SARA + SILVER’S INTIMATE LAKESIDE WEDDING | NICARAGUA ADVENTURE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER | MASAYA, NICARAGUA

You guys I am so excited to share Sara and Silver’s Nicaragua adventure wedding here! I’m guessing that when you think of destination wedding locations Hawaii is probably at the top of that list. And… Nicaragua is one of those countries you aren’t totally sure where it is in Central America haha. But besides the epic landscape of this volcano-turned-lake Airbnb type venue (yes we totally did jump in the lake afterwards!), Sara and Silver’s wedding was extra special to me.

Around the time Travis and I started dating, his family adopted Sara with everything besides the legal adoption. I’d seen my future in-law’s kindness on display time and again early in our relationship. However, I could have never imagined how deeply the relationship between Sara and our family would grow. When she brought Silver on the family trip to see the solar eclipse back in 2017 we all kind of guessed he was the one. 

A few short years later as the sun danced across the volcanic landscape, my father-in-law walked Sara down the terraces of the Laguna de Apoyo near Masaya, Nicaragua to marry Silver. I’ve had the joy as a photographer to witness so many beautiful marriages. Yet I almost always get choked up during a couple’s vows. Guys, I just about lost it when Silver told Sara just how much she meant to him. (And my Spanish is far from perfect!) 

In the preparations leading up to that moment I had definitely been wearing two hats. The sister hat and the photographer hat. And because of the former I had the awesome opportunity to team shoot Sara and Silver’s wedding with the duo of Amy Cheree and Bryan from The Wild Soul Films! Check them out! It was an honor to both do Sara’s makeup and shoot details. Capture their first look and secure her veil in (because wind = amazing photos, but needing 10,000 bobby pins). And many more! But as they tenderly spoke their vows in such a profoundly beautiful setting, I fully embraced my role as sister. I seriously could not have been happier for these two. 

I always strive to tell the beautiful, meaningful, and sacred story of my couple’s wedding or elopement day through photographs. Regularly I say in all seriousness that I’m helping make memories when I photograph weddings/elopements. These images are priceless! You’ll both look back on with joy for hopefully 100+ years to come. However, when looking through Sara and Silver’s gallery the photographer in me sees a difference. There are just not quite as many of those storytelling images from their day as I normally take. 

But when I thought about it, the lack of these images does tell a story, the story of our relationship. We’re sisters. And those moments, hanging out just the two of us with no camera in my hands, are going to be just as memorable as the ones I personally captured. [But don’t worry too much., The Wild Soul Films was there to photograph all those amazing moments where I was being a sister!]

In most cases, we don’t get to choose our family, with the notable exceptions of marriage and adoption. Love is powerful. In marriage it takes two people with all their quirks and says I’m going to fight for you and choose our relationship no matter what.  Adoption is pretty much the same thing!  To love someone as a sister who’s in no way biologically related to me so much that I’m hard core tearing up as I write this, is a joy I would have ever expected all those years ago when Sara was adopted.

To my in-law’s – thanks for the opportunity to love a little bit bigger. The Wild Soul Films – thanks for being there so my sis & new brother have all the memories of their day. Sara and Silver – thanks for the honor to be a part of this first day in your grand marriage adventure. Congratulations you two!

Want to have your own Nicaragua adventure wedding, elopement, or just want some epic photos from your vacation?! From volcanos to lakes to the Pacific and Caribbean to jungle to coffee & chocolate plantations this gorgeous country has it all! Let’s get in touch and start planning your very own Central American adventure!