Just let me set the scene: toes in the sand, hand-in-hand with your beloved, and 30 of your nearest and dearest to bear witness. It’s exactly what happened when these two New Yorkers escaped the winter cold for a destination adventure at the Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta. Of course, they brought the amazing Megan W Photography along to document the day, and you can consider the full gallery your own virtual vacay. Enjoy!
From the Bride and Groom… What kind of wackos make their friends and family fly across a continent to stay at an unknown resort? That’s us.
We met in high school, where Dana studied liberal arts and Juan studied Dana. Unfortunately for Juan, we didn’t start dating until we reconnected thirteen years later. Juan popped the question at the hotel restaurant where we had our first date on the four-year anniversary of the day we reconnected. We knew that we wanted a beach wedding, something intimate, and we wanted to be able to spend a significant amount of time with each of our guests. The more we searched locally, the more it became apparent that we weren’t going to find what we were looking for. We searched for a year before a destination wedding started to seem like a realistic option. There were two major concerns: We thought it might be too difficult to plan and too inconvenient for our guests. But the more we considered our own happiness and what would make the experience most enjoyable we began to realize a destination wedding was our only option…and we knew exactly where to have it.
In 2010, we vacationed at the Dreams Resort in Puerto Vallarta and had one of the best weeks of our lives. The staff at the resort waited on us hand and foot. We saw tons of tropical fish, we rode jet skis in the Bay of Bandera, we caught giant mahi mahi on a deep sea fishing excursion, and we released baby turtles into the sea. Surely, if we could replicate at least some of that for our guests, our wedding would be a smashing success.
Despite the logistical challenges, there was one aspect of our wedding that never gave us any agita. Because we were going to have a destination wedding, we knew that a lot of the details would be out of our control. However, we weren’t going to leave the photography to chance. We had to be certain that we had the perfect photographer who would be able to capture our wedding in a creative and dynamic way. We found Megan W Photography through a friend’s recommendation and fell in love with her work instantly. She exceeded every one of our expectations – from her ability to put us at ease during our shoot, to her promptness in returning edited photos, to her delightful personality and, of course, the stunning photos that we’ll cherish for the rest of our lives.
At the end of the day, none of the chaos leading up to the wedding really mattered. The tropical flower options, the clear blue sea, and the jungle cliffs surrounding the resort were spectacular. In the week leading up to our wedding, the hotel staff was incredibly responsive and had everything entirely in order based on our requests: the centerpieces came together beautifully, the hotel spa had the gorgeous casablanca hair flower waiting for me when I arrived, and the setup was perfect – simple yet romantic, with every detail adding to the incredible setting. The gorgeous peach, gold and violet sunset served as the ideal backdrop as we danced to the strums of Spanish guitar. The experience of spending one of the most important days of our lives with thirty of our closest friends and family was magical. Because we had a destination wedding, we were able to spend the next several days with everyone too! So we got to relive the wonderful night over and over again until it was time for us to pack up and say goodbye.
Photography: Megan W Photography | Wedding Dress: Allure Bridals | Shoes: Badgley Mischka | Bridesmaid’s Dresses: Ann Taylor | Groom’s Attire: My Suit | Ceremony + Reception: Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta | Hair & Make Up: Spa By Pevonia | Photography – Assistance: Caitlin Sullivan
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