We knew that we wanted to get married within a year after our engagement. It just felt right! We decided upon March 14, 2014 at 4pm (so that we could enjoy the sunset!). When choosing a location, we knew that we wanted to have an intimate combined wedding and honeymoon so we wanted an all-inclusive resort and great weather. We started browsing the internet and came across destinationweddings.com. To our delight, they had GayDestinationWeddings.com, a gay-friendly site dedicated to same-sex couples.
There were quite a few destinations to choose from. To get help, we signed up on the website and we were then contacted by our wedding specialist/travel agent, Andrea. She was phenomenal! She helped to narrow down the perfect location that would give us the amenities that we wanted and was budget-friendly for both us and our guests. We eventually chose Hard Rock Hotel Vallarta because of the great reviews, beautiful weather, resort credit and cost. Most importantly, at the time of our wedding they were offering a free wedding package of our choice to the first 7 same-sex couples! The wedding packages were designed by Colin Cowie and were absolutely stunning. We chose the 'Elegant Ivory' ceremony package. Andrea coordinated with our guests to set up flights, transportation, etc. which took that stress off of us. She was great about returning emails and contacting our friends and family. Closer to the wedding, we were then put in contact with our on-site wedding coordinator, Marisol. She was excellent! We met with her prior to the ceremony to fine tune the details. She made sure that everything was taken care of from the flowers in the bouquet and boutonniere to the number of ceremony chairs.
On the actual day, we were so excited to finally marry! We hadn't seen each other that entire day, so the first time we saw each other was at the ceremony. That has to be the most amazing feeling to walk down to the aisle to your best friend. The weather was magnificent and the natural beauty of Puerto Vallarta complimented our special day. We individualized our ceremony by including the 'jumping the broom' tradition which is a part of the African-American culture as well as a dove release. After the wedding, our reception was held in the gazebo at the resort. We served light hors d'oeuvres and had a saxophonist playing our favorite R&B tunes. Dinner was held in the Zen restaurant also located on the resort. Again, the entire day exceeded our expectations.
Overall, GayDestinationWeddings.com and the Hard Rock Hotel Vallarta team were superb! They respected our union and made us feel like our day was top priority. We were confident in their management of our wedding and would recommend them to any couple getting married.
Photography by Ocean Photo Studio & Vallarta Photo