I remember Lauren reaching out about their wedding and knowing almost immediately this was going to be a different kind of day. She was down to earth, she knew exactly what she wanted, and what she wanted was simple: respect the energy of the day. Nothing posed. When we sat down in the lobby at Casa de Campo to talk it through before the wedding, it was one of the easiest conversations I’ve had with a couple — it was everything I believe about wedding photography, coming from the client’s side instead of mine.
The evening before the wedding, they slipped away from their own rehearsal dinner for fifteen quiet minutes on the beach — just the two of them, sunset light, a small toast, a handful of portraits — and then changed and rejoined before any of their guests even arrived. No performance, no announcement. Just two people wanting a few minutes that belonged only to them before sharing the rest of the weekend with everyone else.
At arrival to the VIP bridal suite in Casa de Campo, I asked Lauren one more time — gently — if she wanted any of the posed shots that have become almost expected now, the bridesmaids-in-matching-robes kind of images you see everywhere. She said no again, just as clearly as before: document it as it is. It was such a refreshing thing to hear out loud, and I went into the day holding onto that.
Then, right in the middle of the ceremony, it started raining. Not a drizzle — real rain, out of nowhere. And nobody moved. Not one guest got up or ran for cover. Casa de Campo’s staff started quietly passing umbrellas down the aisle, and the ceremony just kept going — vows, rings, all of it, exactly as planned, exactly as felt. I’ve photographed a lot of weddings, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a room hold its composure like that. It was the clearest proof I’ve had that the kind of photography I believe in — true to the day, not staged around it — isn’t just something I hold onto stubbornly. It’s something couples actually want.
The sky cleared enough afterward for portraits at the Chavón River overlook, Altos de Chavón’s stone architecture behind them — one of those views that makes you slow down the shoot without meaning to. Reception moved through a sweetheart table, toasts, dinner under the open sky, and a first dance that opened the floor for the rest of the night. Dominican carnival dancers joined partway through, pulling even the most reluctant guests up to dance, and the floor stayed full through cake cutting and long after.
Rehearsal dinner on the beach, rain nobody flinched at, the romantic cobblestone architecture of Altos de Chavon with it’s incredible river view, dancing until the end — if you ask me, this is one of my top ten favorite weddings I’ve ever photographed.
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