Today I'm sharing one of my favorite weddings still unpublished: it happened a while ago right in the middle of my own wedding planning, during the longest break I ever took from the camera after the pandemic wedding boom.

I came back for one weekend, for Emily and Taylor, and their destination wedding at Hacienda Siesta Alegre in the rainforest of Río Grande, Puerto Rico is one I still think about.

Emily grew up visiting the island. Her grandparents live here, and every trip back as a kid shaped her perspective on the world, her wanderlust, her knack for new languages, and the desire to share this magical piece of land with the people she cares about.

Her love story with Taylor started like some of the best ones: they stayed friends for years until it blossomed into romance. By the time I met them over a beer in Old San Juan, it felt like a beautiful, worn-in kind of love that comes from truly liking each other's presence, and the shared life experiences. They share a dry sense of humor and hearts full of kindness.

A Rainforest Wedding Day: Destination Wedding Photography in Puerto Rico

Hacienda Siesta Alegre is located in the lush outskirts of El Yunque National Rainforest, and on that magical September day, it held around 60 of Emily and Taylor's loved ones for an outdoor, non-religious ceremony filled with rituals that meant something for them.

They brought a Polish bread and salt ceremony into the service, a tradition where the couple shares bread dipped in salt followed by two shots, one water and one vodka. This ritual symbolizes that married life is about savoring both the bitter and the sweet moments, and facing them together.

Their ceremony also closed with a floral confetti toss at the recessional, color bursting through the air, but not brighter than the smiles that the newlyweds and their loved ones displayed.

Wedding days like theirs feel still fresh in my mind, it was one of those days were everyone is present through it all: they cried, they laughted, they sang, they held eye contact, they danced through the night during the thick, humid, unforgiving heat of September... We savored all of it, together.

And I'm so grateful for it!

xo,
Cami