brian dorsey studios – new york wedding photographer – top 10 in the world – destination weddings

destination wedding photography at eden rock / st. barths – the wedding day…

this is how all good destination wedding receptions end.

as a photographer of destination weddings – i’ve been lucky to go to some pretty cool places with some pretty amazing people.

recently, we had the pleasure of working with jung lee and josh brooks and their wonderful team from Fete who were planning a wedding at the stunning and ultra-hip Eden Rock at St. Barths in the French West Indies.  Party central for the rich, beautiful and famous.

first, a little background on St. Barths – it’s a tiny little island off the coast of St. Martin with a postage stamp of an airstrip wedged tightly between a mountain and the ocean.  to get there you need to take a small plane that fills up at the local self-serve gas station.

and despite the fact that the planes are very small, they often end up in the ocean anyway (just check out YouTube).  which was underscored for me when I noticed this painted on the side of the plane.

i felt like i was in the cockpit myself.

excuse me, brian, would you mind helping me put the flaps down and giving me a little more friction?  sure captain, no problem…

it’s a really stunning way to arrive – unlike most Caribbean islands, St. Barts is basically a big rock – as are its many outlying smaller islands.

depending on how the winds are blowing, you can either approach the runway the hard way or the easy way.   the easy way approach gives you a great view of eden rock.

here’s a shot of the infamous airstrip and a plane taking off the easy way.  i think landing the hard way (coming in over this hill and dropping fast) results in some pretty bumpy landings as evidenced by the tire marks.

see?  postage stamp.

once we landed, we did a little recon…

the next day featured the rehearsal dinner…. and keeping with the little airplane theme, the brilliant placecards for that evening were balsawood gliders with the guests names and table on them suspended from the ceiling.

So here’s a funny little story about the value of being prepared for everything.  At this point for this event, my team and I have traveled hundreds of miles on multiple planes and boats – carrying our gear all the way since we can’t trust checking it or even letting someone else handle it.  We just can’t take the risk that something will get lost or damaged.   So I’m about 5 minutes into shooting cocktails at the villa and I hear this thud and crash of glass on concrete at the poolside.

Turns out the little clip do-dad that holds my camera to my rapid strap came unclipped and that thud sound was my Canon 1Ds Mark III hitting the ground and the smashing glass was my 24-70 lens.  Funny how $7500 of gear can be smashed because of the poor design of a $3 clip.  Fortunately, I travel with plenty of cameras and lenses so we didn’t miss a beat.   A special thanks to my amazingly patient associate, Chris whose flight arrived later that evening spent a half hour tweezering glass out of my lens.

After dark, the guests slipped into some flipflops to walk down the candlelit beach from the villa to the famed La Plage.

and the view of Eden Rock from La Plage…

ahh… st. barths.

beautiful people, beautiful places and of course, beautiful weddings.

Here’s a taste of what’s to come…

If you’ve ever really experienced some of Cartier-Bresson’s photographs – and I don’t mean seen them, I mean experienced them (and if you’re not sure, then put yourself in the former category) some images you need to sit with for a minute to really appreciate – and sometimes you need to process them for quite some time.  when you put yourself in the mental state to appreciate an image – like you would if you went to see an exhibit – you’re opening yourself to get more from it.

i was pulling images today for a project we’re working on and when I saw this one, I actually laughed out loud.   we took this shot at a wedding several years ago and I didn’t think that much of it at the time, but every time i come across it,  i like it more and more.  it looks like a pretty simple image until you take the time to experience it as you would an “art” photograph.   so i thought i’d take a sec to share it in hopes that others might get as much of a kick out of it as i did.

Limo driver pops champagne cork after church ceremony – or -  experiencing god.

In the mail today, I received a lovely Thank You note from Karen along with a copy of her latest book, “Simple Stunning Bride”.   In case you don’t know her,  Karen Bussen has authored quite a few of the most popular wedding books for brides. Her most recent – “Simple Stunning Bride” is chock full of helpful tips for planning one’s wedding day.

We’ve worked with Karen quite a few times and were delighted when we were asked to contribute to her latest book.

We have about a dozen of our images (including the back cover) featured and helped her update her section on photography tips as well.

If you’re not having a planner – or even if you are – it’s a great resource for inside hints and tips on prepping for the big day.  We encourage you to check it out!