We’ve been sharing lots of photos from Stacey & Mike’s gorgeous Bahamas destination wedding, but now it’s finally time to post the important part – the place where they said “I do!” The wedding and reception were held at in a private community in Nassau, offering the perfect blend of the island’s tropical and historic charms. About an hour before the ceremony, dark clouds covered the sky and it looked like it might rain, but once the ceremony began the sun was shining once again! It was such a beautiful setting! As the sun set, everyone enjoyed cocktails by the pool and then came inside for an intimate reception.

As the evening came to an end, Stacey & Mike made their grand exit to the limo waiting outside. We all followed behind on the buses and joined the bride and groom in their suite for an after party. It’s bittersweet that it had to come to an end, but that’s what photos are for! We will have a final video slideshow soon, but for now here are some more photos from Stacey & Mike’s destination wedding:

We’ve posted some of the events leading up to Stacey & Mike’s gorgeous destination wedding in the Bahamas, but posting the actual wedding day photos has been a challenge because there are just too many for one post. I asked Matt what we should do and he said to just create a long post. When I told him I had 50 images edited just from the first card, he said “Oh!” So what we’ve decided to do is post the wedding day in multiple parts. Soon we will share photos from the ceremony, cocktail hour, reception and all of the gorgeous details that made this wedding complete!

But for today’s post, we thought it was only appropriate to give you a “first look” at their wedding by sharing what happened leading up to the ceremony. Stacey & Mike gave us a lot of time to be creative before the wedding began, including a very emotional first look on the beach where the ceremony took place. All of the months of planning, visiting Nassau, having family visit Nassau to also help with plans, the waiting and dreaming of what the day would be like, the threat of rain on the wedding day, the excitement in the days preceding the wedding – it all came down to this one moment when they remembered what it was all for. It was just the two of them (and a couple of photographers observing from a distance). Matt and I wondered what was going through their minds, but we think that the photos will tell the story.

After the first look, we took a few photos of them together before they relaxed with the wedding party and watched the guests arrive…

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.