This blog post is not going to be short on images!

Years ago at a wedding I met Karyna and Joe. When she became engaged last year she called me about photographing her wedding but it was not going to be a typical wedding. It was going to be a destination wedding on Isla Mujeres in Cancun Mexico. I was so excited for the opportunity to cover her special day and create images that are impossible to get in the Bay Area. I was also getting the opportunity to get a little vacation, and for those that know me, they know I work constantly so a vacation was a good idea!

We had a great engagement session in Santa Cruz, also on the beach but the water was much colder and not anywhere as clear as Mexico’s beautiful beaches. To say the least, this wedding I thought about every day because I knew it would be in paradise.

When we arrived at Privilege Aluxes Resort on the Island, I even became more excited. The rooms were ultra modern and the town was so cute with shops, restaurants, and an island vibe that is really my style. Karyna and Joe had a welcoming party for all their guests and we got a chance to meet their family and friends. I ate a lot of guacamole.

On the day of the wedding the clouds looked dark and ominous. Then it started to rain. It rained hard and it did not seem like it was going to stop. I was starting to believe this wedding would be shot underneath a canopy and that I would be running with camera in hand through the rain just to get down to the ceremony site.

As Karyna finished getting ready the rain let up, the sun came out a bit, and the wedding plan was to go forward and have the ceremony on the beach! Yay! Karyna chose a beautiful lace dress and we got a ton of amazing images as she prepared for her day.

Meanwhile Natalie covered the Groom and his buddy as they went around town looking for a pink golf cart that we would eventually use for their day after shoot that we did in the town of Isla Mujeres. Once the bride and groom were both ready we did a “First Look” in a nice private area of the resort.

The ceremony was perfect and almost no bi-standards got in our shots or anything! The portraits we took after the wedding are some of the best I have ever shot to date. The lighting was perfect, the clouds added some nice texture to the sky, and with a little off camera flash, we could makle the colors pop and create that highlight that I really like in my images.

The reception was an amazing party with speeches, cake, dancing,  and drinking. We ended the night with some more shots by the ocean with some very slow shutter speeds so we could get the clouds to appear in the background.

Isla Mujeres is now one of my favorite places to photograph weddings. We encourage any bride that is considering a destination wedding in Mexico to give Wedding Documentary a call. We are only a five hour flight away and we make it very affordable for brides to bring us down to Mexico to photograph their weddings.

We loved working with wedding coordinator, Elba Machado. She was so helpful and really helped moved the day along smoothly. Also, Karyna’s makeup artist, Anne Marie Cote of BeautifulBride did an awesome job and was really cool.

So without further ado, I hope you enjoy a ton of images from this very special wedding. We are so fortunate to get this opportunity and wish Karyna and Joe many happy years of bliss!

Adios!