Simply delightful. Not sure what else to say about Luis and Yoko and the experience of being the photographer for their destination wedding in Mexico. I met Luis and Yoko way back in 2008 when they stopped off in Merida on their way to Campeche to visit the Hacienda Uayamon for the first time. There were bumps along the way and the wedding needed to be postponed indefinitely. I wondered what would happen but Luis explained that only one thing was for sure, and that was that Yoko had said that I would be her photographer. Wow. Those who have been reading this blog for a while will probably have noticed that my photographer “self promotion” skills are not anywhere near up to par… I will never claim to be a rockstar and can’t even see the point of entering photo contests so I will probably never win any awards… so even though I can see the importance of self promotion it is just not my style to “talk up” my own work.  So I hope you will keep that in mind because I am totally bragging when I say that I am extremely proud that my work has somehow earned the trust that allows me to capture some of the magic of amazing couples like Yoko and Luis. Luis y Yoko, thank you so much for your confidence, and for being such a special couple.

This ring shot is a testimony to my fab assistant Lauren’s stubbornness, it was so hard to arrange this in a way that would allow focus of both rings but she persisted and got the shot even though I told her to give up!

This was a very intimate wedding and Luis and Yoko met before the ceremony for a first look and bride and groom photos.

The hacienda Uayamon chapel, so beautiful and natural. Luis and Yoko had an authentic Mayan ceremony… this is the only time I have been called out of the post wedding family portraits and asked by the shaman to return to the ceremony site for a ritual cleansing, apparently I had stepped inside the sacred circle so it was good to know that the Mayan priest had my back.

“Real” Mexican food is amazing, the port of Campeche is famous for its seafood. Ceviche and dark beer…yum.

Hacienda Uayamon wedding photographer.

The hardest part of blogging has got to be narrowing down which images to include! I hear over and over from my clients how hard it is to choose which images from the wedding to include in the wedding album and of course I can totally relate! Amy and Marco traveled to Playa del Carmen, Mexico for their destination wedding. The ceremony was held in the little Catholic chapel on 5th Avenue. The reception had to be moved indoors due to an unbelievable amount of rain (sound familiar, blog readers? I am pretty sure at this point that we are statistically protected from ever again seeing a drop of rain at the Royal!) but that didn’t seem to dampen everyone’s enjoyment of the celebration one bit. I was very happy that it let up in time for bride and groom photos on the beach and that Amy and Marco were up bright and early for a fantastic trash the dress session the next morning. Guess I better stop the chatter because I know Amy and Marco must be ready to finally see some photos!

First I’ll share a little morning after TTD beauty…

And the wedding day itself…

Everyone broke out in laughter when Marco pulled out “the ring” the ceremony was pretty solemn and it took everyone by surprise!

Breaking the blog rules by posting two ring shots!

La Fiesta…mariachis, tequila, and all around good times.  We were disappointed that the beach reception was not possible due to the weather, but the guests may not have even noticed the change of venue!

Maybe it has to do with lunchtime being almost here, but I can’t help but thinking of Ky and Cody’s destination wedding in Mexico as just plain delicious. So much yummy color and texture and of course such a sweet, sweet couple! It is no secret by now that I am always delighted to have the Hacienda Uayamon as my photographic playground. What is a little hard for me to wrap my brain around is the idea that I have the privilege to be photographing amazing couples who have found, chosen and traveled long distances to such a remote location after falling in love with it through the photographs on this very blog. Ky and Cody, I appreciate so much all you did to make the hacienda wedding a reality, I loved spending the day with the two of you and your families, thank you so much for appreciating my vision and  letting me be part of your wedding.

Ky looked amazing…

The “first look” brought on a few tears.

We were able to do quite a bit of photography of the bride and groom around the grounds of the hacienda.

Gotta love all the color and how it “popped” against the backdrop of the rustic hacienda walls.

Cody spotted this little ‘tortulita” sitting quietly right above the spot where we were photographing.

Bride and groom taking a little break…

The ceremony was held in the ruins of the chapel, I think this site is simply magical.

The reception was set up in the hacienda grounds, and of course the use of color was again evident.

I love the next image of the intimate dinner served under the giant Ceiba tree, it really evokes to me of how it felt to be there.

Elizabeth Medina is Mexico´s premier wedding photographer. Specializing in destination weddings she covers events in Yucatan, Campeche, Mayan Riviera, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, San Miguel de Allende and throughout Mexico.

I guess it probably goes without saying that participating in a destination wedding in the Mayan Riviera is a fantastic experience. Bringing together so many unbeatable elements…travel, love, happiness, fun people, sun, ocean, sand, and of course an amazing fiesta…I guess it would be hard to go wrong with that recipe! Oh and I almost forgot… if you are the bride and groom and so inclined you can top it all off by “trashing the dress” on a gorgeous beach the next day. Blog readers get ready because this little photo blog is going to be on fire in the coming weeks with photographs of some amazing destination weddings at the most incredible locations!

Jehda and Ken were married at the Paradisus Resort, one of my favorite locations, and in addition to the Paradisus’ team they had the assistance of ace professional wedding planner Yazmin de la Mora in making sure that every detail went smoothly on the big day. All in all it was a lovely day as I hope the day’s imagery will attest.

Jehda and Kenneth decided just a day or two prior to the ceremony that they would like to do a “first look”, and then do some photographs with their wedding party prior to the ceremony. Although it was a bit warm, (OK, that should read it was really, really hot!) this turned out to be a very good call because the ceremony ran a little longer than expected leaving a pretty tight window of daylight for after ceremony photos. It also freed up time for Jehda and Ken to enjoy part of the really fun cocktail hour with their guests.

The next two images are really two views of the exact same moment! Lauren and I seem to have each hit the shutter button of our cameras from slightly different perspectives at just the same very sweet second. The first is mine and the second Lauren’s.

The ceremony was held on the beach, such vibrant color!

In the months leading up to the wedding I got to know the groom, JP, pretty well, we chatted several times on the phone as the plans for the wedding at one of my very favorite venues, the JW Marriot Cancun came together. Up until a few days prior to the wedding I had not really had any contact with Carolina. I assumed that JP was doing most of the wedding legwork, and that Carolina was either too busy with work to do much wedding planning or maybe she just wasn’t that in to the photography aspect. As one who often needs to do a fair bit of delegating on a daily basis this hypothesis seemed logical, but actually it could not have been more wrong! Carolina turned out to be a star wedding planner and all about doing whatever it takes for great photos, it was a lot of fun to see how the details came together and photograph in some off the path locations that she had scouted. Lauren and I were very happy to get to know Carolina and JP and their group and are very excited about the photos both of the event at the JW Marriott as well as the TTD session at Secrets Maroma beach.

The ceremony was held at the gazebo, it was a little windy that day, but so pretty!

The reception decor and some of the action,the wedding guests had front row seats to a spectacular view of Cancun’s tuquoise water.

Just a few images from the TTD session, this session was done at Secrets Maroma Beach, what a gorgeous resort!