I think every bride and groom envision a sunny day for the wedding, Alex and Eric certainly had theirs! As corny as it sounds sometimes you just feel the love and happiness all through the day, and it was great to witness such a large group of the bride and groom’s friends and family who had not only made the trip the attend this destination wedding in but who truly seemed to be thrilled for Alec and Eric and enjoying every single second to the maximum. Such a great party!

The Fairmont Mayakoba is a really unique setting, fantastic architecture and jungle vegetation overlooking the Mayan Riviera, it seemed like the perfect venue for this Mayan Riviera destination wedding.

The first look: this is usually the only time of the day that I am in charge of setting up… so I tend to get into it and my inner movie director takes over! At this wedding I once again had the assistance of wedding photographer Hiram Trillo. His second shooter/wife Nancy (that should probably be reversed, pretty sure the wife part comes first) was also helping out and so it was really fun to find a location that allowed the Alex and Eric’s encounter to be captured from three very different vantage points. Very cinematic if I do say so myself. (how embarrassingly geeky is that anyway?) Erin’ s approach was captured by Nancy.

And the following from Nancy’s vantage point across the river.

A few wedding party photos:

The beach ceremony, Alex and Eric brought down a rabbi, from what I understand they are very hard if not impossible to find in the Cancun Mayan Riviera area.

There goes the veil!

I love the next image!

Mariachi photo by Hiram.

The decor was fantastic, Alex and Eric choose to use white flowers for the beach ceremony and red for the dinner reception. The rich red flowers really complemented the Mexican themed table decorations and wedding favors (talavera pottery shot glasses). Muy bonito!

First dance:

I loved Hiram’s photo of the father, daughter dance, great capture!

And of course we love the Hora!

Mexico’s premier destination wedding photographer Elizabeth Medina photographs weddings in Yucatan, Campeche, the Mayan Riviera, Cancun, Tulum, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, San Miguel de Allende and Puerto Vallarta.

I have always enjoyed the weddings I have photographed at the El Dorado Royale resort, in part because of the incredibly lush natural beauty of the resort and also because everyone seems so happy there! I was especially looking forward to this wedding since I had not photographed at this location for almost a year. It was such a pleasure to return with such a wonderful bride and groom. I loved the decor and colors chosen for this wedding, it probably would have never occurred to me to choose red for a beach wedding but wow, it certainly worked! Caitlyn and Ryan, thank you for being such a happy couple, and for your patience as we slowly edit our way through this busy season, slideshow and gallery to follow tomorrow!

This wedding was special because we had a ¨guest photographer¨, fellow wedding photographer Hiram Trillo came down from Texas to give us a hand with a couple of weddings. The following shot of the groom prior to the ceremony is from Hiram´s camera. Gracias por todo Hiram!

The next image is from Hiram´s camera, such a peaceful moment.

The following image is mine, I loved seeing that our interpretations of the same moment were so dissimilar.

The reception site, just a few feet from the ocean.

Elizabeth Medina specializes in destination wedding photography in the Riviera Maya, Tulum, Cancun, Yucatan and throughout Mexico.

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!

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!

I really never thought I would be mentioning snow in the context of wedding photography in Mexico, but thinking about Scott and Sara’s big day reminds me that weddings are a little like beautiful snowflakes in that no two are ever alike! (another similarity that occurs as I edit a mountain of images this week is that as beautiful as they both are, neither a pile of weddings or a pile of snow is very easy to dig your way out of!)

If I had to list one skill that is important in photography I would have to say the ability to be truly observant. That may seem obvious, but it can be so easy for us to get caught up in recreating a preconceived idea, following the latest trends, or worrying about the camera and lighting technology or a million other things and end up overlooking the moments that can tell the story.

Sara and Scott and their group traveled from Canada for an intimate destination wedding. The couple was very creative in making use of several different areas of the Grand Sirenis resort and the hotel’s architectural details and the natural beauty of the Mayan Riviera coastline combined to provide a striking context for the wedding  photographs. Thank you Scott and Sara!

Sara and Scott did not see each other before the ceremony, as they waited to enter I thought Scott had a lot of discipline not to turn around a take a peek at his bride!

The dance reception was held in a very breezy palapa right on the ocean, this is a really nice spot, very private and peaceful.

Elizabeth Medina is a wedding photographer located in Yucatan, Mexico, photographing weddings in the Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen, Cancun, Yucatan and throughout Mexico.

Dreams Tulum…what can I say, I have never really learned too much about Feng Sui but having visited Dreams Tulum several times now I am pretty sure that this place has a special energy….maybe floating over from the Mayan ruins down the beach in nearby Tulum. Each wedding I have photographed at Dreams Tulum has truly been a dream. Kimberly and Farid’s, where to start? Such a beautiful couple and so happy together. I love it when couples choose to see each other prior to the ceremony for a “first look”, I think that somehow it can actually be even more emotional to have that moment separate from the first ceremony moments, very intimate and special. I was so happy that Lindsey and I were able to document the first moments when Kimberly and Farid saw each other as bride and groom. Time must have stood still, because there are so many photographs. I think we could make a whole sideshow of our photographs of just that sequence alone! (And in case anyone is wondering, there were still tears left for the ceremony.)   :-)  Kimberly and Farid, thank you for allowing Lidnsey and I to photograph your destination wedding, it was unforgettable!

Elizabeth Medina wedding photojournalist, specializing in destination wedding photography in Mexico. Elizabeth Medina photographs weddings throughout Mexico for the world’s best couples.