Sofia & Pauly's Luxury Wedding at the Kampong in Miami

Jan 27

Sofia found me on Instagram and emailed me saying that she and Pauly had been dating for about a year, had just gotten engaged, and they didn’t want to wait much longer to get married. Their wedding was in less than six months and they wanted me to shoot it… in Miami! When I read her message, I totally thought it was a scam. Their date was so close AND I’d never even been to Florida before, let alone shot weddings there, so it seemed way too good to be true. But I always leave a little room in my schedule for last minute destination weddings and elopements - just in case - and I’m SO glad I had their date open because her email was definitely not a fake! I sent her a reply back ASAP and told her I’d love to come down to Miami for her wedding, and it ended up being the MOST incredible day ever.

It absolutely loved getting to go to Miami and see how differently they celebrate weddings there. Sofia and Pauly are such candid and in-the-moment people, and it was important to them to have a relaxed and chill day. They didn’t want really any posed photos at all, so I shot their wedding with a more candid photojournalistic style and it was really fun.

Sofia runs a sustainable online clothing business, so she’s super passionate about fashion and being great to the environment, and she is SO stylish! For her wedding day, she wore this incredible 3-piece Carolina Herrera bridal look from Ever After Miami that had a simple white corset top, sleek white pants, and a big flowy skirt that wrapped at the waist so you could see her pants underneath. It was SO COOL, and with her big long veil and Jimmy Choo Averly pumps with oversize asymmetrical fascinator bows on the toe and ankle, it was a whole look! All of Sofia’s friends were SUPER stylish too, and everyone was super dressed up for their wedding.

Sofia and Pauly’s ceremony was in stunning St. Hugh Catholic Church in Miami, and before the ceremony, they asked me to come stand behind them at the altar when it was time for their first kiss. They wanted me to shoot towards the crowd so they’d have a photo with all their friends and family cheering them on in the background. It was one of my favorite wedding day requests EVER and not something wedding photographers get to do very often, so I was PUMPED to take that photo for them! After the ceremony, they made a big grand exit and walked out the front doors to a crowd of loved ones waving these cute little ribbons around. The newlyweds then hopped in a private car and had their driver take them to their reception from the church.

Their reception was at The Kampong National Tropical Botanical Garden, which is essentially an indoor-outdoor mansion that was built by one of the first people who came to the area. He lived there and brought all kinds of plants and trees from all over the world and planted them to create this gigantic botanical garden, and it is truly such a beautiful place.

When Sofia and Pauly arrived to the reception, the first thing everyone noticed is that Sofia had changed into another amazing outfit on the way. Her skirt from earlier was gone and now she just wore her sleek white pants with a new corset top that was covered in feathers, and she looked GORGEOUS! She and Pauly just casually strolled in together looking like a million bucks and made a bee line right to the dance floor. They had their first dance together, and then danced with their parents right after. I loved that the reception fit the vibe of the rest of the day and was very informal and fun. It was all about the party for this wedding. The reception was filled with good food, good drinks, and lots of dancing. They even had a live performance by a fire thrower, and it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen at a wedding!

You can tell just by being around them that Sofia and Pauly are really passionate about loving each other and loving their people. Their whole wedding day just casually flowed from one part to the next, and absolutely nothing happened on time, but that was totally fine because everyone was having such much fun together and it was such a joyous day. For them, it was just a huge party with tons of family and friends involved, and at the end of the night, they even dragged me out on the dance floor with them and we had so much fun dancing our hearts out!