What fun! Destination weddings are such a great combination of vacation and celebration. Kristin and Ryan were the perfect bride and groom for a destination wedding, being low maintenance, ready to enjoy it all in the company of a wild group of friends and relatives and very good sports about photography! We had plenty of time for bride and groom photos in lots of different locations around the beautiful Iberostar resort, both before and after the ceremony and early the next morning at the trash the dress session. I will let the images do the talking….Thank you, Kristin and Ryan, we loved spending time with the two of you on your big day in Mexico!

Kristin before the ceremony…

And Ryan…

They met for a “first look” in this charming little courtyard.

And some photographs in the jungle…the iberostar is really neat because it has a wide variety of spaces.

Kristin and her attendants arriving a the ceremony location on the beach. I really don’t know how I managed to get a clean shot since the bridge was quite busy. Pretty fortunate!

A few photographs from the beach ceremony….

The sand ceremony…

Photographs after the ceremony…

We snuck out of the reception for a few fun night photographs with this carousel that Kristin and Ryan had spotted earlier in the week, what a great idea!

In spite of the wild party, the next morning Kristin and Ryan were up nice and early for a trash the dress session, I wasn’t kidding when I said the bride and groom were good sports! I think it was worth the effort!

Being a little bit allergic to perfume I guess I have never been able to get on board with the concept of aroma therapy…somehow it just doesn’t seem right that something that makes me sneeze could really be therapeutic. After photographing John and Jessica’s beautiful wedding in Careyes, Mexico I will say I am a true believer in color therapy. Actually Jessica is probably thinking about now that I want to keep her photographs all to myself…I guess they are so much fun and put me in such a good mood remembering this fantastic weekend in an amazing destination on Mexico’s Pacific coast that I have been working on them a little longer than strictly necessary! They are all yours now though John and Jessica! I hope they put a smile on your faces like they have mine! Thank you so much for allowing Lindsey and I to document such a special event, it could not have been more lovely.

The wedding ceremony and reception were held at a private villa overlooking the ocean, the next image was taken after the rehearsal at the villa.

The rehearsal dinner was held down the Costa Careyes beach at Playa Rosa, true to its name it was a celebration of pink.

The preparations and bridal party photos were done at the El Careyes Resort, a perfect location!

I love non matching bridesmaids dresses, Jessica’s color palette was brilliant!

The ‘first look’…then portraits of bride and groom and the wedding party around the resort grounds followed.

The wedding location was fantastic, it had several levels that were perfect for the cocktail hour, ceremony and dinner Julie Cambrell, a fab wedding coordinator from Colorado was on-site and made sure all ran flawlessly. The sunset ceremony…

A few details of the many details and a bit of reception action…

The next afternoon we travelled down the beach with John and Jessica to a secluded cove to “trash the dress” at sunset.

Elizabeth Medina, destination wedding photography at Costa Careyes, Jalisco, Mexico.

Dreams Tulum is one of my favorite wedding locations, I have photographed there several times but it is so amazing to see how even in a familiar location no two weddings are ever the same! Kim and I share something in common (unfortunately for me it is not being a young dark haired beauty, Kim has that one covered!) We do share our love of photography though, so it was extra fun to collaborate with Kim and Matt creating images of their beautiful wedding and the trash the dress session the next day. I wish I could post the whole wedding to the blog but here is a sample….Thank you Kim and Matt, I loved spending my B-Day with such a great group!

Pre ceremony photos, Kim and Matt chose not to see each other before the ceremony.

The ceremony, I loved this image of Kim entering the ceremony on her father’s arm.

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Just a few ceremony moments

Trashing the dress at sunrise!

Tulum Wedding Photography by Mexico wedding photojournalist Elizabeth Medina. Wedding photography in Tulum, Playa del Carmen, the Mayan Rivera, San Miguel de Allende, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta and through out Mexico.

Wow, where do I start? Kate and Bill are such a fantastic, in-love couple and it was a joy to get to know them and photograph their “big day” and trash the dress session! Kate and Bill had actually found their wedding location through a Playa Fiesta wedding on my website. How cool is that? Arriving in Puerto Vallarta the day before the wedding, Lauren and I had time for a taste of the Playa Fiesta experience…wow, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate a wedding than at this amazing wedding hotel/beach club! Within a few hours of landing in PV we had seen whales, sampled the “Kate special” (frozen virgin lime daquiri, yum) at the open bar, and had a lunch of tuna ceviche poolside (the tuna had been caught by the guys that morning!). There were even massages for the guests on the terrace overlooking the Pacific ocean…I’ll just say if you are ever invited to a Playa Fiesta wedding, don’t miss it for anything! By far the best part for us….having the honor of being chosen to document Kate and Bill’s celebration at that wonderful wedding location in Puerto Vallarta!

A few pre-wedding photos, Bill and the guys…

Kate and her girls on the way to the ceremony…

Kate had all kinds of colorful details, these handpainted maracas from PV wedding designer Mishka were a huge hit throughout the day!

I loved Kate’s excitement all through the day…the look she is giving Bill says it all!

Just a few bride and groom photos…

The reception was gorgeous I loved the colors and the details!

Kate and Bill’s first dance as husband and wife.

Yeah you guess right.. The Macarena.

A well prepared destination bride, Kate had a second dress for the reception….it was a good thing since EVERYONE ended up in the pool at the end of the night!

The next day we headed to town for the trash the dress session, I just LOVE the challenge of finding different ways to shoot in new, out of the way locations, and I love the images from this session.

We finished up on a gorgeous semi deserted beach…wow!

Puerto Vallarta wedding photographer Elizabeth Medina, wedding photojournalism in The Maya Riviera, Cancun, Tulum, Playa del Carmen, Yucatan, los Cabos, San Miguel de Allende and throughout Mexico.

Sometimes I think that the hardest part of the whole wedding for me as a wedding photojournalist is choosing out of the hundreds of images from the wedding a few favorites to represent the day. That is especially true for a wedding like Michelle and Steve´s destination wedding in Cancun. Such a fun couple to photograph and a very emotion and action packed day! The day after the wedding we got to spend more time together doing a ¨trash the session at different locations around the resort. It was s much fun to document Michelle and Steve enjoying each other in that beautiful location. Michelle and Steve, we loved spending time with you and your families, we couldn´t be happier for you! Mazal tov!

Steve´s ¨first look¨ at his bride…

We ran (literally!) across Dreams Cancun for a photo session/rock climbing adventure before the ceremony.

The Ketubah signing prior to the ceremony.

The ceremony location was the Dreams, Cancun gazebo, so pretty.

The reception in the Dreams ballroom.

The wedding band came all the way from the states, when I saw how they had everyone dancing I could understand why.

The trash the dress session the next day, also at Dreams, Cancun. Michelle and Steve were up for anything which made it so much fun!

Elizabeth Medina is a wedding photojournalist based in Mexico. She photographs destination weddings throughout Mexico including Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Tulum, the Riviera Maya, Puerto Vallarta and Los Cabos.

One aspect of destination wedding photography that I really enjoy is being able to meet people from literally all over the world who have come to Mexico to be married. What a wonderful thing! Kora and Arek’s group was very international,  with the bride and groom being of Polish descent, and it was fun to observe the warmth and spontaneity of the group! And how much kissing and dancing took place! The wedding was held on a terrace near the ocean at the Alegro Playacar in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. It was actually raining at the time the ceremony was supposed to begin, but everyone optimistically waited a bit and it cleared up and turned out to be a beautiful afternoon and evening. Congratulations Arek and Kora! It was a great honor to be your wedding photographer!

The ceremony site:

What a beautiful bride! And very calm, if you consider it was minutes from ceremony time and those are raindrops in the background!

After the rain the sky and ocean were very pretty!

We were able to do take some photographs on the grounds of the hotel before the reception began.

So pretty and peaceful!

kora’s maid of honor was so happy to catch the bouquet!

We were able to do a “day after” session the early next morning. Here are just a few images from that photo session.

Elizabeth Medina is a wedding photojournalist in Mexico, she photographs events in Cancun, Playa de Carmen, Tulum, Merida, Yucatan, Puerto Vallarta, San Miguel de Allende and throughout Mexico.