Adrian and Tenn-lai’s passion for each other led them to sunny Runaway Bay in Jamaica for their destination wedding. The attendance was quite a testament to the strong and supportive community around them as 120 people attended, with only a very small percentage hailing from the locales. As my first destination wedding shoot outside of Canada, I was naturally very jittery. There would be a few extra steps in making the video come to life, including more travel arrangements and basically travelling light BUT, at the same time, bringing everything I would need (no photo/video rentals where I was going!) – and all this without one of my trusted shooting partners.

​The program for the wedding day would be very tight so I decided to steal Adrian and Tenn-Lai away the evening of their rehearsal dinner to capture some candy shots on the beach. With all the fun, playing in the sand and running in the water, I was able to unlock Adrian and Tenn-Lai’s dynamic and understand them even more on the eve of their wedding! Tenn-Lai is a hard-working, God-fearing woman with a tough exterior protecting a soft heart. Her sense of pragmatism made her inclined to go to city hall and invest in a house. However, Adrian overcame her strong-willed nature and there we were in Jamaica! Our groom has the “go big or go home” kind of view on life. If you saw his flash mob proposal, the destination wedding wouldn’t come as a surprise. They together are ambitious, not only in their physical goals, but also in their spiritual aspirations to grow as people in their marriage and to have their union be a light to others around them.

Despite the sweltering heat; the rain showers that shut down the ceremony for 20 mins (and my resulting scramble to shelter my camera gear); near dehydration and shooting a fast-paced event abroad by myself (all together making this probably the most difficult shoot of my life), I definitely count myself blessed to have witnessed such an great event. Here are some notables from this wedding:

White dresses
The bride, her bridesmaids, and mothers of the couple all wore white. What’s funny is that while walking around the compound with the wedding party, all the ladies were being congratulated by staff and fellow hotel guests.

Aisles
There were three isles in the ceremony. It was nice to see some variation to the standard aisle set-up. And yes, it did become difficult to capture, but I did my best!

Reception Tables
It wasn’t obvious in the video but the reception tables were set-up in X’s. In addition, the couple disregarded the traditional groupings of family and people from similar circles of life. Tenn-Lai and her man wanted to have everyone mix together to foster and enforce that their union was going to bring, not just them, but all their family and friends together.

I was sure to include Tenn-Lai’s fire and Adrian’s raw passion in the final cut of their mini-feature film because their words definitely were a big part the wow factor of our trip.
Watching the final feature really brings back the “epicness” of this trip, not just for me, but for all who went. I hope you feel it too as you take five minutes to immerse yourself in this film. I would love to hear what you think! Enjoy!