Ok ladies… here it is. I have been coveting these photos selfishly and having serious wedding ENVY for days because well… they’re just that amazing. Cindy Johnson is INCREDIBLE at what she does, and Laura and Jason’s stunning destination wedding in Turks & Caicos was one of the most beautiful weddings I’ve ever seen… and I’ve seen a lot.

Laura & Jason (who have been together for 8 years!) were married at the Grace Bay Club in beautiful Turks & Caicos (also where Jason proposed) on April 3, 2010.

Before deciding on a destination wedding, the couple went back and forth trying to figure out what to do for their big day. They finally decided on a small and intimate destination wedding with immediate family, followed by a post-wedding reception back in New York City.

From the beautiful bride… It was important to us to have everything leading up to our ceremony be as easy as possible. As our coordinator in Turks and Caicos would say “easy breezy”.  Planning a party for  many people naturally comes with a certain amount of stress and anxiety. So doing it this way we didn’t have as much to worry about and we were able to focus on enjoying some time away, enjoying time with our families and most importantly enjoying the time together.

You know how some people get really excited at Christmas? Yeah… I get that way when my favorite photographers send me incredible destination weddings from places like Turks & Caicos, and Nicaragua. Hello magical.

Yes. Stellar photographer Cindy Johnson is really, really amazing, and somehow always gets to go and shoot these incredible destination weddings. Seriously, what memo did I miss to have this not be my life? Sigh.

I was going to wait and show you these, but I can’t. I can’t, I’m just too excited! I’m just going to tease you with a little bit of heavenly wedding candy,  you only get three, and then you have to  go to bed and wait … Stay tuned.

This super cute wedding is from the super talented  Cindy Johnson, you might remember her from the fabulous shots she took at Rocco & Larah’s Destination wedding in Nicaragua. This totally fab wedding has THREE… count ‘em three, outfit changes. Gotta love a bride with options. Gina and Ryan married at 632 on Hudson in New York City, on October 3, 2009.

Gina and Ryan wanted their day to be very personal and unique to them. To make sure that happened, they put a lot of thought into the details. (I love a detail oriented bride.) Their officiant was the groom’s best friend, who also introduced them. The brides’ sister read a poem during the ceremony; a poem that the groom had written for his bride. Too cute. Their first dance was sung by a friend, another friend who is a belly dancer performed, and a cousin acted as MC for the night. The couple framed their parents wedding photos and placed them on display in one of the rooms at the venue, and each guest was gifted with hand-written cards and hand-made chocolate bonbons as favors. Now, if that doesn’t say thank you I don’t know what does. And if that wasn’t enough, the couple made sure to personally thank, and bid farewell to each and every guest at the door at the end of the night.

This truly is a very beautiful, and very personal wedding, with attention to every detail, including a very special cake, from Lauri Ditunno of NYC’s The Cake Alchemy- also one of WE TV’s featured cake decorators on Amazing Wedding Cakes! How much more fabulous can you get!?

From the bride…

“I wore a wedding dress, an Indian lengha, and a tailor-made Western party-wear. To be honest, I just couldn’t decide on what to wear! I mean when else are you the center of attention?!”

From the bride…

“It was most important for the wedding to be personal, warm and fun.  We wanted the wedding to resemble a cocktail party at home with close family and friends. It was a wonderful night. Ryand and I had a great time with everyone, and the small number of guests enabled us to socialize with all. Our caterer, Marcey Brownstein took care of all the details. They have a very professional and hospitable staff, and a brilliant chef!”

This was one of Gina’s favorite moments. Her groom and her sister frantically bustling her dress post ceremony.

From the beautiful bride…

“Walking down the staircase of 632 Hudson.  It was quite special because all my friends and family were lined up along the walk.”

From the bride…

“I am Japanese/Indian. My mother suggested that Indian bridal wear is more festive and colorful than Japanese, so I went with that. Ryan matched me with a white Nehru suit for the Indian portion, and a tux for the Western.”

From the bride…

“My former chef, Lauri Ditunno of Cake Alchemy, gifted us the “Swan Cake”. She had remembered everything I like from when I worked with her; pulled sugar, marbleized fondant, rose sugar flowers, individual cakes for each guest, stracciatella cake with passion fruit butter cream. The cake was a surprise to us, and surprised we were! It was amazing. Lauri has a TV show called Amazing Wedding Cakes on the WE Network, so the cake will be featured in the next season. It will be a good memory for us.”

Ohhhh… there’s something magical about a Brooklyn Bride. This wedding comes to us from the fabulous, fabulous photographer Cindy Johnson. (She photographed Rocco & Larah’s wedding in paradise) Her work is perfection. She captures details and moments that couples must be so happy to frame forever… This wedding is proof that when the weather doesn’t agree, something wonderful can come out of it! 

From the bride… “Brooklyn is a very special place for us. I met my husband there at a bar in 2005. We also got engaged on the Brooklyn Promenade overlooking the Manhattan Skyline, and shared our first apartment there together. My mother’s family also hails from Brooklyn.  In fact, my maternal grandparents had their first date at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. So naturally we chose to get married at the River Café which is a beautiful restaurant in DUMBO located right under the Brooklyn Bridge. We got married on the deck outside the Terrace room with the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan as the backdrop.” 

Proof. That rain on your wedding day can look be beautiful and magical.

From the bride… “Our wedding was very small so we tried to personalize it as much as possible. We wrote our own vows, personal messages to each other, and most of the ceremony.  My mother and I designed the Brooklyn themed table cards and our favors were chocolate cookies shaped like the Brooklyn Bridge.  A close family friend of ours who owns a flower and garden store in Connecticut did our flowers, and a close friend of mine, accompanied by a guitarist sang our first dance song and during the ceremony. ” 

From the bride… “We had decent weather for the outdoor ceremony but then there were torrential downpours for the rest of the day.  At first I was sad because our outdoor photo shoot around DUMBO was canceled. However, the rain turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to us because we had the idea to take pictures in the subway instead.  It was very wet and kind of a mess but we had a blast. People taking the subway were so shocked to see us there.  They thought we were shooting for a magazine or something. We were laughing the entire time and have received so many compliments on the pictures.”  

From the bride on her photographer… “Our photographer, Cindy Johnson was so terrific for agreeing to brave the rain-drenched subway with us. She was so energetic and fun to have around and the pictures came out beautifully. ” 

Yes… there are more.  I just couldn’t narrow them down. They’re just too beautiful. Here are some more FABULOUS photos from Rocco & Larah’s San Juan del Sur Nicaragua, wedding reception from Cindy Johnson! 

From the lovely bride…“Eventually we all went down to the restaurant for the reception, which featured seafood pasta, beef tenderloin, and grilled mahi-mahi.  We heard great speeches over both a champagne and tequila toast.”

From the bride…“Then it was time for dancing!  I danced with my father to Guns N Roses Sweet Child Of Mine.  We topped off the night with non-stop dancing until finally I donned a white bikini, stripped down the groom, and most of the wedding party found themselves in the pool. 

“Overall, the wedding was a complete fairy-tale for us and our guests.  We were skeptical about a destination wedding in a developing country, but in the end we could never have done better in the US.  It was more magical and the staff at the resort did a better job than we ever imagined.  I would do it again in a heartbeat, and feel that our entire wedding was one of the highlight of my life so far!”

Thank you again to Cindy Johnson for her AMAZING Photos! To check out more of her beautiful work check out her website!

Here are some more beautiful photos from Rocco & Larah’s San Juan del Sur Nicaragua paradise wedding, courtesy of the very talented Cindy Johnson! 

From the beautiful bride… “At 5:00, it was time for the sunset ceremony on a deck overlooking the bay.  Our close mutual friends married us in a beautiful ceremony and then we all posed for group pictures as a guitar and violin duo serenaded us.  This was followed by cocktails as night fell.”

This Real Wedding was sent to me from fabulous wedding photographer Cindy Johnson!   These are just some of the amazing photos from Rocco and Larah’s beautiful paradise wedding in San Juan, del Sur Nicaragua. Cindy also did up a killer video that I’m going to share with you too!

Rocco and Larah met in optometry school. So cute. While they were there, they took several trips to Nicaragua together for medical missions. Once they got engaged, they decided to return to the resort where they had spent so much time in the past, to get married!

From the lovely bride… “Our wedding in San Juan del Sur Nicaragua was hailed by most guests as truly the “best wedding ever.”  One guest even commented that it seemed as though we were all in a movie. The week of  February 14,  71 guests, including ourselves traveled to a small fishing town in Southwest Nicaragua, near the Costa Rican border.  Most of us stayed at Piedras y Olas Resort, one of nicest resorts in the entire country.  The resort features private villas built into a hill, overlooking the entire town and the bay.”

From the bride… “The festivities began with a welcome dinner at a local restaurant on the beach on Friday night. On Saturday morning I hosted a spa luncheon and both mothers,  my sister in-laws and matron of honor had fun getting mani/pedis and our hair done while sipping mimosas. In the afternoon, Rocco and I spent an hour on the beach with our photographer taking fun photos on the beach and in the local streets.”

More photo’s to come!