Last Saturday I had the privilege of photographing at two South Florida venues for weddings!
St Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church & Trump National Golf Club Jupiter. I enjoyed every minute I spent photographing this wonderful wedding. When I moved to South Florida just over 16 years ago I never realized just how many South Florida venues there were for weddings. When I arrived here, I rented an apartment in Fort Lauderdale. The meant the most of my networking and marketing efforts were geared to the Broward County and Miami area. This meant that many of the hotels, country clubs, historic museums and garden locations were limited to Dade and Broward County. Places such as The Fontainebleau, the Sundy House, and the Eden Roc were my stomping ground. As time flew by and I photographed more and more South Florida weddings, I found myself working at more and more unique luxury South Florida venues. Names such as the Polo Club, The Breakers, The Harbor Beach Marriott kept being mentioned time and time again. It took a long time but eventually I found myself working at all these amazing South Florida venues for weddings. Now over 16 years later, and after over 600 weddings, there are still venues I have not worked at. In addition to working at various luxury wedding venues, I have found that many of these venues have changes ownership and with that the hotel name. One notable case was the Ritz-Carlton, Palm Beach making the change to the Eau Palm Beach. While the new hotel no longer has the Ritz name this hotel is still one of the most luxurious wedding venues in South Florida. As a matter of fact, most people find this beach wedding venue even more upscale and romantic than before the change of name and management. Another luxury wedding venue that changed names is the transformation of the Delray Beach Marriott to the Opal Grand Resort, I recently visited this hotel and was amazed at the upscale change. The old Delray Beach Marriott was always a nice South Florida wedding venue, however, as the Opal Grand, It’s one of the most beautiful luxury venues in the area. Some of the most beautiful places for weddings are less popular. Some of these are what I refer to as hidden wedding venue gems. Many are part of home community’s and some are located inside golf clubs. These are less popular for several reasons. One reason is that they are private. This means that only members, or friends of members are allowed to tie the know behind the gates. One example is a Key Largo wedding venue named The Ocean Reef Club. I have photographed a few luxury weddings at this unique wedding venue. You can see the pictures from the Ocean Reef Club here & here. The pictures in this post were taken at three beautiful locations. First we started pictures at the brides home, then the wedding ceremony took place at St Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church and after the ceremony the party started at Trump National in Jupiter.
ABOVE: Caroline’s bridal gown was purchased at Boca Raton Bridal. If you are reading this and are a recently engaged bride, I highly recommend visiting their showroom. The staff at Boca Raton Bridal is friendly and the have the largest selection of high-end bridal gowns in South Florida.
When searching for South Florida venues for weddings, Trump Jupiter is an incredible choice. The grounds around the resort are beautiful and feature a wide range of picture spots. As a wedding photographer in South Florida, I’m always on the hunt for beautiful photo locations. What makes a great wedding photography venue? There are a few features that help to make a venue perfect for wedding photography. For example, having a wide range of greenery and floral backgrounds is helpful. Water locations are also helpful. Trump Jupiter has several picturesque lakes and ponds which make for nice backgrounds. For me, great lighting could make or break a picture. While I could shoot in any type of lighting condition, I find that, if you can position the couple in any direction, you could use the sun as a photo enhancer. Most importantly, the attitude of the bride and groom are critical to getting awesome wedding pictures. The location could be beautiful, however if you don’t have anyone to photograph, that’s a problem. Caroline and Blake, were great subjects. When we arrived at Trump National in Jupiter they were ready to start taking pictures all around the grounds. We started with the wedding party in front of the golf club. Then after the bridal party pictures were finished we photographed bride and groom pictures around the club. Once the parents arrived we spent some time taking bride and groom and family pictures.
Once we finished taking pictures of the bride and groom with the wedding party, I spent about one hour photographing the bride and grooms pictures. At most South Florida weddings, the bride and groom start their photography with a “First Look” photo session.Check out my article on the “First Look”. The first Look is when the bride and groom see each other before the wedding ceremony. As a wedding photographer in South Florida, I have found that the First Look is very popular. However in the case of Caroline and Blake’s wedding there was no need to do a first look since they had a big time gap between the end of the ceremony and the start of the cocktail hour.
As a wedding photographer, I’m a huge fan of back lit photos. Sometimes everything falls into place. The lighting from the setting sun worked perfectly for this back-lit photo. Because the setting sun is so dramatic I use some additional flash to fill in the shadows. When a couple is lit using backlighitng the sin provides a nice hair light and conveys some extra drama. Check out some of these pictures also taken at Trump National Jupiter. Bride and groom walking in the rain. At this wedding we were blessed with some rain showers. It didn’t rain through the entire wedding day. The rain lasted long enough for us to have some fun with pictures in the rain. One of the main focal points at Trump National is the giant American flag flying behind the main clubhouse, You can see this flag in the window below and in another photo HERE. As I stated earlier the only limitation to wedding photography at Trump National Jupiter is time. There are paths, walkways, fountains, and that amazing chandelier located in the staircase leading to the ballroom. Check out this photo taken at one of the Trump Jupiter walkways. Bride and groom taking a walk. If you are a fan of black and white or sepia photography, check out this picture taken by the lake. Sepia wedding photo.
Once we finished the bride and groom pictures, we moved on the the family pictures. Since I already photographed the bride and groom together in the church, I decided I should photograph smaller family groupings. Normally I would photograph bride with her father, groom with is mother and so in before the ceremony. However, without doing a first look, these pictures had to be taken later. Working as a wedding photographer, it’s important to make certain that there is enough time to photograph all the family members as well plenty of bride and groom pictures. One key, to getting all these pictures is to have a great wedding photography timeline. You could read about wedding photography timelines here: Wedding photography timelines
Here in South Florida there are plenty of venues for weddings, however not all venues offer the amazing scenery and huge beautiful ballroom that Trump Jupiter offers. In the pictures below, you can see how luxurious this ballroom looks. With floor to ceiling windows the room had a light and airy look during the day. At night the large chandeliers provide a warm glow.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures from this Trump National wedding. If you would like to read about more venues check out my different blog articles here.
