If you’ve been following the blog for my last couple of posts and have thought to yourself, “man, I can’t even imagine the nerves and/or anxiety that Holly has been facing with these proposals.” You would be right, that is until now. Friends, you’re in for quite a story today, but one that I’m thankful to be a part of. Let’s start from the beginning.

Joy and Owen got engaged back in January on a little trip that they took up to the mountains. I mean, seriously, aren’t engagements just a little sweeter when there’s snow involved? I wouldn’t personally know, but I think it would be awesome [hint to my gents: propose where there’s snow and take me with you to document]. Since then they never really set a date or location. There were back and forth talks on dates from September to January, local venue or eloping in the Caribbean, but nothing was ever finalized. That is, until a little thing called a Bachelorette weekend in Puerto Rico was being planned for September. Then came the, “well, maybe we should just get married there at the same time”! I was down!! One day I will share more, but I dream of weddings outside of the States and this actually happening was right up my alley! So, once everyone was on board for the idea, the planning started. Joy arranged for a house on the beach where the nuptials would take place and began finding her other vendors. All was right on track. That is until Hurricane Irma (#irmagerd) decided to show up. We watched the Hurricane for days to see what path it would take. Of course, the path chosen was straight through Puerto Rico, along with other small Caribbean Islands, and then to Florida. The Sunday before the Wednesday that we were scheduled to fly out was when the decision was made to cancel the trip. Even though the trip was cancelled, Joy and Owen did not want to postpone the wedding, but still try and make it happen for that Saturday. She rallied with all of her friends and local vendors, who thankfully, know just about everyone in our community and was able to begin planning a wedding locally. She chose to keep with the Puerto Rico theme, which I thought turned out great! Amy of Imperial Productions had the perfect tropical linens and made a beautiful arbor surrounded by lush plants! Joy’s mom and sister made the beautiful bouquets and table centerpieces. It was amazing how everything was able to come together!

I’m not going to lie, the day of the wedding I was still a little nervous about the weather as Irma was approaching…slowly. At this point it felt like we had been on Hurricane watch for like a month! We did make a back up plan in case we were rained out of portraits, but thankfully, the rain held off! Was it a little gloomy, yeah, but I think it made the day more memorable and made for some stunning portraits of Joy and Owen. The ceremony was short and sweet as Joy and Owen were surrounded by their closest family and friends. They had the most delicious taco bar by Laura Goss and Hurricane Punch to boot! Though a lot of changes transpired in regards to this wedding, it didn’t make their day any less special. We couldn’t make it to Puerto Rico, so we brought Puerto Rico to us, and it was perfect!

Joy and Owen, congratulations on your wedding and thank you so much for having me a be a part! I love the story that ended up being created out of all of this! I do hope that you get your Caribbean vacation soon though! Maybe after Hurricane season officially is over!

xoxo,

Holly

The Creative Team:

Event Designer: Imperial Productions by Amy Francis

Dress: Golden Needle   |   Guy’s Suits: Men’s Warehouse

Flowers: Janet Moses, Blue Goose Studio

Food: Laura Fowler Goss, Food Designer

Invitations: Abbie Chasteen

Ceremony Music: Natalie Metzger   |   Reception Music: Scott Peeples Music

Venue: Casa Isabel