An insight into getting married in mexco
We are now rolling on to Part three! This part I will concentrate on what it was like organising a wedding abroad and working with our amazing Wedding Organiser Helena from Casa Los Sueños.
Having a wedding in another country is no joke, many things you might take for granted become bigger issues and working with different languages and currencies are tough to navigate. You are not versed in the Country’s tax structures, attitude to business, response times and basically the culture is completely different…but that’s why you have chosen to get hitched abroad, you wanted something different. Don’t forget that. At the time of our engagement, as an Office Manager and PA by trade I was used to organising things including events, nothing as big and extravagant as a Wedding but the elements were there. You are used to making bookings, liaising with suppliers, trying to get best deals and knowing the timings and schedule of everything. On top of that I am one crafty son of a gun and DIY Queen, these two things could make it a dream to organise a unique wedding having a hand in everything but I had to let that go when we chose to get married in Mexico. If in London I would of burned a hole in Google search to find independent caterers, cool DJ’s and dining tables, I would have Etsy’ed my way through the décor categories and found some nice florists. Though my husband speaks Spanish I wouldn’t put us both through the faff of contacting individual Mexican vendors, with him doing all the work and me pestering him if they responded and to translate what they said.
The Riviera Maya Coastline is home to many towns and islands suitable to hold a wedding. We independently looked at private villas and hotels and Helena sent us some options too. When we decided we wanted a beach wedding not attached to a big hotel we focused more on the Private Villa idea. The coastline stretches from the well-known Cancun to recently popularized Tulum which is about 1.5hrs-2hrs drive from Cancun International Airport. In between the two cities are numerous towns, private beaches and the second biggest part of the coast; Playa Del Carmen. Playa del Carmen is the “New Cancun” and is popular with visitors who want a beach town not as overly developed but still with amenities and nightlife. From Cancun Airport it is very easy to get a coach into Playa del Carmen, and thought this might be a good base for guests not staying in our Villa to book their stay. With more Googling I came across a beautiful Villa of appropriate size that allows weddings, called Villa Sol y Luna. As it wasn’t on the list Helena gave prior I asked her to look in to it, and as it happened she had done a wedding there before! After some checking the Villa was free for the time we wanted it, and there was no cost of hiring it as a separate venue as it was our accommodation for the week so…we booked it! As Helena was now managing the bookings she just told us what to pay, and when, it was quite simple with online banking and using Money transfer site Transferwise.
Ok, so that's part 3 done. Sorry for the late post of it. I am back now from my Asian adventures and still processing it all. But, more of that later. Look out for Part 4, it's gonna be about... CLOTHES.
Photos by Marc Ash