weddings in Negril,
from behind the camera.

Negril faces west, and that changes everything

Most of Jamaica's best-known wedding coastline around Montego Bay and Ocho Rios faces north. Negril faces west, into open water. It is the practical reason couples end up here for sunset, and it is also the reason the timing is less forgiving than people expect.

A north-facing beach gives you a long, gentle decline in light. A west-facing cliff gives you something closer to a switch. The hour before sunset is extraordinary; the twenty minutes after it are usable if somebody planned for them; after that you are lighting the reception, not the day.

Cliff or beach

The two settings photograph very differently and it is worth choosing deliberately rather than by venue availability.

Cliffs give you height, scale and a horizon that sits below your subjects, which is unusual and flattering. They are also narrow, uneven and windy, and every movement between locations takes longer than the map suggests. Portraits here are slower and worth the time.

Beaches give you space, easier footing and a softer, more open kind of picture. They also give you more people in the background, more reflected glare off pale sand in the middle of the day, and less protection from wind coming off the water during vows.

What we would plan around

• Build the day backwards from sunset. In Negril this matters more than almost anywhere else on the island.
• Expect wind on the cliffs. It affects veils, hair and how vows are recorded far more than it affects the pictures.
• Allow real walking time between ceremony, portraits and reception. Cliff paths are short and slow.
• If afternoon cloud rolls in, the west coast can recover late and beautifully. Do not abandon the portrait window early.

We are photographers and filmmakers, not planners — this is what we have learned standing there with a camera, not a substitute for a planner or the venue's own advice.