Samantha and Norbert Yacht Wedding in Tampa was pretty awesome, but I have to start with their love story. They actually met on Tinder, which I found to be hilarious because Tinder isn’t known to be the place you go looking for a wife these days. But who knows, maybe their new tagline should be Swipe right to get married! Or maybe I’ll make it MY new slogan! Swipe right to find your destination wedding photographer 🙂 Because it’s what I’m turning into these days and I love it! Samantha and Norbert were actually married in Tampa. They were referred to me by some friends of theirs whose wedding I photographed while they were living in Jax. The friends moved to Tampa, met Samantha and Norbert, and so there I was photographing a yacht wedding in Tampa on the Starship Yacht!

Even though the wedding was in Tampa, I was actually able to talk Samantha into coming to the east coast and photographing her bridal portraits at Chandler Oaks Barn in St. Augustine. It was completely worth it, we took such amazing photos, absolutely stunning. Honestly, I would love to see more brides pick up on this trend in 2018 and 2019. Not only is a great trial run – think of it as an opportunity to be photographed in your ‘wedding day look’ right down to the hair and makeup, but it allows you to see how everything will come together and be photographed on your big day. It also gives brides more variety in their portraits, it’s super fun and it’s just one more chance to work closely with your photographer (hopefully that’s me!) before your big day.

There was so much love the entire day. We ended up doing the first look, bride and groom portraits and wedding party portraits at Eureka Springs Park. We all decided that doing the pictures off of the boat would give the best variety… and BOY was it gorgeous! I always love doing a first look because it gives the bride and groom a few minutes to enjoy each other before the day gets crazy. The park was gorgeous, the couple was gorgeous and the wedding party was AMAZING!

Back to the wedding, the lovely bride and groom had a luxury Yacht wedding in Tampa. Photographing a wedding on a yacht was a first for me but so much fun! The entire day was perfect. The weather was gorgeous and c’mon, how can you go wrong with a luxury yacht? As we hid Samantha away from the guests, I couldn’t wait for her dad to see her. He flat out told me how emotional he was, and I’m always a sucker for a good crying shot! He didn’t disappoint!!! I have to say the funniest part of the day for me might have been during family photos. I try not to be too stiff during family photos and you can often hear me instructing ladies to “boobies out” during portraits. (Yes, it’s the best pose) In this particular instance, the grooms parents were deaf and had an interpreter at the wedding. So the interpreter had to sign “boobies out” (which I’m sure was a first for her) and that was hilarious because the sign for boobies out is to literally lifting your boobies up and out. Both the interpreter and Norbert’s mom thought it was absolutely hilarious, and so did I!

The day was so laid back. We had perfect weather and a gorgeous sunset. One shout out goes to Ashley the bride’s best friend for her epic one-liner in her speech! She asked the bride and groom to look at each other and then said, “Statistics say that you are looking at the most likely person to kill you one day!” We ALL just fell out and I almost missed the shot! The reception was a blast and another good thing about having a wedding on a boat is everyone has to stay for the sparkler exit! I’ve never had that many people to rangle together to get the best shot. But it was EPIC!

Samantha and Norbert that you for trusting me to document you big day. Your yacht wedding in Tampa was perfect and so are you!

Venue, DJ and Catering: Yacht Starship Cruises and Events Tampa | Bridal Shoot Venue: Chandler Oaks Barn | Hair and Makeup: Femme Akoi Beauty Studio | Florist: Jennie’s Flowers