Wedding at the Grand Sunset Princess

Melissa and Jesse flew south from Ontario to the Grand Sunset Princess in Playa del Carmen for a wedding day full of fun and laughs. What a huge honor to be asked by Melissa, who is a photographer, to shoot her big day.

We don’t often get asked to make a wedding love story for another photographer, so we took this chance to ask her some questions about her big day,with her thoughts, feelings and advice for future brides.:

How did you find it being the bride instead of the photographer? Could you fight the urge to snap some photos yourself?

Melissa: I was so excited to be in the bride’s shoes! I was looking forward to experience what my brides feel and think about on their wedding day… I am glad I can now relate to them and I think that will help with the connection between my future brides and I. Yes, I did bring my camera and handed it over to a friend to take snapshots! I get carried away sometimes with my cam so best to leave it alone for one day!

Talking about being in your shoes Melissa, as the former shoe designer of Jean Paul Gaultier I can officially say I have never seen crystal studded fish skeleton heels before, nice detail! – Polly, Production Supervisor

Did you both of you like each other’s awesome wedding vows? Did you both know you were going to have such fun vows?

Melissa: Haha yes we had planned it to have funny vows but didn’t know what the other would write. Coincidentally enough, they were pretty similar! They represented us and our relationship which is always so much fun…until Jesse bugs Melissa a little too much. Ha he would say it’s the other way around. lol

Here are some of our favorite quotes from their vows:

“I vow to show you a new jiu jitsu move once a week and to share with you all of my jiu jitsu trophies… I vow to protect myself when you get it in your head that you’re a ninja and try to perform the flyin squirrel on me” – Jesse

“I vow to always be your stalker. I will always stare at you when you watch tv, when you read, when you drive, when you shower, when you eat, when you sit across the room and don’t realize I’m starting at you. I also promise I will always keep watching you when you sleep.” – Melissa

We heard Jesse’s first dance with his mother made quite the impression, tell us what happened?

Melissa: Well I’ve never seen a mother and groom dance like that before lol Jesse and his mother are buddies, it’s hard to explain it any other way! His mom is walking entertainment and at any moment she can burst into some sort of wonky dance especially when there’s an audience. This lovely dance turned into a mix of bastardized modern dance and broken ballroom dancing which ended in a headlock …all thanks to Jesse’s mom. It was hysterical.

What advice would you give to another couple planning a wedding in Mexico?

Melissa: Just let it go! Plan as best you can and the rest you let go. Destination weddings aren’t for bridezillas. Focus on the guests and the time spent with them. If possible, return to a resort that you loved so that you know what to expect. This is was we did and it was a big stress we didn’t have to deal with.

Now these words are spoken from the heart of a photographer who knows how to enjoy HER wedding! We find so many people concerned about the details and stressing about the color of the bow that was suppose to be pink and it ended up purple. The subtle nuances of the wedding day fly by. Most of them happen in a blink and the family love shared during this time is crucial to ENJOY. Stress should not be part of the equation. Thank you Melissa and Jesse for trusting our creative vision :) – Matt Adcock, Del Sol co-founder

Melissa also had this to say after she first received these photos:

WOW!WOW! WOW! We are so happy with our photos! We got your email Friday night while getting in my car to go home but I couldn’t help but to look at them right away! Jess wasn’t with me so I called him right away…he knew how badly I wanted to see them so he let me look at them first!! 45 minutes later I drove off the parking lot lol. I must have looked at them 20 times… and the emotions of the day just came right back. Amazing job team Del Sol!!!! A thousand thank yous to everyone involved. Can’t wait to share with our friends and family.

Thanks for your time Melissa, we love hearing back from any of our newlyweds and especially enjoyed feedback from a fellow photographer!

Principal photographer: Del Sol Associate

Venue: Grand Sunset Princess

Wedding coordinator: Lizeth Pacheco