Hotel Xcaret Wedding
Playa Las Palmas + Caleta Fuego

Augusta, Josh and their Hotel Xcaret Caleta wedding are a dream! They’re a stunning couple with undeniable chemistry. What makes them even more awesome is that they hired us before they chose their wedding venue! We were also delighted to meet them in person a year before their wedding for an engagement session. Augusta and Josh were kind enough to tell us more about their destination wedding journey.

“It seems folks normally choose their travel agent or wedding planner first, before “settling” on a photographer who is either included in the resort wedding package, or happens to be local. After reviewing all the gorgeous shoots Del Sol has posted on their website, we realized we had stumbled upon a gold mine of destination wedding information.”

“Who better to help us decide on a location, than the folks who have been to a ton of wedding locales? Del Sol have seen essentially every kind of destination wedding there is!”

“A number of years ago, I (Augusta) was browsing on Pinterest and came across some amazing underwater photos from Del Sol. The pictures were absolutely stunning, unlike anything I’d ever seen. At that point, I wasn’t thinking about marriage at all. A destination wedding wasn’t something I thought I would ever consider. But, the picture was so fantastic, I added it to my dream wedding board anyway.”

“Fast-forward a few years to Christmas Day 2017, when Josh asked me to marry him! We began wedding planning shortly thereafter. Josh had been talking about a destination wedding since before we got engaged, and since we both enjoyed travelling so much, we decided that it would be fitting to have a destination wedding.”

“After much discussion, we decided to get married somewhere tropical with a private wedding ceremony area. We also wanted a place that was kid friendly, as we wanted our daughter Jade (now 6) to be a part of the ceremony. We spent hours searching resorts, wedding venues, etc, but really couldn’t seem to find the place that encompassed everything we were looking for. Most of the nicer resorts with private wedding ceremony locations were either not kid-friendly or very expensive. We’ve been to Mexico multiple times, and seen a number of weddings on the beach. These were all very cookie cutter and not very private.”

“We were very hung up on the “private” ceremony aspect. Having an old fat couple with the guy in a speedo standing and watching 50 feet away from the ceremony was not something we were interested in, and we definitely saw that!”

“Two months into our search, we came across a blog post by Del Sol. We went to their website to checkout their work and we were super impressed. We supplied some info and Matt called me a short time later. Matt talked to me for 2+ hours before we had ever even agreed to use Del Sol. A week later, Matt talked to both Josh and I again for another hour, all without a contract in place.  It was customer service beyond anything we expected, and we weren’t even customers yet. Matt listened intently to our questions and concerns, and was so genuine on the phone, we knew wherever we got married, Del Sol would be taking the pictures.”

“It was clear after explaining my vision of our wedding to Matt, that he “got it” immediately. He knew exactly what I wanted even helping me to further flesh out exactly what I was looking for.”

“We still hadn’t decided on a resort at that point, and that process was really starting to drag on the both of us. We expressed our frustrations to Matt, and he began making all kinds of suggestions of possible wedding locations based off Augusta’s vision.”

“We can’t stress enough how difficult the process really is of wading through the hundreds of resorts and private wedding venues available. A google search really just doesn’t cut it.”

“Every resort seems to host weddings, and the pictures on a bunch of the resort websites are very deceiving. We’d find a resort that looked beautiful, go to Google and Instagram to confirm, and see that the actual weddings looked nothing like the photos from their respective websites.  This is one area where Matt was able to help us sift through the BS.”

“One of the main benefits in hiring a photographer, especially Del Sol, before choosing a venue is their first-hand experience with several locations.”

“Because they’ve been involved with so many weddings, it’s easier to make recommendations based on their client’s vision. That helps to eliminate the overwhelming stress of spending hours on the internet looking for a perfect location. Also, because the photographers are heavily involved on the day of the wedding, they really get to witness the strengths and weaknesses of several venues which can be very helpful.”

“In particular, because Matt speaks Spanish fluently, he is able to talk to the workers to get a better feel for a resort and everything that goes on there.”

“Once we had decided on Del Sol, we realized we still didn’t have a travel agent or wedding planner. Matt, suggested some folks he knew, and because of the trust we already felt with Matt, we signed on with the folks he recommended immediately.”

“Between Matt and our wedding planners, we were able to pick out Hotel Xcaret as the perfect location for our wedding.”

“It wasn’t until a few months after that I stumbled across my Pinterest board and the Del Sol pictures I had save a few years back. It was definitely a full-circle moment.”