As promised, here are more photos from Jena + Ash’s amazing destination wedding. Jena brought this adorable ‘trash-the-dress’ dress, which I actually felt bad ‘trashing’ but it was all worth it! Looking at these sure make me want to go back to sunny Mexico. Enjoy.
When I close my eyes, I can still hear the ocean waves, see the pelicans fly overhead, and feel the warmth on my skin. Ahhh, Mexico… the perfect spot for a destination wedding, and that’s exactly where Jena and Ashkan chose to be married, at Grand Palladium Resort.
The day of the wedding opened up with a beautiful sunrise. I met up with Ash in the morning for his haircut, and that man was beaming! I can honestly say that I have never seen any guy being that happy, EVER! Ash opened the ring box, and talked about how his dad hand wove his wedding band; how he woke up at 4am and laid there grinning at the ceiling, thinking about the gorgeous girl he was about to marry. “Did you see Ashkan? How is he?” were the first words Jena said when I joined the girls later that morning. Her eyes sparkled with excitement. These two seriously melt me. They are ridiculously adorable together, and their personalized vows made me tear up, which, being a professional, I quickly blamed on the bright sunlight 0_o.
Their day was just perfect, filled with family and friends, laughter, good food, amazing music, hilarious speeches, and love, lots and lots of love. Jena and Ash, thank you so much for allowing me to capture your wedding day, and making me feel like part of the family. You’re just awesome!
P.s. part II with photos from the ‘day after’ is coming up shortly.
They handmade all the invitation boxes!
I LOVE these cake topper!
Sparkly shoes!
Hilarious moment, when Barcelonians started to cheer and sing on the background.
Let me run wild in Mexico and I end up walking down the aisle to the alter! On a warm evening when the last sun rays were kissing palm trees on a horizon, I walked the red carped down to the water and a lovely canopy with it’s white chiffon flowing in the wind. It was incredibly romantic and everything I imaged the wedding would be: white sand, turquoise ocean, sunset, family and friends. Perfection! Except it wasn’t my wedding! I was slightly terrified, obviously I wasn’t the bride, but it was the ONLY way to get to my destination. Thankfully, the ceremony was over and bridal party were taking photos down the beach. An uncomfortable situation successfully averted, and I got to walk down the aisle (with no one waiting for me, but still!) On that night, a boy ran by me and posed in front of the camera for no apparent reason.
I’ll start with left overs of sunrise photos without an actual sun.
The workers were out VERY early
So were the joggers
From a different morning
A coconut washed up on the shore as sun was about to set.
Pelicans were out fishing
The whole sunset was taking place behind these palm trees.
Night time on the beach
It was a full moon.
The whole idea of going to warmer parts of the world is to spend some time at the beach. Not to say that there are no beaches here, but unless you like rocks and cold water, they are not great. Upon arrival to the resort, the night has already fallen and I opted out of taking a walk down to the water. I wanted the beach to surprise and fulfil all my expectations of clear turquoise water and white sand. It did not disappoint! The call was placed to the concierge that night and the sunrise time was set. “Around 6am”, he said. Well that wasn’t precise enough for me, but due to the lack of Internet I couldn’t do any better, so 5:30am wake up time it was. Walking to the beach before sunrise in December, in shorts and a T-shirt, is my kind of HAPPY! I loved the quite atmosphere of the resort with just birds singing and caoti crossing my path that morning. The morning workers were out cleaning the pools and the beach, a few guests were out for a morning jog and about five of us gathered to watch the sunrise. Although it was pretty, it wasn’t quite as impressive as sunrises up north. The cloudless skies and constant warm weather do not make for the most breathtaking landscapes, but it is beautiful never the less. I went out three mornings to shoot the sun and a few nights to get the fading light over the water. Here are the sunrises.
Peaceful 5:30am
Waiting for the sun
Moments before
Who can spot my ND filter messing up?
Close up at 200mm.
Eyes closed, toes in sand, book in my lap, listening to the ocean sounds and seagulls… there have to be seagulls! I’ve always pictured it this way, my perfect vacation; I would spend days on the beach just reading and sipping on those colourful drinks. As I discovered, there are no seagulls in Mexico, but pelicans. I changed my mind, my perfect vacation requires pelicans. They are so much better than seagulls, for one they don’t steal your food. They also go diving for fish at sunrise and sunset and the rest of the day they ‘chill’ on the straw roof tops. I definitely heart pelicans… and mojitos, no overly sweet colourful drinks for me. My week long getaway was the first time I set foot on the ‘warmer’ parts of the world, and was it ever glorious! I probably made all my friends jealous talking none stop about the sun, sand, and 26C water. I’ll cut my ‘OMG it was the best, fantastic, most amazing, fabulous, tan-erific vacation EVER” talk, because who wants to listen to “sugar-high” kid who just got back from the candy store. Instead I’ll start with the photos of the resort. Grand Sunset Princess Resort – all taken at night on long exposures.
Main area of the resort. Food, entertainment, and reception are here.
They had a Christmas tree!
Same courtyard with fountains and sitting areas.
Additional sitting huts on the water.
Villas
They had pretty statues along the walkway.
Rooms with pool entrance.
Party/Activity pool with a bar.
Dinner was served on the beach one of the nights. Fantastic food!
