Today, we travel to Cancun for a lovely destination wedding!  I love these photographs by Jessica at JM Photography.  You can tell that the couple is so in love and so excited to get married.. especially in this tropical destination!  The couple exchanged vows in front of a small group of family and friends at Moon Palace Resort & Spa (an awesome all-inclusive). Here’s what Jessica had to say about photographing this wedding:

“I first photographed Shelby & Jeff a few years ago when Jeff was getting ready to deport for Afghanistan. Shelby wanted some photos of them together before he left, not knowing exactly when he would be returning home. When I got an email from her asking me to photograph their destination wedding in Mexico I was beyond excited to be with them on this joyous occasion!
I was truly inspired by the Moon Palace resorts location! Its not on the main strip in the hotel zone of Cancun, Mexico. To the contrary, you really feel like your tucked away at this very private resort. There are no other hotels in the background of your beach shots and they have a beautiful grassy area on one side of the beach as well. Truly a photographers dream!

My suggestion to other couples getting married there would be to plan a day after or trash the dress session. Like many weddings, the day goes by fast and you flew half way across the country to capture your beautiful beach wedding! The day after sessions really allow you time to get more creative with your shots without a wedding day timeline looming over you. Shelby and Jeff got up at the crack of dawn with me to do their day after session on the beach and it proved to provide some of my favorite photos from their wedding celebration!!”

And from the bride:

“Jeff proposed to me via skype while he was deployed to Afghanistan. I started searching sites, photographers, florists, caterers by myself and quickly became overwhelmed. This is when we decided to go with a destination wedding. We liked the idea of combining our honeymoon and wedding and inviting or closest family and friends to join us for a stress free wedding and week of fun.

I believe the hardest part of planning a destination wedding for us, was not fully knowing what you are going to get. If we were to have had a traditional wedding we would have sat down with every vendor and picked out what we wanted months prior to the wedding. Even though we were taking the ‘stress free’ route there is some anxiety that comes with the unknown. After arriving at the resort and meeting with our wedding coordinator about the details we were confident our big day would be great.

Our favorite part of the wedding was being at a warm and beautiful place with the people we love most. Leaving Minnesota in March and heading for Mexico was a great decision! I also loved arriving to the ceremony in a horse drawn carriage.

My advice to brides getting married at Moon Palace Resorts would be to not worry! Very hard advice to take, but every detail of your wedding will be perfect. The wedding coordinators do a fantastic job and you won’t be disappointed. Relax, enjoy the sun, and grab a Pina Colada! Your day will be awesome.”