Von Jover of Pleiocene Pictures, based in the Philippines, knew he and his team of shooters would be a good fit for this couple, who were referred to them by a local wedding coordinator after bride Grace and groom Jonas (a film director) expressed interest in a more artistic approach to their wedding coverage.

As a photographer, Jover is more accustomed to moving “with the model’s natural inclinations,” he says. “In this case, Grace the bride was the model and I found that she was more comfortable with me giving her movements rather than directly posing her. It made a world of difference in the way we made the portrait shots.”

In fact, this is one of the things that stood out most to Jover in shooting this wedding: The bride was a total natural, and “incredibly good” at moving and interacting with the camera. “I found it easier to draw out the beauty and emotions of the whole day because of her,” he says.

Natural posing and photogenics were certainly good for Jover, but he and the wedding party were less fortunate when it came to weather. “We were facing a bit of a cloudy day, so the guests were forced to move to the hotel’s restaurant area during the evening as a rain shower passed by,” Jover recalls, “but as soon as it was over, they went right back to the reception area on the beach front and continued partying. It was wild.”

Jover would be remiss to not mention another memorable moment: when the groomsmen wore wetsuit tuxedos in the evening—check them out in the party shots.

GEAR FOR THE DAY

Cameras: Canon 6D (x3), Nikon D810 (“The groom had some Nikon film lenses,” Cover says, “so we used this for that one too.”)

Lenses: Sigma 20mm f/1.4 Art, Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art (x2), Canon 50 f/1.2 L, Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art, Sigma 85mm f/1.4 Art (x2), Sigma 105mm f/2.8 Macro, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8

Submit your wedding to Rf editor-in-chief Jacqueline Tobin or features editor Libby Peterson for a chance to get featured here.