Ricky and Lauren’s Fabulous Destination Wedding at Le Barthelemy Hotel & Spa in St. Barth’s | Destination Wedding Photographer

The story leading up to Ricky and Lauren’s is full of surprises! When we first met, they had planned their wedding in beautiful Saint Barthelemy for June 2018, and we couldn’t wait to get the planning started. On September 6 however, Hurricane Irma, now a Category 5 storm, made contact with the small chain of islands including St. Martin and St. Barth’s. The islands were devastated by the storm, and their wedding was put on hold while St. Barth’s recovered. The wedding was rescheduled to 5/31/19, and the newly remodeled Le Barthelemy Hotel and Spa was chosen as the new venue. We couldn’t wait!

We flew in via Miami to Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM) and then on to SBH in a small 8 seater plane. What an experience it was diving over a mountain ridge towards the runway at SBH, pulling up just in time to land (made for a great iPhone video)!

Ricky and Lauren had everything perfectly planned out for the next few days, and they delivered flawlessly along with the help of their planners (DK Events) and the staff at Le Barthelemy. Welcome cocktails the first night, a rehearsal dinner at Bonito St. Barth overlooking the marina. On the wedding day, the bride got ready in the Villa Bleu at Le Barthelemy, overlooking the bay. Ricky prepared in a beachside suite with his friends. We loved the light and bright details at Le Barthelemy which made for the perfect setting for getting ready photos! They were married at the historic St. Bartholomew’s Anglican Church,  originally built in 1853 right in the marina.

The reception was held back at Le Barthelemy, which spared no expense for the guests.

Our favorite moments:

Custom smoked cocktails made on the spot with wood chips and spirits.

The dancers who came in after dinner and led the guests to the Villa Bleu (now flipped into a nightclub for the evening)

Ricky and Lauren leading the way to the dance party flanked by dancers and their guests.

Dancing lasting until the early hours of the morning

And most of all, the grand finale, where the couple jumped into the pool still in their wedding outfits, encouraging all the guests to follow (they did!). As if on cue, it started POURING on them in the pool as they celebrated on.

The next day they had a beach party at Pearl Beach for all the guests with catered lunch, pool toys. and beach games, as well as costumed servers giving shots of rose from the bottle. We stole the couple for a quick beach session and gave them a few minutes to soak up the experience together.

Altogether, it will be a wedding that will remain one of our favorites for a long, long time. The couple and their families truly made us feel as though we were one of them, and their hospitality and kindness made us so happy to have the job of documenting these memories for them.