Elisabeth & Zachary. Casa de Campo · Minitas Beach Club

There’s a particular kind of light that falls over Minitas Beach Club in the late afternoon — golden, low, and unmistakably Caribbean. For Zach and Elisabeth, it became the setting for a Casa de Campo wedding rooted in tradition, but entirely their own. Every detail of the day carried the hand of Claire Duran Weddings & Events, one of my favorite planners to work with — organized, thoughtful, and seemingly effortless.

Elisabeth got ready quietly at a villa filled with light and space, surrounded by her family and closest friends. Zach got ready separately at his family’s home — the same place that had hosted their welcome party the night before, and where the first look, family portraits, and ketubah signing all happened once Elisabeth arrived. It was simple, unhurried, entirely their own pace. From the moment I arrived, Elisabeth gave me complete freedom to document the day exactly as I saw it — no shot list, no direction, just trust. It’s the kind of freedom every documentary photographer hopes for and doesn’t always get.

When it was time, everyone made their way to Minitas Beach Club for the sunset ceremony, officiated by a close friend of the couple — light catching Elisabeth’s face as she walked in, laughter breaking through the traditional moments as much as the emotional ones. And then came the parts of a Jewish wedding that are impossible to sit still through: the hora, the chair lift, both of them raised above the crowd while everyone danced in a circle around them. It’s one of my favorite things to photograph — there’s no posing for it, no directing. It just happens, and you chase it.

From the ceremony, we walked straight to the beach for newlywed portraits — barely fifteen minutes, and somehow that was all it took. just two people fully in the moment they’d just stepped into. Some of my favorite frames from the whole day came out of that quick, easy stretch on the sand.

Dinner unfolded beneath string lights and candlelight, with toasts that had half the room laughing and the other half in tears. The party that followed was, in Elisabeth’s own words, “absolutely wild.” It didn’t end at the reception tent, either — Zach and Elisabeth closed the night on the sand, with a bonfire lit, guests making their way down with torches, and fireworks catching the black-and-white of the send-off.