Vicki and Ryan had their Mexico destination wedding just last week. It seems hard to believe that given the weather that we have here in Ottawa now. This particular wedding took place at the Barcelo Maya Tropical.
I first met Ryan more than nine years ago at his brother’s wedding not long after I started shooting weddings. I again met him at his friend’s wedding within a few years and at some point between then and now, he managed to find Vicki or she found him. It doesn’t really matter which but I’m glad they did. It’s funny how you don’t really know who is really suitable for someone until you meet them after which point it seems really obvious. If you met all of Ryan’s friends and all of Vicki’s friends, you would swear that they all grew up together.
Having a whole week at a location before a wedding offers a lot of luxuries as a photographer. You get to figure where the best places are to shoot and even at what time they are most suitable. In this case I knew right away that their 4 o’clock ceremony would be great for sunset during the ceremony but for nothing afterwards. This meant that I was able to move parts of the shoots to other days. For the sake of continuity of this blog post, I put everything in a typical blog order even though there are photos from three separate days here.
My part of the wedding day started on the basketball court at noon. The guys played for about 45 minutes and worked up with a fine sweat. Next I walked 10m to see the girls in their room and finally back with the guys for their getting ready. After a lovely sunset ceremony, the reception took place near the beach. With only 40 people at the reception, there was at least as much energy as weddings I have been to with over 200 people!
Such a great week, topped off with such a great wedding day, thanks to one amazing couple! Thanks for making it great you guys!
A sunrise photo
Ryan’s dad burning Ryan, his brother, and Vicki’s brother – NICE!
Vicki may have been a little excited
The guys spent 90 minutes perfecting their sleeve roll
Post-ceremony Dad hugs are more emotional than you might expect
Flower girl launch
The customary “convince the 3.5 year old flower girl that she needs to be in the photo” shot
“As seen on Facebook”. This is a careful and skillful blend of some of the best beach cliches known to weddings (Silhouette, Sunset, Jumping shot)
A reminder that I should have taken my shoes off
The most original Father of the Groom speech in years. It was solely based on yo-yo metaphors and some serious skillz. 
The bouquet toss
The bouquet face catch and explosion
