Have passport LOVE to travel! This past season I had the amazing opportunity to work with couples that were having destination weddings! Being a destination wedding photographer was something I always wanted to be. I love to travel, love to experience different places and cultures, but more importantly, photographing destination weddings and being such a significant part of a couple’s wedding is something I hold very near and dear to my heart! Of course I love shooting in Washington, but getting the opportunity to venture to different states and countries is such a blessing! Helping couples plan their weddings from afar and helping give them useful knowledge about wedding planning is what makes hiring a wedding photographer that you feel a connection with personally and with their images so very important!

You may be asking yourself, why choose a photographer NOT located at your destination? Can’t I just hire someone locally and call it a day? More than anything, when choosing a photographer, choose one that you find that connection with in their images and them as an individual. Someone that can guide you through the process! A destination wedding could be a wedding out of state or out of country! Often times couples find that hiring photographers AT their abroad or tourist destination costs more then hiring a photographer they love and flying them to their destination wedding! Sometimes there are communication barriers with abroad destination weddings & things that get lost in the shuffle. This past year my destination weddings all resided in the Seattle area, so for them, being able to hire me and get to know me locally, shooting their engagements locally, helped them feel much more connected and ease come wedding day!

There’s a flip side to this, and it’s getting to know couples, what they love, what interests them, what they’re drawn to in their images and them NOT living locally to them (say a couple wanting to hire a destination photographer from Seattle when they live in Florida and are getting married in Ireland). Couples can meet at their destination wedding with me and we can do an engagement session there, there isn’t a communication barrier to worry about, and come wedding day, they know what to expect from me, what I may ask them to do in photos etc. In this case, Skype becomes an amazing way of communicating and seeing each other face-to-face, helping couples feel much more at ease!

Photographing destination weddings has been an amazing experience for me, one that I would love love love to do again in 2014! I’m sharing this post with you because if you’re a bride or groom having a destination wedding and are considering which way to go with your photography, give me a shout! I offer special rates for destination weddings! Do you know someone having a destination wedding? Refer them my way, and there’s something super awesome in it for you as well!

Some dream locations I’d love to shoot at include Ireland, Hawaii, Thailand, The Bahamas, always Mexico, Australia among many others!