It just occurred to me right at this very moment that almost every wedding we photograph is some sort of a destination wedding.

Now that doesn’t mean that we are constantly jetting around the world to photograph a wedding but rather we have a combination of an Arizona based couple getting married in a stunning far away locale but mostly we have clients that use Arizona as their destination.

So why is it that destination weddings are the best? Why do people choose to travel for their wedding and invite friends and family to join them on this adventure? 

Well speaking first hand, Keith and I decided to have a destination wedding for several reasons. First of all because we love to travel and we both absolutely fell in love with St John. So when we decided to get married 15 years ago, the decision couldn’t have been easier, St John it was. Other reasons included having a more intimate wedding (we still had 64 people make the trip), having a wedding weekend v having just one day and since we lived in Manhattan, we could vacation for a week with friends and family and spend a fraction of what we would have spent in NYC.  Quite honestly – the people we invited were people that we love to be with – so why not spend a few days with them rather then just a few hours. We really wanted to interact with our guests over a longer period of time. We wanted it all: good weather, exotic location, lots of quality time with family + friends, memories, memories, memories. And believe me we have tons of great memories and great photographs!!!! We had so much fun and wouldn’t change a thing. (EXCEPT a reason to get everyone together again!!!) AND the best part, we didn’t even upset anyone that couldn’t make it. Everybody understood and was super supportive in our decision.

I’m going to point out the obvious here, the way a couple decides to get married has changed dramatically over the past two decades and even more so in the last few years (according to my non-scientific approach to gauging such things!) Yes, we still photograph huge traditional weddings with beautiful religious ceremonies in a church or synagogue followed by an incredible reception at an amazing venue. But we also seem to be photographing many more out of the box type affairs.

Just thinking about the past 12 months – we have photographed a couple from NYC that each and every one of their 100+ guests flew in from out of town and stayed at the Arizona Biltmore for the weekend, our wedding earlier today had 12 people, 4 of which flew in from Israel, 4 from Chicago, 2 from Tucson, a wedding 2 weeks ago where the couple was from Miami by way of Toronto and Washington DC – everyone of their guests flew in from out of town to dine al fresco at a stunning wedding at the Four Seasons.  With just about perfect weather, incredible resorts and even more incredible scenery it is no surprise why the greater Phoenix area is such a coveted spot to get married.  Every wedding is different and every wedding seems to involve some sort of travel.

Of course, we love a wedding where we have the good fortune to travel to a destination. What could be better than a wedding week surrounded by those you love in a jaw dropping locale, bonding time with friends and family? The couple featured in this post planned the perfect beach wedding in Playa del Carmen, trying something fun and fresh – and they couldn’t have been happier. 

After photographing weddings for 20+ years, it is enjoyable to see that things have been shaken up. Dream weddings mean different things to different people – couples are deciding how they want their wedding to be – and this is incredibly refreshing. And the best part is that we get to be there to document how their dream plays out.

Venue:: Playacar Palace, Playa del Carmen, Mexico