Ok, lets not forget the real reason why I came to Mexico.
I met Osi and Juan at "Bridal Bash" organized by Megan Crouse. Megan is Toronto-based destination wedding specialist and travel agent. Coupe weeks later I got a call from Osi asking me if I was interested to photograph her wedding in Mexico in two months. Sure, I am always ready for travel and the first time I met this couple I though they would be great to work with and I was right.
We decided to trash one of Osi's wedding dresses a couple of days before the wedding. I had this idea of having Mayan Ruins as a backdrop and I could vision it too. Note to all photographers - you must have a permit to shoot in one of the archeological sites/ruins in Mayan Riviera. First we tried to get to famous Tulum ruins, but we were told that there was some kind of government event and nobody was let in (and we even saw the solders patrolling the area around).
Oh, forgot to tell you - Osi and Juan are Spanish speaking which helped a lot to find out that there are some ruins in area that tourists do not know of.
We were told to go to Xel-ha archeological site.
Osi, Juan and myself sneaked in for an hour to do first part of "Trash the Dress" session at this great location. And of course we were respectful to the Mayan legacy. This site offered lots of great locations for photographs - giant trees and ruins were perfect to get some romantic shot of Osiris and Juan. The only thing that bothered us were mosquitos!
Our second stop was Tulum beach - beautiful turquoise water and powder-like white sand. So far I have only seen a beach this beautiful in two other locations - Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands and Holguin, Cuba.
Osi and Juan are so easy going - they would do anything I would ask them to do - run, jump, lay on sand and wait for the big wave to come and cover them :)
The night before this trash the dress photosession I ordered a bottle of champagne to my room and brought it to the beach to use in my pictures (I also thought champagne would make the bride and groom more relaxed).
It was really cool photographing Osi and Juan opening bottle of champaine while waves would cover, move and push them ;-)
