Mexico is known for its blue seas and sandy shores. Brides and grooms around the world dream of coming to the Riviera Nayarit for romantic wedding photos featuring the area's turquoise waters and white-sand beaches. But the country's landscape is actually much more diverse! In Punta de Mita, the Four Seasons Resort is hidden in a 1500 acre nature reserve - a lush green jungle thick with vegetation & mystery.
When we arrived at the five-star luxury resort, this giant Parota Tree immediately caught our eye as a possible location for a unique environmental portrait. The Parota tree, also known as the elephant-ear tree, or huanacaxtle tree, is known as one of Mexico's largest and most distinctive trees with its thick trunks and expansive canopy.
Since most Mexico destination wedding ceremonies are very close to sunset, the hour or so between the ceremony and reception can feel very hectic photographically - family formals, bride and groom portraits, and of course a margarita or two for the couple all need to happen in these 60-90 in between minutes. The result is that there is too often only time for a few quick beach portraits with the newly married couple.
Luckily, in the case of A+M's Punta Mita wedding, we had meticulously chosen our portrait locations beforehand so that not a second of this time was wasted: Up to the clifftop for a few quick shots of the couple frolicking above the Pacific, down to the beach for a few quick 'playa' portraits, a margarita for the bride, and into a golf cart to zip across the resort for this quick environmental portrait under the century-old Parota tree.
Location: Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita, Punta Mita,, 63734 Punta Mita, NAYARIT, Mexico.
1/180; f/4.0; ISO 640; 24.0 mm.