Zasil

In advertisings all places look beautiful, but to help you imagine how a wedding really looks like with different set-up/decorations we made an overview of our favourite wedding venues, from the center of Playa del Carmen all over the region. Playa del Carmen Rosewood Mayakoba Lisa + Armand: Casa del Lago Shelly + Gavin: Jungle and La Palapa Banyan Tree Mayakoba Meena + Sylvain: Beach and Rooftop Terrace Maryam + Payam: Beach and Rooftop Terrace Luisa + Lowell: Rooftop Terrace Ebony + Michael: Rooftop Terrace Adrienne + Olivier: Beach and Resaurant Saffran Fairmonth Mayakoba Daniela + Oswald: Beach and Ballroom The Royal Anna + Ben Amy + Kacy Aly + Nick Canibal Royal Maud + Jonathan Grand Coral Beach Club Amy + Kacy Angela + Jonathan Kool Beach Club Sherene + Michael Wickys Amanda + Jonathan Mosquito Beach Dagmar + David Riviera Maya Zoetry Paraiso de la Bonita Christi + Brian Maroma Beach Lindsey + Eric: Beach and Restaurant Pavo Real Xcaret Paulina + Daniel: cave church and hacienda Jocely + Alejandra: San Francis de Assis and La Isla Jessica + Guillermo: San Francis de Assis and La Isla Luisa + Lowell: San Francis de Assis and La Isla Amanda + Jonathan: San Francis de Assis and La Isla Lindsay + Josh: San Francis de Assis and La Isla Elisabeth + David: San Francis de Assis and La Isla Secret Capri Ashley + Scott Secret Silversands Puerto Morelos Shawna + Jerome Casa Violeta Tulum Karla + Gianni

Out of my experience as a wedding photographer, one of the things I have learned to be very important in order to assure nice images, is the production of the event as a whole. What you are all looking for here on the forum is indeed the inspiration to create an event to never forget! Obviously, one of the important elements of this production is the ‘palette’ of colors which gives a particular character to your wedding. For weddings at the Caribbean, being mostly beach weddings, brides have the tendency to choose vivid colors like turquoise, but a less evident choice can create a beautiful world of its own. To help you choose the (combination of) colors, there is a theory about color. Stating that every color has the ability to create certain emotions in the viewer. Here are some very basic explanations: Red is a powerful color that represents strength, passion and vitality. It can create feelings of energy and excitement. The darker tones are associated with wealth, while rose is seen as romantic. Orange plays on the same kinds of emotions as red, but is much less aggressive. It is an upbeat and cheerful color that is known to generate a higher level of mental activity in the viewer and feelings of friendship. Yellow is an inarguably exuberant color. It instantly conjures thoughts of sunshine and summer, leaving the viewer with feelings of refreshment, energy, joy and honesty. In combination it’s dynamic and a rather dominant color. Green creates a sense of safety, relaxation in peoples' minds. It represents nature, health, well being and harmony; it’s fresh and keeps the balance between cold and warm colors. The darker tones are associated with tradition, prosperity. The green-blue on the other hand is fresh, youthful and of course tropical. Blue will more often than not evoke a general sense of calm and peacefulness. Navy blue is a true classic and provides a sense of stability, trust, power and strength. Lighter tones bring peace, relaxation and give a sense of integrity. Purple is another color that can have extremely soothing effects. It represents sophistication and spirituality, and can be perfect to create a sense of wonder, as brighter purples have an almost magical quality. The intense combination of blue-violet is a royal color, associated with courage, authority and nobility. Classically it is combined with gold, but in combination with lemon yellow it’s much more vivid. Just as the lighter, fuchsia tones is one of the most energetic colors. It suggests a young, active state of mind. While not technically part of the color wheel, White can still be used to evoke an emotional response. It is widely regarded as a representation of purity, and can promote feelings of trust and is therefore the traditional wedding color. Black represents depth and power. Good usage of black can give a professional feel and bring about feelings of sophistication and steadiness. And is again a traditional fashion color. You can make different combinations of colors, the first one being complimentary, which means the colors are opposite in the circle (e.g. green red or blue orange). Or complementary divided, combining one color with the tone just next to its complementary color (e.g. orange blue-green and orange blue-violet). An analogue combination is the combination of a color with the tones just next to it and is considered as especially harmonious (e.g. blue green blue blue violet). The color accents can go from some subtle details in flowers to the dresses of bridesmaids and –men, accessories (fans, ceremony booklets) and (table) decoration. You might not be aware of it but lightning also plays a major role in creating an ambience in a certain location. You can chose to keep it non sophisticated with the evergreens of the wedding colors: Delicate white and beige:Aly + Nick Create one main color accent: Red-orange: Maud + Jonathan Red-violet: Lindsey + Eric Or make a combination: Red and Green: Isis + Eugenio Beige, blue and dark blue: Lindsay + Josh A combination of soft pastel colors which gives a very romantic atmosphere: Karla + Gianni This last example I like especially because the couple pops out with the very stylish absence of color, in contrast with the finely used main color, blue-green: Amy + Kacy

Definitively the most famous eco park of the region, Xcaret provides an impressive and almost fairy-like ambience for your wedding. One thing worth mentioning is that wedding ceremonies only start after the closure of the park, which means bridal sessions are mostly planned before the ceremony, with the park at disposal. In the winter though, the early sunset makes you need to arrive well in advance to have some nice pictures with your fiancé. Otherwise and also if you do not want your promised one to have a look at his bride to be, a session better be planned the day after. Wedding ceremonies are traditionally held in the little chapel on top of te the colourful cemetery, but also for civil ceremonies they have a special area at the rocks on the seashore, or also in the new hacienda.[/size] Here you can have a look at some 'Real Xcaret Weddings' by Zasil Studio to get inspired.[/size] Lindsay and Josh April + Adam Jessica + Guillermo Even if Xcaret already provides an amazing décor, you can consider giving it a personal touch with extra flowers, candles and decoration. It's worth it! Jocelyn + Alejandro Xcaret added a new area, including it’s own chapel for wedding ceremonies. This one is much bigger than the one on top of the cemetery, without loosing intimacy thanks to it’s ‘cave’ form. A little, but not unimportant detail: if you choose to have the churchceremony in the new chapel and afterwards the civil ceremony, dinner and party at the hacienda just beside, you can avoid some running around! Paulina + Daniel

We know, having your beach wedding ceremony at sunset seems like the most romantic wedding on earth. But at the Caribbean the sun does not set at the seaside and our experience throughout the years of taking artistique photographs learned that the sun is quickly blocked by surrounding clouds (even if they do create beautiful postcard skies before they take away the sun) or buildings (particularly in resorts), long before the actual sunset. The sun also goes down in a blink in tropical regions such as the Riviera Maya. This all together makes that you do not enjoy that magical moment very long and by the end of the ceremony it will be dark, disabling you to have those lifetime memory pictures of you and your freshly new husband. Therefore, instead of planning your ceremony right at sunset, schedule it one to two hours before. It will allow you to have wonderful shots with rays of a late afternoon sun and the ceremony will still be breathtaking! After the bridal session, the dark blue skies of entering night are the best backdrops for us photographers, to shoot the cocktail/reception set-ups. Shawna + Jerome Ashley + Scott If you really want to have the ceremony during sunset, the best thing to do is to preview a bridal/TTD session before the ceremony or another day later on, as explained in our article ‘Bride and Groom, a first sight story’.

For many brides the question whether or not to allow their fiancé to take a look at her before the ceremony is a difficult decision. My experience is that you might loose the tradition and magic of the first glance down the aisle, but a previous encounter allows a more spontaneous and affectionate expression of your feelings which are running wild at the precious moment! Having the possibility to shoot a Bridal Session before the ceremony also suits particularly Winter Weddings because often the ceremony is planned just before sunset (especially at Xcaret), and if the couple decides not to see each other before the ceremony, there is no other possibility for daylight pictures than to preview a bridal or TTD session the next day. For Jewish couples planning a session the next day could be a solution since they might not be allowed to have the ceremony before sunset. Examples of nice pre-ceremony meetings and pictures: Lindsay + Josh April + Adam Trash the Dress sessions are becoming very popular, but some brides just don’t feel like ruining their bridal gown, (rather keep it and secretly put it on again from time to time to feel like a princess once again!). Therefore Zasil Studio also offers the possibility to have a photo shoot during the days following the wedding, in a relaxed atmosphere. Because, even if everything is organized to make the day run smooth and perfect, some times things get behind on schedule and the bridal session has to be, unfortunately, skipped. Sometimes you can even hardly notice the pictures weren’t taken the same day and they fuse perfectly into your wedding storytelling. Ashley + Scott Lindsey + Eric