Bryan Morris - Aruba’s Premier Wedding Photographer

In my five years shooting weddings full time. I’ve learn that the way packages are setup by the various wedding planners is that they offer photography at one location with always the option to upgrade which however is very seldom enforced.

A bride having a visual of a beach ceremony in her mind almost always choose for photography at the beach. This is not their fault, they should be educated by their wedding planners on the beauty of our City Hall downtown.

Brides approach a civil ceremony on Aruba with a preconceived notion that the ceremony is the same as in their hometown. Just get into a pale office, sign these papers and we’re out of here.

Permit me an attempt to describe to you how this visual is as far from the truth as the east is from the west.

I’ll be displaying a few images of the building and then a few portraits shot in and around the building.

This is the front section of the house this is currently being used as the exit after the ceremony

This is a close up on the exit of the City Hall (Entrance of the house)

This is a side view of the house.

This is the current entrance of City Hall.

This is the view of inside, standing in the door.

This is the inside from behind the seat of the registrar.

These are images during the ceremony. Notice carefully that the images are a bit warm that’s because of the incandescent lights in the hall. It can be cooled down digitally but I like the warm feel the lights give the images, therefore I don’t do much alterations.

Images taken in the garden of City Hall.

This is the rear section of City Hall.

This wall is off to the left of this section in the image above this.

The many possibilities with these red colored walls.

This wall is literally 20 feet across the street from the rear section of City Hall.

OMG! That was my expression at the beginning of the wedding season when I saw this wall. This was once a screaming green backdrop and they’ve now decided to paint it this color. Bummer!

This is not even 2 minutes walk across the street from the orange wall. The possibilities here at the Willem III Tower are endless. You can shoot in and around of the building if your photographer would ask politely.

These were all taken at the Willem III Tower either inside or outside of this building.

Now you should have an idea of the many photographic opportunities in and around City Hall in downtown Oranjestad.

In conclusion of this three part series of “To marry or not to marry at City Hall”, I would say To marry, but not only to marry but have a reputable photographer to cover this event.

Blessings,

Bryan Morris

I’ve had an interview with Mr Cayetano “Betto” Christiaans at the City Hall downtown Oranjestad, Aruba. I’ve had a great time getting information from Mr Christiaans, this is the first of a three part series.

Enjoy,

Bryan Morris

Bryan: How long ago was the building restored?

Mr. Christiaans: October 1997

Bryan: The area that weddings are conducted now, what part of the house was this?

Mr.Christiaans: This was the living area

Bryan: When did Aruba open up for destination weddings?

Mr. Christiaans: January 1, 2002

Bryan: How many weddings are done per year?

Mr. Christiaans: Anywhere between 800 and 900

Bryan: That’s all?

Mr. Christiaans: Yes, in 2002 was the only year the wedding count went over the thousand mark.

Bryan: What percentage are destination weddings?

Mr. Christiaans: About 40% are destination weddings

Bryan: Explain the procedure of getting married from the beginning to end.

Mr. Christiaans: Contact me (Betto Christiaans) and register 20 days prior to wedding date, fax all documents, if they’re OK, you can either ship the originals or bring them as you come to the island.

Bryan: What is your preffered manner of shipping the documents?

Mr. Christiaans: FEDEX

Bryan: What’s the ship to address for the documents?

Mr. Christiaans: Att. Betto Christiaans, Schoolstraat 2, Oranjestad, Aruba

Bryan: Do you offer the services of providing witnesses and what’s the cost?

Mr. Christiaans: Mondays to Fridays we can provide you with witnesses between the hours of 10 AM to 12 Noon and 1 PM and 3:30 PM. This service is free. Gratuity is appreciated.

Bryan: Is there a preferred time of day or day of the week to have a wedding?

Mr. Christiaans: No we are open from Monday to Friday office hours so anytime then it’s OK, we also open on Saturdays upon request but that has an additional cost.

Bryan: What’s the cost of a civil wedding?

Mr. Christiaans: $150 including ceremony, wedding book, certificate of translation, verification apostille. This is the price for during the week and in the weekend it’s $275.

Bryan: Seeing that most wedding planners just offer one hour of photography, the couple rather use that one hour for the beach, having in mind that the civil ceremony is similar to back home in the US, Canada or the UK in a white office, just sign papers and that’s it. What would you say to anyone considering photography only on the beach?

Mr. Christiaans: It’s a beautiful building with a lot of history, very colorful in a tropical setting. So, great for pictures.

Bryan: Getting this information of a civil ceremony out, what would you like to stress to the potential or future brides having a civil wedding on the island?

Betto: It’s an honor to marry you here in our beautiful City Hall. The process if very easy, Just get me all the necessary paperwork and I’ll be happy to process it for you and ultimately marry you.

Bryan: Do you have a website or an email address?

Mr. Christiaans: I do have an email address, cayetano.christiaans@aruba.gov.aw

Bryan: Mr Christiaans, it was a pleasure to spend some time with you and discuss a little about what you do. Thank you very much for all your help.

Mr. Christiaans: Bryan, the pleasure was mine; thanks for assisting in every which way you can in getting the word out there.

I also walked away with a list with the requirements needed to get married here on the island.

1. Birth certificate of the couple (With names of the parents) and furnished with an apostil given by the secretary of state where the birth took place.

2. A declaration of unmarried (A search given by the department of health)

3. If you were married before, a divorce certificate or death certificate of your previous spouses with an apostil also.

4. Copy of your passports

5. Letter of intent to marry

6. Copy of passport of two witnesses

7. All these documents should be faxed into Mr. Christiaans with your registration latest 20 days prior to your intended date to marry.

I’ve had the honor and priviledge to cover the elopement of Lori and Scott at the Civil Town Hall in downtown, Oranjestad, Aruba.

Lori is the artist, she creates jewelry, crafts, enjoys painting and reading and of course who can pass up a day at the beach.

Now Scott enjoys his big boy’s toys. He’s into ATV’s, dirt bikes, jet skis and his Jeep Wrangler that he runs around the farmland that they live on in rural Ohio.

Scott asked Lori to marry him since Christmas Eve 2004. They’ve been together 3 years previous to that. The idea of an elopement on Aruba was birthed after getting a week stay in a condo on Aruba as a gift. Lori thought “Why don’t we make this a wedding moon?” This happy couple has been together for 7 years and they enjoy quiet, peaceful nights with a fire by the pond and driving their Jeep with the top of on warm summer days.

Upon asking Scott what does he like most about Lori, Scott replied with a politically correct response “I like everything about Lori” we do know that he has a or maybe a couple favorites, right Scott?
Like a true lady, Lori’s response to the same question about Scott was: “I love Scott’s smile and laugh the most. We laugh together every day and I think that’s why we’ve been together for so long.”
Lori and Scott it was an absolute pleasure documenting this very important day. Thanks for allowing me into your lives.

Blessings,

Bryan Morris

If you didn’t have enough you can see more here.

I need you to listen to the words of the song, this is Lori’s current favorite and it’s great. I really like it!

Annika Eriksson & Henric Lööv has been together for three years. Previous to that they have been friends and colleagues working in the finance and sales department respectively. Relationships at work were absolutely not permissible, so the relationship remained undisclosed for quite some time. They’ve however had some great times at work as a couple, picture sneaking around like James Bond to meet at their secret place during work. Their bubble was busted when both of them requested vacation at the same time and both came back tanned to work.

Last year on the way home from work they’ve passed a jewelry store and Henric asked Annika if she would like to go inside and see what they have. This was carefully orchestrated by Henric to ask Annika to marry him and of course Annika agreed to do so.

They wanted to get married on an island with white beaches and a lot of sun far from their home, Sweden, so they’ve decided on Aruba. Bucuti Beach Resort is their host and Nashette Wouters of the Bucuti did a great job organizing a very simple but yet sentimental ceremony at city hall. I’ve traveled quite a bit around town with them to get  some beautiful backdrops.

I’ve had a great time with Annika & Henric, and I’ve learned that Henric loves a fast motorbike, the thing that stood out most was it’s not only Henric that’s fascinated with a fast ride but guess who else…… OH, yes, you guessed it right.

Annika and Henric, all the best. Know that this is now your home away from home.

I have a few images below. CLICK here for more images.

Blessings,

Bryan Morris

Are they really?

I wonder who’s the dishonest person that came up with that quote. Anyway, there’s none of that here. I’ve promised you that I’ll be featuring a few weddings from last year that I haven’t blogged. So, with no further ado, I present to you Mrs and Mrs Eklund. They were married on the beach at the Divi, the ladies of Aruba Weddings For You, again did a superb job with the setup.

Nina Boo and Stefan Eklund came all the way from Sweden to promise each other an eternal life together. We really appreciate the fact that they’ve chosen Aruba our island for such an important milestone in their life. And above that I’m elated that I was chosen to document the event.

I don’t take it for granted when people come from abroad to get married on Aruba. They could’ve chosen anywhere else.

They are really in love and easy going, this really shows in the images that we’ve captured. They didn’t mind getting low to get some different angles.

Blessings,

Bryan Morris

I’m debating for some time already to place a slide show of the best of 2007 weddings on the blog. I’ve been through the treacherous task of selecting images, but I was not satisfied with just a selection. So I’ve now decided that every so often I will post a few images of the weddings I did last year. Today is the day for the first one.

Meet Elizabeth Reiter and John Verderber who at the end of the ceremony was Mr & Mrs Verderber.

John seeing Elizabeth walking down the aisle for the first time.

Elizabeth making her way down the aisle on the beach smiling with John

An aerial shot of the ceremony

This is my most favorite shot, the kiss in flare ala Jessica Claire.

A detail shot of the flowers

Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who’s the most beautiful of them all.

A little tongue action at sunset on the beach

Smash the cake!

Clean up the cake

Cheers to the marriage!

Be blessed,

Bryan Morris

On December 7th, 2007, Juan Martis & Sharline Ras were joined in holy matrimony at Corporate Impact Ministries. Pastor Harold F. Grant was the officiant.

This was my very last wedding for 2007.

The wedding in itself was very intimate, just close friends and relatives. I’ve just covered the ceremony, that was followed by a family dinner.

A few days after they went on a well deserved honeymoon.

I’ve gotten a few minutes with them to create a few portraits before the ceremony.

Sharline feeling all confident with her man.

Sharline walking down the isle with her dad.

Sharline’s dad handing her over to Juan.

Juan & Sharline walking down the remaining of the isle.

At the altar

This is the shot I like the most. This is at the altar taken through some decorations.

Juan Stuttering through the vows.

Sharline laughing at Juan stutter.

Lighting of the unity candle.

Juan placing the rings on Sharline’s hand.

Sharline showing Juan how serious she’s taking this commitment.

The Kiss……

Blessings,

Bryan Morris