Alejandro and June’s hacienda wedding in Merida, Yucatan… where to begin?  We were fortunate to spend a great deal of time with this very sweet couple, starting off the day prior to the wedding with a bride and groom photo session at the Hacienda Teya and finishing up with a visit to the happy couple on their honeymoon in Tulum! (they invited us, honest!)  The wedding day was full of photo opportunities, the bridal “getting ready” took place at the historic Gran Hotel in Merida’s “centro”, and it was so awesome that June and her party were able to literally cross the street to arrive at the Catholic ceremony at the very lovely Iglesia de la Tercera Orden. For those that are not familiar with Merida, this colonial city is home to many very special Catholic churches and June and Alejandro chose a beauty for their Catholic marriage celebration. I hope you will scroll all the way down for a little taste of the Hacienda wedding reception and the “eco chic” Tulum TTD session which was a fun adventure! June and Alex thank you so much, it has been wonderful to get to know the two of you and we appreciate all your collaboration along the way!

OK, this next image of June’s dashing groom is not going to do anything to dispel the idea that we are a little old fashioned here in Merida.  :-)

You guessed right, there is a back story for the next photograph! It seems that back in the day before June and Alex started dated Alex commented that when he met the girl who would push/jump start his old Falcon he would marry her… and you know who that beautiful girl was!

Getting ready on the wedding day, El Gran Hotel.

The next image is one of my favorites, it just says Merida to me.

Just a few images from the reception at Teya…

And finally the trash the dress session in Tulum at an eco chic hotel called Azulick…muy rustico but a great spot for June and Alex’s final photo session!

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!   :-)

I see it over and over…one thing I have always suspected about destination wedding is that one reason everyone seems to have such a good time is that the ho-hum guests probably are most likely to be the ones to stay home… Katie and John’s wedding at Dreams Tulum seemed to prove my point, this group was anything but boring! It was great to see this very high energy crowd having such an amazing time celebrating Katie and John’s marriage!

We spent quite a bit of time with Katie, the girls and her family prior to the ceremony… they were a wonderful group and having a really good time helping Katie prepare for the wedding, it was fun to document the details and general atmosphere of anticipation not to mention the beautiful bride and her friends and family.

Little did I know when I crossed the resort to meet up with John and the guys the shock that was waiting for me! I was rendered speechless! It was a huge relief to find out that cutoff jean shorts  were a joke and not the groomsmen’s ceremony attire! You would think by now I would have seen it all but apparently not!

The ceremony… beach ceremonies at Dreams Tulum are gorgeous!

The reception was so much fun, I have omitted several photos on the grounds of not imagining how to go about explaining what was going on! The wedding party made their entrance in fun sunglasses and Katie did a really cute choreographed dance with her dad and things went from there!

With 2010 here for a while and it is great to be able to share one last 2009 wedding! Thank you, thank you Angela and Chris for your patience and total lack of bride (and groom) zillaness as I slowly but surely edited the many photos from your Dreams, Tulum wedding! I will stop the chatter now and let the photos of this bright and happy destination wedding at one of my very favorite locations do the talking. Congratulations, Angela and Chris, thank you so much for letting Lauren and I photograph your beautiful and very special destination wedding!

A few details: the colors of the flower’s in Angela’s bouquet really “popped” and had to love her choice of spunky purple shoes!

Getting ready and a photograph of the beautiful bride. I can’t mention enough how much I appreciate it when the bride is able to dedicate a window of time to bridal photos before the action begins.

Angela and Chris planned to meet for a “first look”, those moments are some of my favorites from the day.

Anglela and her girls pre-ceremony.

Dreams Tulum has such serene and beautiful ceremony site!

The happy groom awaiting the ceremony…

Group hug!

During the ceremony some clouds rolled in, just enough to bring a very brief shower and an amazing rainbow!

Bride and groom, sunset beach photographs, I don’t know how it could get much better.

Luego la fiesta…con muy buen ambiente!

Destination wedding photographer Tulum Mexico. Elizabeth Medina, wedding photography in the Mayan Riviera, Yucatan, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, San Miguel de Allende and throughout Mexico.

Sunamita and I had been looking forward to doing a “Trash the Dress” photo session for almost a year. (I’m not really sure if Rob was looking forward to it or not but if not he never let on!) For those who don’t know about the trash the dress concept, the idea (as I interpret it anyway) is to be able to do a photos session that is a little more free than it would be on the wedding day, since there are no time pressures or waiting wedding guests and no need to worry about maintaining a pristine dress, hair, etc. And if the bride and groom just happen to end up in the ocean in the name of art, all the better!

When Lindsey and I met Sunamita and Rob at 6 am (yes, it was early!) in time for sunrise the morning after the wedding, the weather was not encouraging. It was very dark damp and grey, I knew the sun had to be rising but it was well hidden behind the clouds. We did some photographs around the hotel (of course we had the place to ourselves the sane people were sleeping!)

Sunamita and Rob have such a special bond between them, it is obvious right away and I think the camera could not help but capture that! Thank you Sunamita and Rob for waking up so early and for being so absolutely fabulous!

Thank goodness the sun came peeking out of the clouds…and it was a beautiful morning! The storm had washed the beach completely clean, it was an amazing. The waves were still strong and we ended the session just as soaked as Sunamita and Rob!

Elizabeth Medina is a professional photographer located in Yucatan, Mexico. She specializes in wedding photojournalistic wedding photography and is a member of the WPJA, Wedding Photojournalist Association.