Visiting a place that is far from anything I usually experience, gets me inspired. When time is limited I have to make the best of it, and I found Jamaica to be an incredible place containing great beauty and poverty. Sometime mid-July I got a phone call. My former boss Hilliard, and his fiancee Sony asked me to be their photographer for their wedding in Jamaica (November 3rd). The realization that I could have an all-expenses-paid for the trip, something I’ve never experienced, and traveling with my family got me very excited! Passports arrived about a month later, and a couple of months after that we arrived at the Riu Palace resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Overview of Riu Palace
I took this stepping outside of the rehearsal dinner in the Palace’s amazing dining hall.
This trip would not have been possible if it weren’t for Sony & Hilliard paying us for our travel expenses. One of the reasons Jen and I were chosen to be their wedding photographers was because I did their engagement session.
Detroit to Atlanta
With a printed off boarding information in-hand, here we are at 6 am arriving at the Detroit Metro Airport the day before the wedding. This was my first time booking a vacation with a travel agent. Tina Mifflin, located in the Detroit / Metro area, made the whole thing really easy to understand.
I took this from the back of the subway train after we arrived at the Atlanta airport, about to board the plane to Jamaica.
Atlanta to Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica
The first thing that hits you even after just getting into the airport is the heat. Jamaica is a very hot place, even in November.
Arrival at Riu Palace
Once Jen found out there was going to be unlimited food and drinks at the resort she went from excited to very excited!
In-between our arrival and wedding to photograph the next day, we spent the rest of our time eating food at the luxurious all-you-can-eat buffet and putting Elon down early that night.
Selected Images from Sony & Hilliard’s Wedding Day
Romantics in Montego Bay
After the ceremony and some dinner, I headed out to photograph some romantics. Hilliard previously had arranged a cab to show us some good local spots. Our driver knew what was up and took us to four very interesting and beautiful places.
Excursion after the Wedding
The next day we headed out on an excursion. Our boat tour was complete with snorkeling, swimming under a cave, and cliff jumping from Rick’s Cafe. We had some time, so we went for a swim. This was Jen and Elon’s first swim in the ocean.
Below are some of my favorite landscape scenes I captured before we headed to Rick’s Cafe. As we cruised along, I was only paying attention to getting great shots from the side of the boat. A storm really was brewing, and fortunately for me, it made for some epic clouds, which of course is why these look so dramatic.
The local boys jumping from the cliff made it seem so easy, which is why I thought it no harm for both myself and Jen to take turns jumping from Rick’s Cafe.
The guy next to Jen only told her to jump to the side, otherwise, she would hit the cliffs. I think this was partly the reason for what happened next. She wasn’t thinking of the landing, no, she was thinking about the cliff! I jumped before this by the way, and there was no way you could hit the cliff… maybe next time dude, let people know how they should land.
