Grand Palladium Riviera Maya Wedding

Michelle and Arnaldo had a fabulous and festive destination wedding in Mexico last summer with the theme “Olé for Love.” All of the details, including Michelle’s DIY save the dates, invitations, menus, bouquets, runners and centerpieces, were branded to match the theme and the lime and purple color scheme. Julia Azcona Photography captured their celebration!

Arnaldo and I began our journey as high school sweethearts and got engaged while in Puerto Rico for a destination wedding. We had such a great time celebrating love with our family, so having a destination wedding ourselves was a no brainer. We went to the internet to start the planning process and though we had no idea which country we wanted, we knew it had to take place on a white sandy beach by the water. It wasn’t long before we fell in love with the Grand Palladium in Riviera Maya, and then branded our entire wedding around the theme Olé for Love.

We wanted the day to represent our love, our relationship, and our story, so everything that we planned was infused with tidbits of us. With a small budget set, we were lucky enough to have a graphic designer in the family who helped us to design all of our DIY projects. Literally everything was DIY from the save the dates and invitations, to the bouquets and menus, and even my shoes (which were a thrift store find that I dazzled with glitter). It was amazing to see it all come together so beautifully. We chose lime green and purple as our colors which created such a beautiful pop next to the incredible colors of the earth, sea and sky.

Our two year old son Aiden was the most adorable part of our day. He was dressed in a tiny guayabera and linen pants and made his way down the aisle just before I did. My father escorted me to my groom, and then proceeded to officiate our ceremony. It was beautiful and there was not a dry eye to be seen. Seeing the beauty around us, the sound of the waves, the warmth of the sun, and the feel of the sand beneath our toes made the day feel even more perfect than we could have imagined. We chose to represent our love for each other in a special sand ceremony, and our first layer of sand was from the beach in Mexico where our vows were spoken to represent the foundation of our marriage. Once we were pronouced husband and wife, we shared our first kiss to the sound of maracas from our guests.

One of our favorite parts of the day was when we were escorted by an eight piece Mariachi band to our cocktail hour. We danced our first dance as we were serenaded by them, and it was truly the best way to kick off the festivities. Afterwards we had our beautiful reception under a very romantic palapa that was impeccably decorated with beautiful details. Our bridesmaid bouquets doubled as centerpieces which were cylinder glasses filled with limes and floating candles. We used ribbons in different shades of purple and green as our table runners, and used lime green napkins with a beautiful purple orchid to showcase our Ole for Love menus. Guests were seated at one of three different tables: the high school where we met, the bus stop where we shared our first kiss, and chemistry class where he asked me to be his girlfriend 10 years ago. The guests were each given a sparkler and instructed to light them during our entrance. I was instantly moved to tears when we walked and I saw all of our guests holding sparklers under the night’s sky. It was beautiful.

The entire day and week was magical and to this day everyone is still talking about how much of an amazing time they had celebrating our day. It was a wonderful family vacation with our wedding as the final event. We’re so grateful to them for making the trip with us! – Michelle