It was an unexpectedly thrilling day for Canadians Kelly Johnson and Brent Tomlinson when they they put the official seal on their lives together. Kelly and Grant’s wedding day in the scenically rich island of Saint Lucia saw them exploring more than the average tourists complete with cliffs, a machete, a waterfall, a trashed wedding dress and a lost wedding ring.
It was however all part of the mystic that attracted the two to Saint Lucia, as Kelly explained. “I just think Saint Lucia has so much more to offer than the palm tree pictures you find at any resort.” She looked for a photographer to focus on their wedding differently and found St. Lucia Wedding Photographer Bill Mortley.

“He popped up everywhere. I looked at http://www.billmortleyphotography.com and really liked the pictures, the reviews, everything was really great.” Bill Mortley proved he was up to the challenge in the most exciting way. “The photo-shoot was one of the more entertaining parts of my day,” says Brent.

“Bill explored every possible option to get the best pictures.” “The day couldn’t have gone better,” Kelly agrees. “We were so excited with the places that we got to go and the pictures are phenomenal, super original.

Bill is awesome; he is very easy to talk to. He drove us to some really neat places. Everybody was so welcoming. He asked someone whether we could use their driveway and next thing you know we’re up on the balcony and then they let us walk through their house to their backyard to take better pictures. “The favourite part of my day is when we walked down at Dennery to go to the cliffs there and this guy said ‘oh I’ll come help you’ and he put on his rubber boots, got a machete and a hammer and got us through.” Kelly thoroughly trashed her wedding dress, with Brent cheering her on. He said, “When we got to the spot we were overwhelmed by the beauty and I was all for trashing the dress.”

In the excitement Brent lost his ring at the bottom of the waterfall. “The water was clear enough that I discovered it in five minutes but I aged ten years.” In that regard Brent was luckier than his father, who never recovered his wedding band lost on the beach of the Couples Resort. That same resort, now Rendezvous after several renaming over the years, is where Brent and Kelly got married.

Fishing is a longstanding tradition in the scenic town of Soufriere, at the southern tip of Saint Lucia. Fishing is also a big deal for Daryl Solomon and Carmen Sultana, and the town, which shares that passion, was an appropriate spot for them to be finally joined in marriage. Saint Lucia’s second town hosted what was the second wedding for both 49-year-old Carmen, and 51-year-old Daryl. They observed the formalities at Villa Colibri a lovely cottage in Soufriere. Bill Mortley photography captured all their special images with their loved-ones, including Carmen’s three children Veronica, Matthew and Miranda. Being wed in Saint Lucia was an easy choice for the couple. “We knew we wanted someplace special” says Daryl, an environmental engineer from New Jersey, who shares a love of the sea and adventure with Carmen, an OB/GYN Physician from Philadelphia.

The two met online on www.plentyoffish.com. Carmen says, “I was looking for someone who owns a bog boat and Daryl was advertising online that he had a boat and he also liked to go skiing and fishing and running and everything that I like to do.” Daryl agrees, “We both had the same activity list, same things about each other we both liked.” “Plus I liked his picture he was very handsome,” says Carmen but Daryl hints that she was fishing for a little more, adding “In my pictures I didn’t have any shirts on.” The two have had two years of getting to know each other although Carmen says she knew Daryl was IT “By the first real date”. There was a mutual attraction initially but they say it took a couple of dates before they actually kissed. Not because of the shirt but extra caution over the flu. Daryl put his best foot forward at their first meeting, he says, “So she wouldn’t run screaming, I wore my best shirt,” but she says, ‘It was old flannel shirt… When I decided that he wasn’t crazy I gave him my phone numbers.” “I told him I had three kids and he didn’t run away,” says Carmen but the deal was sealed on a trip to a family wedding. Daryl says, “We pretty much knew that we worked well together through stressful times and non-stressful times. And we helped each other. Also at the same time I knew there was a possibility of learning from each other and growing not just staying complacent.” There was definitely no sitting around on the one week island wedding vacation. Carmen and Daryl explored the Soufriere waterfalls, volcano and hot Sulphur Springs. The two lovers of fishing also enjoyed being surrounded by the ocean.