I met Craig over email and phone almost 3 years ago!  He reached out to find a photographer to help him coordinate and photograph his marriage proposal.  We hit it off immediately.  If you want to see the images from that special day, check out the blog post.  I instantly became friends with Craig and Ashley after that.  I was so sad when they had to return to Chicago!  Later they chose to get married in the beautiful Playa Del Carmen, Mexico!  When they asked me to travel out there to capture their special day I was beyond excited!!!!  It turned out to be one of the best trips my Husband and I have ever taken together!  Craig and Ashley are two of the nicest most generous people I’ve ever met.  They went above and beyond to make sure everyone enjoyed themselves through out the trip.  They hosted an amazing welcome party with a cigar roller and open bar, then they invited us on a catamaran for some sailing, snorkeling, and para sailing.  There was not a single detail forgotten!  It was such a pleasure being there and being able to not only capture the wedding but to be able to capture the series of events through out the week!  I became close with their friends and family and quite honestly debated moving the family to Chicago…. until I was reminded what their winters look like!

This post is going to be extra full!  There are photos of the welcome party, the boating adventure and then the full wedding day!  So enjoy …..

I wanted to add these in here.  Table shots are usually a photographer’s nightmare.  They are so painful to get.  You can’t capture everyone with out distorting them if they are all seated at a round table.  So you have to ask people to get up.  You also have to stop your Bride and Groom from talking too long at each table.  (Think if they have 20 tables (typical for a 200 person wedding) and they spend 5 minutes at each table that 100 minutes!!!! You don’t have that kind of time at a wedding.  So you have to be quick and find polite ways to move them along to each table.  BUT BUT BUT BUT In my opinion if your couple is up for it, it’s really important to do your best to get them.  These photos are often overlooked but ALWAYS treasured by the couple and their families.  So I thought I would throw these into the post.  (as if it wasn’t long enough already) They are not the best Images I’ve ever taken but just wanted to show the importance of going around to each table (quickly) to capture a quick but nice shot of your couple with each of their guests.