It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it! Nicole and Trevor asked me to photograph their wedding in Jamaica and I was thrilled! I am really starting to feel like a member of this family. I photographed Trevor’s Brother’s wedding in Mexico in 2008 and their Mother Linda’s wedding shortly after. I can’t wait to see what comes next!
– Lindsay
Describe the vision/theme you had for your wedding in 5 words or less:
An intimate beach wedding
What are you favorite memories of your wedding day?
Bride: Sharing the day with the people that mean the most to me. Walking down the aisle to the sound of the steel drum band playing, seeing our closest friends and family, and having my handsome groom waiting for me at the end of the aisle.
Groom: I will always remember the anticipation of waiting with my groomsmen to marry the woman of my dreams but my fondest memory will always be seeing Nicole walk down the aisle and seeing how beautiful she looked when I first saw her at a distance, and then how she became more and more beautiful the closer she got to me.
Best wedding related decision: Having a destination wedding to avoid all of the stresses that come along with a local wedding…AND doing the trash the dress photos! Some of our favourite photos are from the post-wedding shoot. Some are so natural and romantic in the ocean and in the sand and others are just plain fun (like when we jumped into the pool)! I was hesitant about ruining the dress but aside from a broken bustle on the very last pool shot, the dress actually looked better after being in the water – it needed a good cleaning from the night before! It was a decision that I tell people all the time that I was so happy we said yes to. We are absolutely thrilled with those photos!
Favourite detail: We are torn between two details. The steel drum band that played all of the music for the wedding really set the tone and was an addition that made the Jamaican wedding that much more authentic feeling and tropical. The second detail was the starfish garland that was hung on the top of the pergola at the ceremony site, hanging over our heads, swaying in the breeze. As soon as I saw it in a picture, I knew I had to have it and every piece of decor after that was chosen with that garland in mind. It was the inspiration for our starfish theme!
Advice for future brides & grooms: Do not take the cheap route on photography. Bringing Lindsay Ross with us to Jamaica was another one of the best decisions we made. After seeing Lindsay’s talent at my brother-in-law and sister-in- law’s wedding in Mexico, we knew we wanted her to take our engagement and wedding photos. We could have very easily used the photographer who was included in our wedding package to save money but we wanted someone whose work we loved and who we trusted to capture all of the important moments of our day. We wanted photographs that would take us back to our wedding day each time we looked at them, and that’s exactly what we got. We couldn’t have asked for anything more and although we knew Lindsay was amazing, we were blown away with just how amazing the photographs were. Cut costs in other areas if you need to, but don’t make sacrifices in your photography.
Would you change anything if you could do it all over again? We have thought a lot about this and we can’t think of anything at all that we would change. Everything that we did, said and experienced was what made the day as special as it was and we both agree that we wouldn’t change that for the world.
Best surprise of the day: Receiving diamond earrings from Trevor that he bought in Dubai before we even engaged. He said he knew then that he would marry me one day and bought them with the intention of giving them to me as a wedding gift. He held onto them for two years!
Favorite HRM picture from the day (and why?): Well this one was a tricky one because we have SO many that we love. We narrowed it down to one of our favourite wedding day photos and one of our favourite trash the dress photos.
Wedding Day Photo (#531): We chose this one because, like the day, it is magical. The way the sunlight comes so perfectly in between us with that sparkle of light is just perfect.
Trash the Dress Photo (#863): This one just makes us smile each time we look at it as we think back to how much fun we had taking these photos. We took “taking the plunge” into marriage to a whole new level!
VENDORS: Resort: Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton, Jamaica | Ceremony Location: Beach Location | Reception Location: Lily Restaurant | Dress (designer and/or store): Designer: Jasmine Bridal Dresses Store: Elizabeth’s Bridal, Georgetown, Ontario | Hair/Makeup: Hair was done at the resort and make-up by a guest at our wedding, Kati Van Wyck – Myth Makeup Artistry (Orangeville, Ontario)
WEDDING SONGS: Processional – Canon in D – Johann Pachelbel | Recessional – One Love – Bob Marley | First Dance – For our first dance, we chose to do something unique. We started out with our favourite song, Better Together by Jack Johnson but part way through the song, broke into a fun choreographed dance routine which included parts of 3 different songs, “OMG” by Usher, “Forever” by Chris Brown and ended off with “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO. | Father/Daughter Dance: “Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong | Mother/Son Dance: “You’ve got a friend” by James Taylor
Ok – some advice for future HRM clients…if you have an out of this world amazing first dance planned…let your photographer know! Thankfully the light I had set up for their ‘romantic slow dance’ worked out for this over the top amazingness!
Favorite HRM picture from the day (and why?): This one just makes us smile each time we look at it as we think back to how much fun we had taking these photos. We took “taking the plunge” into marriage to a whole new level!(below)
