Tag Archives: venue

Destination Wedding

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After deciding to have a destination wedding, consider how will you embrace the local culture in your ceremony. This is especially important if you are inviting guests to a special location — in addition to the beauty of the venue, they will want to explore the tastes and sights of the place!

This spring I photographed a wedding celebration in the Alpjarra hills of Andalusia in southern Spain.

Guests spent the entire weekend at a hotel called Alcazaba de Buquistar, with views of the surrounding mountains:

The Hotel at the destination wedding in spain

Local Flavors

Upon arrival at the hotel, each guest received a bottle of Garcia de Verdevique red wine to enjoy as an introduction to the local tastes––or to take home as a souvenir. Menus for the weekend consisted of regional specialities, including tortilla espanola (Spanish omlette), morcilla cocida (black pudding), and paella.

Wine for the Spanish wedding

The buffet of Spanish food at the wedding

The ceremony was held outside following a procession to the wedding site, with its scenic mountain backdrop.

Newly Weds kiss with the sun behind them in the South of Spain

The dance floor took on a Spanish flair thanks to several flamenco dancers and musicians, but there was still time for the father-daughter dance:

Flamenco dancing at a spanish wedding

The cake had something for everyone: one layer was gluten-free, another nut-free, another vegan, and all three were delicious.

Lyra and Andrew cutting the cake

New Traditions

Guests were invited to help make a new constellation of stars by sending these fire-powered floats into the night sky:

Lanterns floated into the night, signifying a new chapter for Lyra, Andrew and their families

For more ideas on entertaining guests in a special location, see the slideshow of the whole weekend. It includes yoga, ham, and hiking!

Virginia venues I like, part 1: Jasmine Plantation

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I am going to share many of the venues I enjoy, from a photographer’s perspective, through several posts on this blog. And I am going to start with a venue I have photographed at many times: Jasmine Plantation. The Plantation is located half an hour east of Richmond, Virginia in a place called Providence Forge. Below is a photograph of the main house:

Photograph of Jasmine Plantation at dusk

The house provides a bedroom suite for the bride to prepare for her day (and the bride and groom can spend their wedding night there) and provides beautiful decorations, with each room decorated from a different period of Americana. These different rooms provide a great variety of choices for indoor portraits, getting ready photos, and also great detail images (of the rings for example).

When it comes time for the ceremony, you have several outdoor locations to choose from. Where ever you choose, there is great garden scenery and greenery in the background–providing an excellent photographic backdrop. This garden scenery is also great for any portraits you want before and after the ceremony and includes fountains, bird baths, cute benches, bird houses and even decorative lamp posts.

Most couples choose to have their reception out back on a patio (and a tent is set up for this to keep guests cool–and protected if it rains). Again, the reception site is surrounded by gardens and several fountains, providing gorgeous backdrops. And oddly enough, photographs in the tent turn out really well because that white ceiling helps bounce and even out the light from our flashes.