An Intimate Romantic Destin Bay House Florida Destination Wedding
Taylor first contacted me mid October of 2017. She was planning a destination wedding in Destin Florida for summer of 2018 and was initially interested in engagement portraits local to Paducah but as a side note, asked if I travel for weddings and what that might look like. UH YEA I DO! And then I proceeded to go into detail about what The Destination Wedding Experience looks like with me.
Fast forward to June 2018. We’d shot their fall and winter engagement session and it was finally wedding time! Neil and I arrived in Destin the day before to get settled in, find the venue, and primarily, make sure that we would be on time by not flying in the morning of the wedding (what would we have done had our flight been delayed??).
Finally, it was Taylor & Shawn’s wedding day! When we first arrived, it was rain YET but it looked like it would start any minute. I believe it started within an hour of us starting to shoot but no one let it get them down! I photographed bridal details and the ladies getting ready inside their cabin on the property of the Destin Bay House while Neil was hanging out with the guys in a separate cabin. Once the rain began, I started making plans for where we would do what and Taylor made it clear that she wasn’t ready to make the call to move the ceremony inside yet. The indoor reception area was lovely so we did everything we could there while it did rain, before the ceremony – first looks, family portraits – we even did bridal party portraits under the overhang of the back patio. Still outside but not outside. So far from the images, you couldn’t tell they were getting married in Destin Florida, let alone on the beach.
I saw about this for Taylor. This beach is WHY she wanted to have a destination wedding! The decision was made fairly quickly. She didn’t mind if all of her family and friends stayed under that same overhang on the back patio and watched from afar – she was getting married on the beach, rain or shine! And man, do I LOVE her for that! Shawn was 100%, not surprisingly. But if they don’t have the best guests, I don’t know who does – every single friend and family grabbed an umbrella and shared with their neighbor and sat or stood out in the pouring rain for Taylor & Shawn’s beach ceremony.
After the ceremony, they said “Hey, we’re already drenched, why not have portraits outside IN the rain!” And we did! Was rain water dripping off my brow the entire time? Yup. Was I completely ok with it? YUP! I pay good money for water proof equipment and I wasn’t going to be in pictures so I couldn’t have cared less how rained on I got. And then, wouldn’t you know it… The rain cleared JUST in time for some awesome twilight family portraits and their much anticipated LED balloon exit. After it all, I don’t think their day could have gone any better. Sure they would have had more outdoor portraits but there’s just something soooooo romantic about kissing your brand spanking new spouse as the rain pours down all around.
