See, I wasn’t kidding about blogging up a storm! Brandy and Matt were married in a Catholic ceremony at the Our Lady of Carmen chapel on Playa del Carmen’s Fifth Avenue. The chapel is so pretty, and Brandy and Matt folloed up the ceremony with a stroll down the Quinta Avenida accompanied by a mariachi band. The reception was held at Lunata, a small “boutique” hotel, also located on the Quinta Avenida. The garden of the hotel was totally transformed through the vision of Brandy and her event designer Jennifer McCrackin with the aid of Playa del Carmen’s Ajua weddings.  Spectacular! Brandy and Matt could not be a nicer couple or seem more perfect for each other so it was an absolute pleasure to photograph their very special day.

Preparations….

Heading out to meet Matt for pre-ceremony photographs at the Royal Resort.

The beautiful bride before the ceremony.

A relaxed portrait of the groom…

The Catholic chapel, tiny but very pretty, it overlooks the ocean.

Bridal party photos at the altar don’t usually have palm trees in the background! Only in PDC!

A few detail shots of the table decoration, it was gorgeous and I know not easy to pull to in this part of Mexico.

Playa del Carmen wedding photography by Elizabeth Medina, destination wedding photojournalism in Playa del Carmen.

Did you ever waste time worrying about something that never ends up happening? The day of Zahia and Paco’s wedding the weather did not start out in a very promising way…as I drove to the beautiful Casa Faller mansion in Merida where I was to do a portrait session before the wedding ceremony it was dark and dreary, I was sure it was going to rain at any moment. I also knew that the location would be fully set up for the reception and that finding place to photograph could be difficult. Finally I was worried that the bride might not be ready in time for a complete photo session since the mass was very early by local standards and I thought if it was raining she might not even want to risk going out in the bad weather before the ceremony! When I reached the venue to my surprise things immediately fell into place. The weather cleared up just as Zahia (who looked amazing in a gorgeous Vera Wang gown) arrived. A few minutes later Paco drove up in the cutest vintage Mercedes Benz. Gracias Paco y Zahia, ¡me encantó hacer las fotografías de tan linda pareja!

The two of them seemed so relaxed and happy on their big day, it was so much fun to photograph them! The grounds of the Casa Faller looked amazing (the wedding was coordinated by Baku Events) but were indeed completely taken over by caterer Rigel Gonzalez’ very large crew, but the lovely house itself was a perfect setting for the portrait session and the family portraits that followed. Perfect!

There was time to photograph some of the details, I love those photogrpahs to include in the album,. I thought Zahia’s shoes were especially pretty.

The couple with their immediate families.

I would love to include a photograph of each of the children that participated, but this being Merida there were almost 20, I loved seeing so many familiar faces from past photo sessions and all as cute as could be!

Elizabeth Medina is a wedding photographer based in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. She photographs destination weddings throughout Mexico and is a member of WPJA, Wedding Photojournalist Association.