When you’re a wedding photographer there is always some sort of wrinkle on the wedding day. It could be a wide variety of issues or unforeseen circumstances. For Vince and Nadege’s intimate ceremony in West Palm Beach it was rain. A lot of rain.
Any type of wedding photography that occurs in South Florida runs the risk of rain at any given time. In a blink of an eye the weather could go from the sunniest of days to the blackest of skies with no warning.
As I was driving up to photograph Vince and Nadege getting ready before their intimate ceremony I could see the clouds building and here in South Florida when the clouds start climbing into the sky, you know storms aren’t too far behind. I knocked out their photos pre ceremony photos and headed to their venue.
As I pulled up I noticed that the event manager had not yet begun to set up the chairs for the ceremony. I saw the archway but nothing else. As the time for the ceremony approached the skies opened up and down came the rain. And here comes that wrinkle I mentioned earlier; they had to move the ceremony to another location.
So what I planned to shoot and how to shoot the ceremony went out the window. Plan B and probably C and D was now in effect.
The rain held off during the ceremony as the sun peeked through the gray skies to provide some beautiful light for the ceremony. After the vows were exchanged, the first kiss kissed and they newly weds made their way back up the aisle, the rain came back with a vengeance.
I had maybe 30 seconds to shoot the bridal party before the rain really came down. I herded up the bridal party, lined them up and knocked it out. With Vince and Nadege we walked across the parking lot to another building that was a building for members of that venue. It was perfect. No one was there other than a front office worker. The hallways were long and illuminated perfectly. We weren’t rushed and we knocked out the poses in a timely manner so the newly weds could make it back to enjoy the start of their reception.
As the reception started, the monsoon outside started as well. I’m talking torrential downpours. The paved parking lot was now a river. Guests arriving were like spotted dalmatians with all the rain covered drops on their clothing, but none of that mattered. The important part was that Vince and Nadege were having their first dance surrounded by their closest friends and family.
The drink were flowing. The music serenated the guests as they filled the dance floor enjoying the festivities and smiles and laughs were abundant. No one thought about the rain outside.
While it may appear from the photos below that the entire collection of photos from their intimate ceremony were in black and white, that couldn’t be further from the truth. For this blog post, the black and white photos resonated with me more than the color photos. Not to say the colored photos weren’t great, because they are, it’s just black and white speaks to me more at times and this was one of those times. To see more photos, please visit my Instagram account!
