New York City to Puerto Rico - A Destination Wedding with Floating Lanterns

I was given the amazing opportunity to travel to Puerto Rico early this May to photograph a beautiful couple in the mountains of Puerto Rico.  What a journey!  It was a beautiful location, tucked away and hidden in the mountains.  It was called the Hacienda Siesta Alegre, located in Rio Grande, PR.  Gorgeous mountains, beautiful weather and views surrounded us at every turn.  It's a bit funny when Ivy and Joe explained how they found this place; Joe found it first and suggested it to Ivy.. but Ivy wasn't a fan of the spot (the website doesn't do it any justice!), but when she was doing some more wedding research, she ended up finding a beautiful location in wedding magazine - then realized it was the same spot that Joe had suggested! She was floored at how beautiful the space was- so they booked it! Good find for Joe! When they planned this destination wedding, they figured the guest list would be small.. but the abundance of guests and family that showed up was overflowing and it was so amazing to see so many people that genuinely wanted to be there for this couple and celebrate with them!  It was touching to see the kind of relationships that flowed between everyone.  Everyone was so HAPPY to be there and it was so apparent.  It was a gorgeous ceremony, heart-felt vows and just moments you can't create without the palpable love that was in the air.  I was blessed and honored to be a part of such a joyful occasion and felt so accepted by their family and friends.  It was such a nice place to get married and definitely was different from your typical New York City Wedding! Seriously had an amazing time photographing the wedding (and vacationing afterwards, hehe!)

Here are some highlight shots from the weekend:

Day 1; After - Rehearsal Party / Rooftop lounge and lighting floating Lanterns afterwards!  I experienced my first "Tangled" moment!

And here begins their wedding day: