Stacey & Mike put so much detail in planning the perfect destination wedding in the Bahamas. They wanted to make it a unique experience, so for their rehearsal dinner they didn’t choose Bahamian cuisine. Instead, they shared their “Dinner on the Eve” at the beautiful, intimate Luciano’s of Chicago. Luciano’s was just across the harbor from Paradise Island and offered a stunning view of the Atlantis Resort. Dinner was an exquisite menu of five courses served family style, which made the evening very personal and engaging. The dishes they selected were so incredible they would make you cry. We will definitely visit Luciano’s the next time we visit Nassau!

As Matt and I were capturing the laughter and memories created that evening, we decided to do something different. First, we decided to not use flash because of the distraction it would create. We decided to compromise technical perfection for composition (you have no idea how big of a leap that was for me). We also shot most of the photos in black and white. Some of you might be thinking, “Well, couldn’t you just convert the photos in your post processing?” And we could have, but it’s not quite the same and we really thought that black and white would capture the emotion of the evening better than color photos. When I first started shooting film I always preferred black and white film, but ever since going digital over five years ago I have NOT ONCE shot in black and white. We couldn’t have chosen a better opportunity to start!

Pushing ourselves beyond our comfort zone was well worth it, because had we not done these things I don’t think we could have captured the feel of the evening as well as we did. It was such a wonderful evening and as we went back to the hotel, counting down the hours before the wedding day would begin, I felt myself get teary-eyed thinking about how the wedding would happen and this would all be a memory. Stacey & Mike and their friends and family truly are some of the most incredible people that we have ever met, and the way that this wedding brought them all together made it clear that this is what a destination wedding is all about. It’s not just about a beautiful location. What makes a destination wedding special is that it’s an escape from the every day to focus on what matters most. On this evening, it was clear that family was all that mattered.