Starting the year off right… Mattie and Julian’s lovely destination wedding in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico was our first of 2011 and photographing this couple’s big day got the new year off to a great start! Mattie and Julian and their group of family and friends home base in Mexico was the Dreams Puerto Vallarta Resort. On the day of the wedding the group traveled by boat to Las Caletas, a beautiful secluded inlet where Mattie and Julian would be married on the beach and later dance the night away. I would love to include this wonderful couple’s entire destination wedding on the blog but since that is impossible here is a glimpse…

The scenery on the boat ride to Las Caletas was breathtaking.

Arriving at Las Caletas…

Mattie and her girls arrived early and had time not only to prepare for the wedding but also to relax and enjoy the beauty of the island and the bridal “casita”.

No bridezilla here!

Las tres hermanas….

Mattie and her girls….

Meanwhile Lauren captured this image before departing Puerto Vallarta with the groom’s party and wedding guests.

Mattie and Julian did not see each other before the ceremony, I was very happy to be able to capture these bridal images of Mattie in the  jungle as the groom and guests arrived at the island.

The birght ceremony details were very lovingly planned including hand painted maracas to shake at the kiss, Mexican papel picado banners, and bright and colorful pashminas, all in the weddings starfish theme.

Bride and groom’s first glimpse of each other at the altar and ceremony moments….

The reception atmosphere was so pretty with many, many candles.

Las Caletas has the very best fire dancers I have seen and Mattie and Julian were very brave!

Lauren and I met up with Mattie and Julian the next afternoon for some day after photos starting on location in Puerto Vallarta and finishing up on a nearby beach at sunset.

Elizabeth Medina is Mexico’s premier destination wedding photographer, photographing weddings throughout Mexico in locations including Puerto Vallarta, the Riviera Maya, Cancun, San Miguel de Allende and Los Cabos.

As a wedding photographer I think I can tend to have one foot firmly planted in the future. Going over details with couples who have reserved dates for our upcoming weddings or chatting about availability with prospective brides and grooms means that at any given time my agenda is more likely to be flipped open to a date months away than the actual week in progress. Maybe this futuristic reality is one reason I look forward the chance to hit pause and thankfully reflect on the previous year’s weddings. Revisiting moments from our 2010 weddings (as I hope my amazing 2010 brides and grooms will continue to do for years and years with their own images!) brings back especially vivid memories, each chapter of 2010 was unique and special and each couple oh so very  inspirational!

Warning, this sideshow goes by quickly, but then of course so did 2010! All slide show images Elizabeth, Lindsey and Lauren Medina. Music by the very talented Tiger Darrow is featured with our gratitude. (Regular blog readers will remember Tiger from Ember and Jon Paul’s Mexico wedding). If you love Tiger’s song as much as I do be sure to check out Tiger’s new albums!

Elizabeth Medina is Mexico’s premier wedding photographer, photographing weddings in the Yucatan, Mayan Riviera, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Costa Careyes, San Miguel de Allende and Los Cabos.

This blog post is the last to feature a 2010 event and is all about enjoying a taste of Mexico’s natural beauty with a wonderfully sweet newly wedded couple. First we played in the jungle and the waters of a cenote near Akumal and then as the sun set it was time to travel down the coast for photos on a secluded Tulum beach. Krista and Mark… we loved our adventure with the two of you, but maybe I should have just kept quiet about the catfish!   :-)