Why I Love Beach Weddings in Cancun

I’ve been living in Cancun since I was 19, but had never attended a local wedding until last year. Now that I’m well into my 20s, many of my friends are starting to get engaged and get married (including myself… heh).

My best friends got married on the beach in Puerto Juarez, Cancun

I’d never before realized just how amazing Cancun is for a wedding, but in the past year I’ve had the chance to see several stunning beach weddings right on the Caribbean.

With unique chapels set under a palapa-roof, intense turquoise waters and bright white sand beaches, brides and grooms in Cancun don’t even need to buy large flower arrangements or expensive decorations to set the mood for a romantic beach wedding.

Couples getting married in Cancun can experience an elegant ceremony at one of this destination’s incredible resorts, or choose a more secluded oceanside event venue in areas like Puerto Morelos and Puerto Juarez, both located within 20 minutes of the Hotel Zone.

When it comes to beach weddings, I’m great at salsa dancing in the sand and hounding the dessert table… but when it comes to planning, my organizational skills fail me. So, I decided to ask my friend Ilse, the owner of Diamant Events and a beautiful beachside venue in Puerto Morelos, a little about what it’s like to plan a destination wedding in Cancun.

The gorgeous Ilse of Diamant Events

Why do so many people choose Cancun for their destination wedding?

Because people get more for their money in every way. Cancun offers amazing background colors for your beautiful wedding photos. We also have very good weather almost every time of the year.

Nighttime beach wedding by Ilse of Diamant Events

What inspired you to choose Cancun for organizing destination weddings?

I know Cancun is still a young city and the wedding industry is growing fast around the world, and Cancun is the perfect place to do things the right way. If we all have good and certified wedding planners, we can raise the bar for quality weddings and become the world’s top wedding destination, not just the Top 10.

A daytime beach wedding by Ilse at Diamant Events

What are some fun traditions you’ve seen being used here?

I’ve seen the Chinese tea tradition, one tradition from a Nordic town where bride and groom cut together a piece of wood symbolizing they are now working together as a team, I’ve seen tossing the bouquet to see who is the next one in line to get married, and the Jordanian Candle Dance where all the ladies from the bridal party (including bride) entering the wedding salon with the lights dimmed and all of them dancing; then they get to the groom they carry them and every one dances in circles around them.

How hard is it for a foreigner to get married in Mexico from a legal standpoint?

They can do the legal ceremony here too. Most people don’t want to do the paper work because they don’t realize that any certified wedding planner in Cancun can do that for them, including sending the papers back home and making them legal in their foreign country.

What’s the best time of day for a beach wedding?

My favorite time is just before sunset. The natural lighting, the breeze and the serenity of the ocean at that time is just amazing!

An evening beach wedding by Isle at Diamant Events

Ilse was nice enough to invite me along to a wedding this weekend! She was at a workshop hosted by New York wedding coordinator Candy Cain, where she and other coordinators got their Wedding Specialist Certification. Saturday afternoon, I met up with Ilse at the Gran Caribe Real in Cancun’s Hotel Zone to see a beautiful wedding right on the beach, organized by Candy. It was INCREDIBLE. So small and simple, yet breathtaking. I’ll leave you with a few pictures…

Any wedding with a parasailer in the background is all right with me.

What’s your dream wedding location?

Disclosure:  I am being compensated for my work in creating and managing content as a Community Manager for the Mexico Today Program.  All stories, opinions and passion for all things Mexico shared here are completely my own.

Juan and Viri’s Beach Wedding

My frequent readers will know that Jorge and my best friends are Juan and Viri. They already had their civil ceremony back in December, but this past weekend was their big Catholic wedding. It was SO MUCH FUN!

The wedding was held at Ocean Events, a beautiful outdoor venue set on the beach near Puerto Juarez, right in front of El Meco ruins. (Jorge and I almost chose this venue for our wedding last year, before deciding to get married in Merida.)

I got to be a bridesmaid (there were TWELVE of us!), and of course I took pictures… you know me.

The ceremony venue

Jorge and me (a vision in purple, if I do say so myself)

I told you there were 12 of us

It's a Mexican tradition for family and close friends to pay for certain parts of the wedding. Juan and Viri sponsored our wedding cake, so we sponsored their dessert table... money well spent.

Here's a Mexican wedding tradition for ya... the men carry the groom off to the restroom. They undress him (completely), and bring his clothes back to the bride, who then has to go to the restroom to dress him again.

Here they are bringing the clothes back.

The wedding was filled with great food (especially the cupcakes… ooooh, the cupcakes…), tons of dancing (the dance floor was NEVER empty, and the salsa music was the most popular), and tons of friends. We ended the night around 2 am.

Congratulations, Juan and Viri!