Kristi and Mark were married last Saturday in a lovely gazebo at the Royal Porto Real resort in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. It is very hard to edit down so many photographs to share just a few on the blog, I hope these few will give an idea of the beautiful details and atmosphere Kristi planned for her guests as well as how relaxed and fun the day was for everyone. Another great part of the day was working for the first time with videographer Paul Shrank of Playa Weddings, his videos are the best! Mark and Kristi, lots more photographs of all the fun are coming next week, thank you for the honor of photographing your destination wedding!

Kristi and Mark right after Kristi entered the wedding gazebo.

A few moments during the ceremony.

The sand ceremony, so perfect in this setting.

I love the bridesmaids’ expressions in the this photograph.

Photos on the beach after the ceremony, Kristi never stopped smiling!

The reception was right on the beach, I think these were my favorite centerpieces ever!

A few photographs of the bride and groom at sunset.

The evening lights at the Royal Porto Real, what a setting for a party.

Kristi and Mark during their first dance.

Mexico wedding photojournalism by Mexico wedding photojournalist Elizabeth Medina. Royal Porto Real wedding photography, Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

I have been fortunate that so many of my clients are very hip creative professionals…as an architect and graphic designer both Mónica and Einar certainly fall in that category and it was wonderful to have been able to get to know them in the months before the wedding. Mexico has so many great haciendas, I was glad to hear that they chose to celebrate the reception at the Hacienda San Ignacio Tisip, I epecially enjoy wedding photography in such a beautiful, intimate setting. The wedding was great fun to photograph and although I don’t want to give anything away we have big plans for a VERY hip and creative post-honeymoon photo shoot and to design a very original album, so there is still more photography to look forward to! Here is a glimpse of just a few of the images from their wedding at the hacienda San Ignacio Tisip, outside of Mérida, Yucatán, México.

The flowers were amazing.

Bride and groom, pre-ceremony.

The moon over the palm trees…

First dance….

The two little dancers were just adorable, they would watch the ¨novios¨and imitate all their dance moves.

Hacienda wedding photography by Mexico photographer Elizabeth Medina. Fotografia de boda por Elizabeth Medina, Yucatan, Mexico.

Ever since I met Susana I know it would be a joy to photograph her wedding, first because she is a close friend of one of my favorite past couples, second because she told be right away that the photographs were very important to her, and third because she and Felipe wanted to be photographed at the beach, something that is not extremely common here in on the Gulf side of the Yucatan penninsula. This is a little look at just a few of Susana’s and Felipe’s photographs.

Desde que conoocí a Susana supe que sería un placer fotografiar su boda, primero porque es muy buena amiga de una de mis parejas favoritas, segundo porque me dijó enseguida que las fotografías eran muy importantes para ella, y tercero porque ella y Felipe pidieron hacer fotografía en la playa, algo que no es muy común en está parte de la peninsuala de Yucatán. Estos son unas cuantas fotografías captadas el día de la boda de Susana y Felipe. ¡Muchas felicidades a los dos!

For those not familiar with Mexican custom, it is very traditional to have two weddings, a civil ceremony and a religious wedding. The two can be performed on the same day, or as was the case with Gabi and Mauricio couples often have two complete wedding celebrations. I was disappointed to not be available to photograph Gabi and Mauricio’s religious wedding, but so happy that I was able to photograph the lovely civil wedding. Thank you Gabi and Mauricio, I wish you all the best!

Aquí en Mexico es muy común celebrar las bodas des veces, con una ceremonia civil y una ceremonia religiosa. Se pueden hacer el mismo día, o como en el caso de la boda de Gabi y Maurico se puede convertir en dos ocasiones especiales. Estuve triste de no estar disponible para la fecha de la boda religiosa de Gabi y Maurico, pero muy contenta de poder fotografiar tan hermosa boda civil. Muchas gracias Gabi y Maurico, ¡Les deseo todo lo mejor!

A wonderful couple, beautiful hacienda location, and gorgeous moon…what could be better for a wedding photographer? And just to keep things excitng how about a sudden rain shower during the ceremony? If I ever had doubts about whether I would risk my camera equipment to get the shot I now know the answer…it never even occured to me to run for cover when the rain started to fall during the ceremony, not while I was getting such great shots! In addition to the lovely open air ambience Guille’s event coordinators Maria del Mar Montalvo and Maria del Mar Abraham of Baku made sure that there were little details and surprises everywhere, all very evocative of Yucatecan tradition. Unforgettable!

I had the opportunity to photograph a very special, intimate, sunset beach wedding in Isa Mujeres a few weeks ago at the beautiful Villa Rolandis Resort, for one of the nicest couples I have met. We also made some amazing day after photographs very early the next morning, in non wedding clothing, and they were very definitely worth waking up early for! This couple would like to keep their photographs all to themselves, but I hope this this image of rose petals in the lovely white Isla Mujeres sand will encourage anyone who is considering a destination wedding at Isla Mujeres!

When Aydee contacted me about her wedding to Justin at the Hacienda San Jose Cholul I had the date previously reserved. I was disappointed, because the Hacienda San Jose is one of my absolute favorite places and I could tell immediately that Aydee would be a great bride to work with. I was thrilled when they asked me to shoot their portrait session the day before the wedding. It has been my experience that doing wedding portraits on a day other than the wedding is just a wonderful way to get relaxed, outstanding images, since there is no rush or nervousness like on the big day. It is a bit of an effort to plan the photo session but so much fun and I think the photographs are very much worth it. Aydee and Justin…congratulations, it was wonderful to work with you both. ¡Muchas felicidades!

There is nothing better for a wedding photojournalist than being able to use unposed images to tell the story of the real moments that make up the day. Diana and Alberto were a wonderful couple to work with, because of their gift of being completely open to the moment, as well as very much in love. It was a joy for me as a photographer to be able to capture some of their magic.

No hay nada mejor para una fotoperiodista de bodas que poder contar la verdadera historia del día atravez de sus momentos reales y espontaneos. Fue maravilloso trabajar con Diana y Mario porque ambos posean el don de gozar completamente cada momento y porque están muy enamorados. Fue una alegría para mi como fotógrafa poder captar algo de su mágia. Diana y Alberto, les felicito de todo corazón y les deseo lo mejor.

Dianna and Mario make up one of the nicest couples I have met! Their wedding was a very relaxed and easy going celebration, it was fun to witness the two of them enjoying each other and their families and friends. It was also great to see such a totally international crowd mingling and enjoying each other so much. The wedding was held in Mérida’s beautiful and historic Itzimná church and the reception at the modern fiesta Americana Hotel on the Paseo de Montejo. Congratulations to both of you!

La boda de Javier y Jimena se festejó en la Hacienda San Diego Tixcacal, esa hacienda se prestó mucho para que la boda tuviera un ambiente fuera de lo acostubrado. La misa se celebró en la puerta de la capilla antigua de la hacienda, que ahora funciona como iglesia del pequeño pueblo que rodea la hacienda. Fue una noche inolvidable con una pareja muy divertida…¡felicidades a los dos!

Jimena….ya me dijeron tus amigas que quieren ver fotos del grupo…

Lucy and Rodrigo´s wedding reception was held at the Quinta Montes Molina, one of the beautiful old mansions that line Mérida’s Paseo de Montejo. The antique mansion was decorated with a very modern ambience for the fiesta, the contrast was great! I have been very fortunate to photograph the most wonderful couples and Lucy and Rodrigo are one of my very favorites. I wish them all the best!

La fiesta de boda de Lucy y Rodrigo se celebró en la Quinta Montes Molina, una de las bellas mansiones del Paseo de Montejo, y se contrastaba de forma muy espectacular lo antiguo de la quinta con una ambientación muy moderna. He tenido la buena fortuna de fotografiar parejas maravillosas y Lucy y Rodrigo son de mis favoritos. Felicidades, les deseo lo mejor!

La boda de Juan Carlos y Ana Cristina el día 28 de octubre, 2006 me tenía emocionada desde hace un año cuando me eligieron para hacer la fotografía. Ademas de ser una pareja sumamente linda (¡y con muchísimos amigos!) habían planeado una boda muy especial en dos lugares muy históricos, la iglesia del pueblo de Cholul, Yucatán, muy antigua y restaurada de una forma preciosa, y la hacienda Chichí Suarez que data tambien del siglo XVI y es una de las haciendas mas espectaculares de Yucatán. Gracías Ana Cristina y Juan Carlos por permitirme acompañarlos.

This wedding at the Iberostar Pariso in the Riviera was all about a couple in love having fun the tropics, we thoroughly enjoyed being a part of it all!