As a Cancun wedding photographer, I have come to know the Mayan Riviera fairly well and would love to share some secrets of the area.
To travel in the Mayan Riviera between Cancun, Tulum, Playa del Carmen and even the Cancun Airport, the best system to take is the ADO bus. These are very clean, very safe, very air-conditioned busses that have regular services between these destinations multiple times during the day. Look up there website for up to date schedules (http://www.ado.com.mx) and remember these are busses from one city to the other. If you want to go to the Tulum Ruins from a resort in Cancun you take a cab from your resort to the ADO bus station in Cancun. An ADO bus to Tulum and a cab from the bus terminal in Tulum to the Ruins... It is simple and will cost you far less than a tour and might just be the adventure some of your clients are interested in.
A better Champaign toast for less.
As a Cancun wedding photographer, I have seen couples save in different ways, however, this one is one of my favorites. Take a cab from the resort to Cancun or Playa del Carmen's Walmart (whichever is closest). Buy your Champaign there, bring it back to the resort and pay the corking fees. This will guarantee that you will get better Champaign at a much better value. There are only a few things you have to think about when costing this out; corkage fee and the cab fair (which the resort will have posted at front gate)... Most of the time, this means for much fewer headaches for a lot less money... So if you want your Cancun wedding to be that much more special, look into doing this
Sunset wedding warning:
Sunset weddings are beautiful and amazing... however, as a Cancun wedding photographer, please let me give you this one warning. Cancun weddings and the majority of the Mayan Riviera weddings (including Playa del Carmen weddings) take place on beaches facing east. Therefore the sunsets are not dramatic, but rather just nice as it is evening and therefore cooler than having your wedding at noon in the heat. As a Cancun wedding photographer though, I have to warn you about having your Cancun wedding too close to sunset if you want to take photos after the ceremony. It only stands to reason that if your beach wedding ceremony is later in the evening, you might not have time to take beautiful Cancun wedding photos. Therefore as a Cancun wedding photographer, I strongly suggest that you think about the timing of your wedding and your beach wedding photos so that you get everything you want.
Wind and weddings...
As a Cancun wedding photographer, I have a lot of experience with weddings at different times of the day and often during the prime season of February to May the wind really picks up at about noon and goes until 3:00 and sometimes later. If you are having a Cancun beach wedding (or Mayan Riviera beach wedding) I strongly suggest that you talk to the resort about wind and how this might affect your ceremony and or photography.
Rain and beach weddings
As a Cancun wedding photographer I have photographed a little over 150 weddings in my life. And there is one common thread. The more you worry about the rain, the more likely it is that it will rain. It is a weird correlation, but if you don' t worry about it, it works out fine, if you worry about it, the world seems to bring it. So take it from this experienced Cancun wedding photographer... get people to worry about being burned in the sun and ask them to not think about rain. And especially not worry about rain. If it does rain on your Cancun wedding day, know that it will likely be a short shower that will likely only last 10-20 minutes and then go away.
Cancun beach weddings, heat and makeup
As a Cancun wedding photographer, take this little piece of advice. Take blotting papers with you on your wedding day. The hope of all beach weddings is that it is warm. Heat means sweat, which means glossy faces. Take blotting papers, use them and this Cancun wedding photographer assures you that you will have better photos as a result.
Photographing in Mexico, Playa del Carmen, Mayan Riviera, Cancun
There are a lot of challenges as a wedding photographer working in the Mayan Riviera, Playa del Carmen and Cancun regions of Mexico. Here are a few examples of problems I have encountered
Most resorts have their own wedding photographers or local Mayan Riviera wedding photographers that they like to promote. Therefore, if you bring your own photographer, you may get charged extra to have a photographer to come onto the resort. One way around this is to invite your wedding photographer as a guest rather than a professional.
One of the most popular times to get married in Playa del Carmen, Mayan Riviera or Cancun is during the early spring from March to May. This is also the windy season, so be careful when organizing your wedding to not have your photos taking place too late in the day as this is when the wind is its strongest. A good wedding photographer should be able to work with the wind to make it an advantage rather than a detriment, but if there are gale force winds and you can’t be on the beach, this isn’t any fun. Also, if you are getting married in the Mayan Riviera, Cancun area and it is a windy week, so it looks like wind, one option is to go out in the morning for your photographs. Usually it is far less windy in the morning than in the later afternoon. I know, this means he is likely to see you in your dress and you might have to do your own make up way earlier than expected, but this is an option if you really really want those walk along the beach photos.. o and there is always the next day, should your photographer be willing to work with you on times.
Hot sun. If you are hiring a wedding photographer to go down to photograph on the beach make sure you look at how they take photos in the direct sun. The beach along the Cancun, Mayan Riviera, Tulum, Playa del Carmen area is very bright and if you are out on the exposed beach your going to be in the direct sun. So make sure you check with your wedding photographer to make sure they can work under those conditions.
One camera. If you are hiring a photographer to take down to Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Mayan Riviera, Tulum or anywhere else in Mexico, make sure they arrange to bring more than one camera as sand is the worst thing for a camera and therefore they have to be very careful to make sure their equipment is in great shape and will not fail. And should it fail, you will want your wedding photographer to have a backup body.
Rain. Every now and then as a Mayan Riviera wedding photographer I will have to photograph a wedding in the rain. This is no big deal because the rain is warm and generally it only rains for short periods of time. More of the problem is that on a rainy day, the wind is your worst enemy. In this case take your wedding photographer into the trees just off the beach and have fun in there with the palm trees. Just be careful to not get knocked out by a falling Mexican coconut.
Evening photos. Photographing in the evening is a great idea when having a wedding in the Mayan Riviera, Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum area. Just make sure your wedding photographer has the right lighting gear to do this. Local photographers will likely not have this equipment available unless they are higher end photographers.
