Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya Beach Wedding – Maria and Alejandro
You can see Maria and Alejandro’s wedding highlights video here
“It’s an incredible feeling to know that so many people were willing to travel from around the world to share our special day with us. We chose a destination wedding as we both love to travel and had always talked about getting married with our toes in the sand and the waves in the background. It also helped so that neither of us had a ‘home court’ advantage.” – Maria
“Maria’s family is from Texas and my family is from Guatemala, we wanted our wedding to be in the middle of the map and Mexico was the perfect spot. Seeing friends and family all together made me feel at home and made us feel loved and special.” -Alejandro
Maria and Alejandro – WOW what a great couple! Looking at their wedding photos it takes about 2.5 seconds to see how great they are together. Every picture is a cheek splitting smile, a happy tear, or an “I can’t believe it!!” face slap (Alejandro). From their first look in their wedding ceremony the intensity of their gaze when they look at each other jumps out of every picture.
“The moment I saw Maria walking towards me during the ceremony, felt like I was completely melting from the inside out, I have never seen her so beautiful. I will always remember that moment as the most amazing moment of the day!” – Alejandro
Apart from their beautiful ceremony Maria and Alejandro had a few stand out moments in their wedding reception. We loved Alexandro’s cousins from Guatemala surprise Guatemalan’s slang game (see below to enrich youtr vocabulary!). We MUST give a special mention too to Maria and Alejandro’s perfectly imperfect choreographed first dance. Time and again we hear from our brides and groom that things ‘not going as planned’ make the best memories.
“We messed it up left and right, but that was the moment that we had been waiting for. We practiced countless hours and used the lessons to find an escape with the stress of planning. Even now, we laugh at how he dropped me in the final dip yet wouldn’t have changed it at all.” – Maria
Maria and Alejandro chose the Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya for their beach destination wedding.
“We did research on tons of resorts. We were looking for one outside of Cancun or Playa, but not too far from the airport. After looking at room prices and the wedding location, we narrowed it down to Grand Sirenis and we are glad we did. Monserrat and team did a wonderful job getting all the details just right. We made some major changes a few days before the wedding and they accommodated everything without complaints.” – Maria
“We had a clear idea of how the beach should look the day of the wedding. The Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya had the perfect hidden beach by the side of their little bay . Also, the beach had different rock formations that gave the beach a unique and exotic look.” – Alejandro
“Considering our guests, we wanted a place where kids and grown-ups could enjoy with enough activities within and around the resort. Most of them planned a vacation around our wedding so to have them all in one hotel so we could enjoy the trip together was very important. Monserrat, our wedding coordinator did an outstanding job. We hadn’t visited the place before the wedding, we only relied on pictures and e-mail conversations so having someone like Monserrat at the venue made it easy and less stressful.” – Alejandro
Maria’s top tip for destination wedding bliss: “Relax.”!
“As hard as that may be trying to plan a wedding from far away, trust that the wedding coordinators do this for a living and know what they’re doing.” – Maria
“I’d also suggest reading about other people’s experiences at resorts/wedding location to make sure you really know what you’re getting in to. If you are not going to the venue before your wedding make sure you look for pictures from different sources, especially from normal guests that possibly took the picture from their phone. Also, search for videos that “normal” people made. All of it gives you a “raw” view of where you are going. Don’t rely solely on advertising pictures.” – Alejandro
“Valeria and team were all very accommodating. From agreeing the moment they arrived to stay an extra hour to asking us what we wanted and following through with it, they did amazing job. Valeria was very detail oriented, smooth and friendly. We could see her passion with the camera and how she enjoyed capturing all the moments. – Maria + Alejandro
Maria and Alejandro’s top destination wedding advice? Have fun!
“Everyone is there to celebrate you and the beginning of your new adventure together. Stop to soak it in and find time away from everyone to have separate memories. Everybody is already there for you so if something doesn’t go as plan it’s all good. Enjoy and have fun!!!!” – Maria + Alejandro
Guatemalan slang words
Some of the Guatemalan slang words that I use the most are “Nel”, which is used for denying something. For example if someone asked me, “Did it rain at your wedding?…I would answer “nel nel nel!! No llovio…estuvo genial!!“ It means “no no, it didn’t rain, it was amazing. Or If wanted to go full slang, I could say “mi boda estuvo tuanis” , that means “my wedding was really amazing!”
If I were to ask Del Sol photographers to stay an extra thirty minutes just for free, I would say “Porfa, stay for 30 more minutes ;). It means “please” with a little bit of “favor+begging” behind, and it comes from the complete word “por favor”. If they agreed they could say “VAA!, we can stay for 30 minutes.”
That means that they would agree in a fresh and friendly way.
If someone asked “Hey, would you recommend Del Sol Photography to another couple for a destination weeding” I would answer “ Simon!, son muy buena onda”. That means “Yes, they are really cool+friendly.”
Principal Photographer: Valeria
Second Photographer: Vanessa
Destination Wedding Location: Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya – Sirenis Bay Beach
Wedding Reception Location: Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya – Palapa
Destination Wedding Coordinator: Monserrat Miranda
Wedding dress: Hayley Paige Bridal
