First of all, I have to apologize for the amount of images I posted with this wedding! But it’s not very often that I get to go to another country to photograph a wedding, and especially with such a rad couple. I had so much fun last weekend with this bunch, I walked away feeling like I have a new set of pals. Everybody was super cool, and the ceremony and reception were simply stunning. I was crying from the rehearsal dinner until the very last dance—seriously.

I am so excited to share all these images with you… enjoy!

These images were taken at Sarah and Mike’s rehearsal “dessert”. It was so surreal—like a house party on the beach. It was amazing out—about 75 degrees with a nice sea breeze…. A perfect way to kick off the wedding celebration!

The weather channel predicted rain, so i was scared to get out of bed to find a rainy Mexico day, but instead, I went out to the balcony to find this as my view. It was gorgeous! And I loved seeing the ceremony site from this perspective.

Sarah and Mike had their aunts as the flower girls—it was pretty hilarious!

One of the things I love about Playa del carmen, is all the bars seems to have swings instead of stools! Brilliant! We had to stop here on our way to the beach for some shots and shots….

I got this shot from Sarah’s Dad’s room…. another gorgeous view—this time of the reception site.

The reception was one big party—with lots of laughter and tears—and a ton of dancing! Jesse even got out onto the dance floor with me! Wish I had a shot of that!

When Deborah, Gretchen’s mother called me Thursday to tell me that due to the blizzard, the location of Friday’s wedding would be moved, I thought that this day may end up being a stressful one—not for me necessarily, but for the bride and groom.  But stress was the last thing that I witnessed at this intimate event. Despite the location change, the three feet of snow on the ground and a few missing guests,  it was a day full of celebration and of course a few joyful tears.  There were all of 15 people present at the wedding, and I felt so honored to be a part of it!  Congratulations, Gretchen and Erik!  And thank you for truly making me feel like I was part of the clan!

The connection that Gretchen has with both her mother and her mother-in-law is precious.  It was hard to know who to keep the camera on!

And I adored Deborah—she radiates warmth!  What a wonderful mother Gretchen has.  She even insisted that she make me a salami sandwich just 30 minutes prior to the ceremony!  Chips and all!

With fresh snow on the ground, the ceremony being at 3pm and surrounding windows, the ceremony had the most amazing backlit  glow.  I love backlight—it always looks so dreamy, doesn’t it?