These images speak for themselves, there is so much detail in every photo. Meg Clouse did a fabulous job capturing the spirit of Tracy and Jon’s destination wedding in Virgin Gorda on the British Virgin Islands. Here is Meg’s recap of her wonderful experience with Tracy and Jon’s beautiful event:

“I’m already fortunate enough to based in California’s beautiful Napa/Sonoma Valley however it was a great treat for me to leave the vineyards behind and experience the sandy beaches and palm trees of the Caribbean. This tropical location allowed me to approach their wedding with a new set of eyes and greater appreciation for the worldly beauty.

Generally when photographing a wedding, my time is spent with the couple for just the day, but because we were all on the island nearly a week, I was able to fold into the friends and family and really get to know them better.

The journey to this remote island took a total of 24 hours (if you include time zones) and that was part of the great adventure. It looked a little something like: Flight. Another Flight. Taxi. Ferry. Taxi. Ferry. My greatest tip is that we prepaid for all of our taxi/ferry transfers through Smith’s Ferry so we’d literally get off one mode of transportation and someone would be magically waiting for us and take us to our next, and so on.

Tracy and Jon’s wedding was an amazing and lovely in every way!”

From the bride:

“We decided to have a destination wedding because I have a very large extended family and we wanted to keep the numbers down. A destination wedding allowed us to invite everyone -knowing that the people who were supposed to be there -would come and share this special time with us.

Our first choice was Mexico but with the random acts of violence going on we were afraid that it would be too stressful. Our next choice was Australia but it was too far to travel. We decided on The Bitter End Yacht Club in the Caribbean because Jon’s family used to charter a sailboat for family vacations and they used to stop their for dinner and anchor in their bay overnight. Jon showed me the website and I was sold.

One of the obstacles we encountered when planning was figuring out the marriage certificate requirements and coordinating it with our actual ceremony. In this particular case, you needed to be in the country (British Virgin Islands) three days before you got married. You also had to purchase “wedding stamps” $110 from their local post office to be submitted with your marriage certificate. The government is paid in “wedding stamps” for the license. We then walked over to the general registrars office to submit the marriage certificate paperwork. After that we had to walk to the birth, death, marriage office and show them the receipts. They marked us down as having paid and submitted. We decided to use the pastor that the resort recommended. Part of his fee was picking up the marriage certificate once it was completed.

Our favorites memories there were so many! First of all we had 28 of our closest friends and family in paradise. Aside from rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, sunset cruise, ceremony and reception there was not a set daily agenda. We interacted with everyone either by breakfast, pool, excursions, sailing- which by the way were all included in your stay at BEYC. The location is heaven on earth our sunset wedding barefoot on the beach we will never forget. Also the rum punch and dark & stormys were good too. An unexpected bonus we were upgraded to the estate house as it was not booked during our stay.
We even had wedding crashers Jay and Linda! We met them on the ferry. Jay was a US Army doctor and Linda was a nurse. Jay jokingly said they were going to crash the wedding. We invited them but dubbed them the wedding crashers. They showed up to the ceremony with a gift from the gift store on the resort and joined us at the reception to dance the night away.

Tips for future brides:
Destination weddings are not for the ultra control freak bridezillas. Everything operates on “island time”. That goes for anywhere in the world because no place operates like the United States. Jon and I are world travelers and know first hand that you can plan everything down to the last detail and it can go out the window in seconds. Taxis, ferries, government offices ” island time”.
I fortunately spoke to someone who got married at BEYC and she gave me great advice that I would pass along. The wedding planner there can be unresponsive at times but she is awesome! She pulls it together, nothing was missed and it was seamless. It can be a little stressful planning abroad because you don’t have answers. The flowers were amazing. I chose my favorite, peonies. Our wedding dinner was incredible, we did surf n turf which was all local. A mashed potato bar where you could pick your own toppings. I would like to point out that breakfast lunch and dinner is included in your stay. We used our guests dinner credit for our wedding dinner and upgraded to surf n turf and paid the difference out of our pocket.

We wanted a taste of Sonoma County represented at our wedding as I was born and raised so we decided to do it in wine and sparking wine. BEYC has a good but limited selection of wines. We planned ahead and were able to work with their local distributor to bring in Kendall Jackson Chardonnay, La Crema Pinot Noir, J Sparkling Brut. The DJ had to leave at 11 because it is the last ferry back to mainland. If you want to continue the party go to the pub at the resort, it is open until 2am.”

Notables: Ceremony/Reception Venue: The Bitter End Yacht Club, Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands~Photographer: Meg Clouse~Bridal Gown Designer: Nicole Miller~ Groom’s Attire: Faconnable~Floral Designer: Blossoms Florist

The culture and beauty that is Greece is completely conveyed in these photographs shot by Keiko Niwa. Dionisia and Karlo chose the amazing island of Kefalonia, also where the bride’s family is from to celebrate their destination wedding. Keiko can explain exactly how beautiful the day was:

“This was a special wedding for me because not only was I able to travel to gorgeous Greece but this was my cousin’s wedding as well which sweetened the experience for me!

I’ve traveled all around the world but this was my first time in Greece and ….wow. The water, the beaches, the people and last but not least the FOOD.

Kefalonia is the biggest island of the Greek islands and is not as widely popular. There are great spots to see and cities to visit. Because tourism is also slower less people are around which is nice if you’re looking for a more private experience. It also means less luxury and amenities (at least in the small village I was in) so keep that in mind. There is so much beauty that I found it easy to take tons of inspired photos. The vibrant colors of the interior of the church reflects the colors of the island. The flowers and boats in the water caught my eye especially. Also the small town and restaurants were fun to shoot.

If I were to give some advise about getting married in Greece I’d say shoot for a cooler time of year. It gets VERY hot and the sun is serious there so a big chunk of the day is out of the question for shooting outdoors. Other then that is one of the most picturesque destinations you could choose for powerful photos.”

Today I have yet another awesome destination wedding to share with you from Mexico!  This time it’s a film by the super talented Tim Feeny of Limelight Studios.  Here’s what he had to say about this lovely wedding:

“Filming David & Kristy’s wedding is proof that you can’t underestimate the ower of Facebook.  That’s where they first found Limelight Studios and the rest is history.  A destination wedding is such a fantastic way to start and celebrate a marriage.  We loved being a part of the day and cherish each destination we attend.

David & Kristy invited us to share in their destination wedding on November 30th, 2010 at the Now Jade Riviera Cancun Resort in Puerto Morales – a small fishing village located roughly halfway between Cancun & Playa del Carmen on the Caribbean coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

Kristy is the owner of Pose Events – an “all inclusive” travel agency and wedding & events specialist company.  They took care of every last details to make this dream wedding come true!”

And now… for their film:

From the Bride:

“David and I initially decided to have a destination wedding as we had a lot of friends and family who lived abroad and we felt the best way for us to celebrate our special day was to have a fabulous vacation and wedding all rolled into one, we were also able to spend more than just one day with our guests since we all stayed at the resort for 8 nights. It was a continuous reception party the whole vacation long.

The only obstacle we encountered was one of the airlines a few guests were travelling declared bankruptcy approx. one month before departure. This was a little stressful for a few days but hey what can you do? This is something that is beyond control and it does actually happen more often than not so the travel experts were able to rebook everyone efficiently and our guests also got a full refund.

I think a lasting memory will be when myself (the bride) was sick on our wedding day and we had to see the doctor half way through the reception (the doctor said I was his first bride! So that was an accomplishment) Of course the other lasting memory will be the fact that I married my best friend and it was truly the perfect day with our amazing friends and family members.

BOOK IT! The Now Jade is breathtaking, not one out of our 50 guests could fault this resort in any way possible, the food was spectacular, the staff were extremely professional and friendly and the grounds and the rooms were a true 10/10 experience.

I would also definitely recommend booking with a travel agency ESP one that specializes in destination weddings. They make the whole process stress free for the bride/groom and the bonus is they do not charge a fee! I would recommend Pose Travel (who booked ours).”

Riviera Maya.  Some of the best beaches in the whole world can be found there.  And it’s also a gorgeous atmosphere for a destination wedding!  Davina + Daniel sent us this gorgeous wedding held at the Azul Sensatori Hotel as proof.  Here’s what they had to say about it:

“We first met Connie and Steven when a mutual friend set us up on a blind date, so-to-speak. They had just gotten engaged and were just starting to think about how/where/when they’d actually tie the knot so we joined them at their place in New York City for a casual session and for some wedding talk, naturally. It was just so easy to get along with them, and it wasn’t long before we were trading destination wedding planning tricks with them over dinner and catching up with them whenever we were back in the city.

Naturally, when they picked Mexico as the location for their wedding, we were doubly excited and hoping that they’d take us along! Needless to say, we’re thrilled that they picked us to document their beautiful wedding in paradise. They had about 75 of their friends and family join them all the way in Cancun – a real testament to how loved these two are. And Mother Nature must love them too, as unpredictable torrential downpours hit throughout their wedding day, but conveniently stopped whenever they were needed to be outdoors. How’s that for lucky?!”