was across the street from the hotel. She stood near to the dress to safe guard it while I went across the street to get wide angle shots of the dress and loved the excitement of passerbys being awed by her dress, a real traffic stopper dress!!! :-) lol I was happy when Kemi agreed for me to take pictures of her and her bridesmaids by a house across the street from the hotel that had the rustic charm that was common with many of the Barbadian homes plus it had the beautiful blue ocean that Kemi raved about during our consultation that Barbados had the most beautiful beaches so I am happy that I got to incorporate that in her pictures.

To wrap this writing up, the wedding was perfect with showers of blessing outside and a jubilant celebration inside the church. The reception venue was stunning and David Hutchinson from Pangroove Elegant Events definitely lived up to the high expectations! :-) It was wonderful spending time with Abena and Shaka again! :-) I decided to wrap up the slideshow with warm pictures incorporating Astor in pictures with Kemi and her brothers showing a contrast to the earlier pictures when it was just Kemi and her brothers and now Astor is part of their family, awwww! :-) Thank you Kemi and Astor for being such superb clients and for choosing Shelly Edwards Photography to capture this milestone in your life!!! I totally loved every moment and I feel very blessed to have you both in my life, not just as clients, but now as friends! May the ever so evident love, joy, and respect for each other that you now share only get richer and deeper as the years go by!!! :-)

DO ENJOY THEIR SLIDESHOW BY CLICKING THE PLAY ARROW BELOW OR VISITING: http://www.vimeo.com/22146718

Kemi and Astor's Wedding Slideshow (Barbados) from Shelly Edwards on Vimeo.