Happy New Year’s! A little holiday break from shooting has meant time spent editing 2011′s final weddings. I loved noticing how the last events of the year represented so perfectly a cross section of the variety of weddings photographed all throughout the year. Very different in setting, style, number of guests, degree of formality and type of ceremony, held in different geographical locations and including people from different parts of the globe, somehow all of the events seemed to be defined by the same set of key common elements; amazingly happy and laid-back brides and grooms, relaxed good times (hey, its Mexico, comes with the territory!) and of course (and hopefully our blog readers will forgive us if we do say so ourselves) some pretty sweet once-in-a-lifetime photographs to remember them by! Coming soon to the blog as we wrap up 2011 editing: beautiful events in Merida, Yucatan, Playa del Carmen, and San Miguel de Allende. To get the ball rolling, Xochitl and Israel’s lovely, long awaited Playa del Carmen wedding at the Xcaret Eco Park. Xochitl and Israel were married in what has to be one of Mexico’s most spectacular venues and incorporated colorful Mexican elements. We were able to photograph the couple on the grounds of the park, the Catholic mass and then the  beautiful ocean side reception at the Las Posas area of the park.

Xochitl and Israel, it was a joy to finally be able to meet you and your beautiful family! On behalf of team Medina congratulations, we wish you all the best! We truly hope the wedding photographs will be a special part of your family history!

All photographs (c) 2012 Elizabeth and Lauren Medina.

The Xcaret park has a small Mayan ruin, we were photographing the bride and groom when I saw something move behind them! We had a visitor!

Sorry blog readers! I know I have been a little slow in updates for the past few weeks but now the fall rush is over I am going to be updating this blog often with some wonderful and unique November and early December weddings. It will be worth the wait I promise! I hope you will bookmark and check back often! Here is a perfect wedding to get the ball rolling again.  Laura and Mark planned a spectacular event at the Xcaret Eco Park near Playa del Carmen in the Maya Riviera. I am sure their destination wedding will be talked about for quite a while, it was that memorable. Laura y Mark, estuvo increible la boda, ¡felicidades a los dos!

Before the ceremony I met Laura at the Iberostar Tucan in Playacar for some getting ready photos. She looked amazing and I loved her Pronovias gown, perfect for this beautiful Spanish bride. The rings:

The beautiful bride:

Ready to head to the Xcaret Park for the wedding…

By the time we met up with Mark the light was starting to fade, we ran (seriously) to the butterfly pavillion for a few quick photographs and then caught the last bit of daylight at the ocean.

Laura is not a fan of the “traditional” wedding photos…and of course neither am I, but I swear I couldn’t help capture this one when I saw it, it would have been a crime to not record that scene.

The ceremony site was a beautiful stone altar overlooking the ocean

El beso…

The cocktail hour was held in a location overlooking the ceremony site.

After the cocktail hour everyone walked through the jungle to the reception site, meeting up with Mayan warriors along the way.

At the end of the journey…

This was waiting…

First dance, and FIESTA….

Xcaret wedding photography by wedding photojournalist Elizabeth medina. Fotografía de boda en el Xcaret Eco Park en Playa del Carmen, México, por Elizabeth Medina.