Lauren first got in touch with me about photographing her wedding to her high school sweetheart in Greece, she fell in love with the country on a trip with a girlfriend a few years ago. Sadly the greek dream couldn’t be fulfilled for a variety of reasons but instead morphed into a much more adventurous and romantic escape – a caribbean elopement!  (these two by the way were actually married years ago in 9th grade when Heath “proposed” with a toy ring, they still have it today!)

So Lauren got back in touch with me – and I had to google St Martin, or Saint Marteen depending on what side of the island you’re on. This tiny island in the caribbean is actually owned by two different countries, and this is well reflected whilst you’re there. You could have dutch pancakes for breakfast and croissants the next day by driving a few minutes. It’s half dutch and half french, a beautiful phenomenon I haven’t experienced in such close proximity in any other part of the world.

St martin is also very famous for it’s incredible plane landings – the island has one of the most fascinating airports in the world as the planes land so close to the beach nearby that it’s not uncommon for beach goers to be blown over by the jet blast of incoming aircraft. One of the images you’ll see below is actually shot from my landing so you can see how close we were!

This is one of the sweetest, most intimate elopements I’ve ever photographed and Laurens gorgeous eye for detail really shined through in so many elements. I particularly loved the little box of sweet love letters and notes passed to each other in classrooms over the years. As soon as I started chatting to Lauren online I knew we would be friends even if we never got to meet! That’s the best part of my job, meeting so many kindred souls. On arrival she presented me with a beautiful embroidered bag full of gifts from her home town – mostly edible! A girl after my own heart. I spent three days here with these two and I’ll be honest – I will never forget it because there were also a few hilarious misadventures! I won’t go into too much detail but on the day I flew out, the airport experienced a bomb scare and all roads to the airport were closed! This resulted in two hours of cocktails on the beach with the newlyweds. Silver lining.

I LOVE this guy – he emerged from the sea just after the ceremony, strolled right up to Heath to present the newly weds with some sand dollars and shook their hands in congratulations! top knotch.