Costa Rica -> Austin, Texas Destination Wedding
When I tell you that this photo story is about a destination wedding photographers and a rustic Texas ranch wedding, you’ll have to take me on faith for a few moments. The reason is that this story actually begins 2,300 miles away from Austin, Texas in a sleepy beach town on the northern coast of Costa Rica. Let me explain.
(This is Part 2 in a two part series about a destination wedding photography story in Austin, Texas. To go back and start at Part 1, click here.)
In February 2017 I was in Costa Rica working on a photo project. After the project was finished, I found an incredible little surf villa to call home for the week. Little A-frame cabins with thatched palm leaf roofs in a lush tropical jungle just steps to some world-class waves. The typical day involved yoga, long surf sessions, mesmerizing fish tacos, and reading in a hammock as monkeys played about in the tree canopy above.
It was here where I first met Carmen and Barrett. They were travelling on holiday from their home in Vancouver, BC, Canada. We became fast friends and shared in some epic surf sessions and other tropical adventures. A few months later I was home in Oakland, California and received an email from Barrett asking me to be their destination wedding photographer for an Austin, Texas Ranch wedding. It was an easy yes.
Destination Weddings, Trust, and More Intimate Photo Stories
I love developing deep and meaningful connections and lasting friendships with my wedding clients. It is an important part of my own workflow. I believe deeply that this type of connection contributes to better, more intimate, and more meaningful wedding photography stories. Connection leads to trust and trust is the gateway that grants a wedding photographer access to real and intimate moments of expression.
This is one reason I think destination weddings are especially fabulous. Most every destination wedding we photograph includes multiple days of photography for things like adventure portrait sessions, welcome parties, rehearsal dinners, beach and pool parties, and fun group activities like yoga or hiking or bonfires. As destination wedding photographers and storytellers, my team and I get to share many days in succession with the couple, their family and friends.
Carmen and Barret’s destination wedding celebration was at Rockin Y’ Ranch, a rustic farm property in Texas Hill Country approximately a 15 minute drive from downtown Austin. The ranch features a gorgeous farm house, a fabulous barn that doubles as event space, and thirty acres of rolling. My team and I flew from our hometown of Oakland, California to Austin on Thursday to get situated, to pick up some lighting equipment rental gear, and to do some location scouting. We always prefer to arrive at least a couple of days early for our travel and destination weddings. We hope you enjoy this selection of images from Carmen & Barrett’s destination wedding story!
“Hey Drew. THANK YOU!! We received the gallery of photos this morning and have looked through the photo story over and over again. You captured so many beautiful and funny and intimate and special moments. We read Carmen’s parents your email and showed them the early photos you sent and they said “I can see why you really wanted to hire Drew.” It was without a doubt one of the best weekends of our life and we can’t imagine having trusted anyone else to capture the story.”
– Carmen & Barrett
“Drew’s talent in creating photo stories is top level. I’m also happy to report that he is a one-in-a-million person. We met Drew randomly while surfing in Costa Rica and became fast friends. He’s just a really likable guy. This is crucial and important because you’ll be hiring a wedding photographer to be a very intimate part of your day. We couldn’t imagine having trusted anyone else to capture the story of our destination wedding.”
– Carmen & Barrett
“Drew works diligently to integrate into whatever scene he’s photographing in a way I’ve never seen before from any other destination wedding photographer. We were incredibly pleased to see the rapport we had felt with Drew immediately extended to our friends and family at our wedding weekend at a rustic ranch outside of Austin, Texas.”
– Carmen & Barrett
“As a destination wedding photographer Drew travels a lot for photo projects and we were also impressed with the excellent communication he provided during the planning for our Texas ranch wedding. We absolutely love our photos and our guests do too. Drew is professional, talented, thoughtful, creative and incredibly easy to work with. We highly recommend hiring him. Who knows, he might even throw in a few surfing tips for free.”
– Carmen & Barrett
“Thank you Drew!! It was without a doubt one of the best weekends of our life and we can’t imagine having trusted anyone else to capture our photo story.”
– Carmen & Barrett
Welcome Party & Rehearsal Dinner Venue: Rockin’ Y Ranch. Austin, Texas.
Destination Wedding Venue: Rockin’ Y Ranch. Austin, Texas.
Drew Bird is recognized as one of the top 20 wedding photographers in California and one of the top 100 Destination Wedding Photographers in the world by the Wedding Photojournalist Association. He is currently based in San Francisco and creates destination wedding photography stories for clients world-wide. Get in touch with Drew.