We found a wedding venue!

YES! YES! YES! We found a wedding venue!!!! Let me start by coming right out and saying it: Ben was right. And I’m so glad I followed his advice.

As soon as we decided that the Riviera Maya was our top wedding location pick (approximately 10 minutes after we got engaged), he said our best bet would be to take a short investigative trip. Although we’ve been many times, going with a mission in mind ended up being incredibly productive.

Here are the top things that I believe greatly contributed to us finding a place we are really excited about. I’d recommend anyone planning a destination wedding to follow as many of these as possible:

1. Knowing the language

(Or having a friend who does and letting them be your voice)

Let’s face it—If you are a rich foreigner, the assumption will be that you can afford more than your average local, and you will be charged accordingly. Therefore, the goal is to camouflage your foreignness to the best of your ability. Weddings are expensive enough without someone pulling the wool over your eyes!

In our case, Ben handled most if not all of the initial emails/phonecalls. In Mexico, you are less likely to be overcharged if your last name is Vargas than if it’s Tuggy. We even conducted our Google searches in Spanish, looking for sites that weren’t geared toward tourists. It takes a lot of scratching, but it’s worth it!

2. Going physically

(Having a friend who lives locally and lets you stay with her and use her car is a HUGE bonus—shoutout to the amazing Vania! We love you!!)

Clearly, nothing beats being able to see a place in 3D before committing to it. But it’s not just about the places; it’s about the people. Being able to shake their hands, to establish a rapport, to ask them questions, show them you’re legit and make sure they are too. Ben had a contact from one of the many phone calls he’d made prior to the trip (a DJ/light/sound guy), and he ended up being a goldmine of resources! He put us in contact with all the people in the wedding industry he worked closely with, and even calling them for us and telling them his “friend” was getting married so they’d give us the best deal possible! WOW, was that a relief, which brings me to my next point.

3. Keeping an open mind.

I had initially fallen in LOVE with a spot in Tulum that does gorgeous wedding packages, but it ended up being way out of our price range ($4000 dollars just for MIXERS for our guests, not including the alcohol! $3000 to rent the place but you HAVE to hire on their wait staff of 40, and oh, you wanted the sand on the beach as well? That will be another $3000. And let's not get into the cost of dinner, tables, chairs, sofas, flowers, a dance floor, you get the gist). Keep in mind most places are going to throw out crazy numbers. Why? Because people are willing to pay them! They know it’s one of the biggest days of your life, they know you’d rather not be bothered with the details and are likely willing to pay good money to have someone take care of everything for you. I was overwhelmed with what Ben was proposing—the idea of just renting a spot on the beach and being in charge of coordinating all the details ourselves. But somehow, miraculously I managed to stifle bridezilla and open my eyes to something I would have never thought of.

4. Opening your eyes to new horizons

This is basically an extension of my previous point. What I’m trying to say is don’t be rigid with decisions you’ve previously made. Be willing to look outside your original zone, and be flexible. I was dead set on Tulum. We both were. It’s a magical place, really. But the thing with magical places is that you’re never alone in thinking so. Demand goes up, prices go up, and this affects not only you, but your guests. We had completely ruled out Cancun on the sole fact that it reminds us too much of Vegas, but hadn’t thought of exploring the coastline a little further north. That’s when Ben’s contact came in: he suggested a sweet little place he had just done a wedding at a few weeks prior. Ample space? Check. Private beach? Check. Reasonable price? Check. No crazy rules or obligations? Check. (It's called Villa Chenera, for those of you asking.)

We think we made the right choice.

Vania was a wonderful host! / ¡Vania fue tremenda anfitriona!

We loved spending time with Vania & her mom / Nos encantó pasar tiempo con Vania y su mami

Ben the hopeless romantic / Benjamin, el romántico empedernido

We’re a little crazy together / Somos unas loquillas

We drove all over in search of the perfect spot! / Manejamos a muchos lugares buscando el ideal

Ben asking all the right questions / Ben sabe a quien hacerle preguntas para conseguir lo que quiere

Picked up some awesome people who were hitchhiking from Tulum to Playa del Carmen / Paramos por estos dos personajes que pedían ride en la carretera… ahora son nuestros amigos 🙂

Shrimp cocktails every day = obligatory beach behavior / El coctel de camarones como Dios manda! Comimos mínimo uno al día

It all started with our love / Todo empezó con nuestro amor

Isla Blanca is a kitesurfer’s dream! / ¡Isla Blanca es ideal para hacer Kite!

Nico, the guy we picked up, was a kitesurfing instructor. Ben didn’t let the opportunity slide. / Nico, el chico que conocimos en la carretera, resultó ser instructor de KiteSurf. Ben no desaprovechó la oportunidad.

The dirt road leading to Villa Chenera, our wedding venue / El camino a Villa Chenera

I can only imagine this with lights and tables and all our favorite people! / Me imagino el lugar lleno de luces, mesas y nuestras personas favoritas y me emociono.

*sigh* I could stay here forever / En verdad me quedaría mil años aqui.

Letting out my inner gymnast / Dejando salir la gimnasta que llevo dentro

Tulum travel blog

I try to cultivate an attitude of contentment wherever I am. Focusing on what I do have rather than what I don’t. Appreciating what’s in front of me rather than pining away for what isn’t. But a few months ago it dawned on me that there’s something I really have been missing: the ocean. There is something so overwhelming about being able to stand next to this gigantic mass of water that can’t sit still, even for a second. Its sheer size reminds us how small we are, its power forces us to reflect on our fragility. It might have been that same day that Ben came up to me and said “I miss the beach!”. That was when I knew we had to plan our escape from this urban jungle to visit one of our favorite places on earth: Tulum.

Tulum sits on the Mayan Riviera just a short jaunt away from Cancun. But the differences between the two could not be greater. Tulum is the kind of place you go to when you’re looking to get away from all the man-made non-sense that surrounds us on a daily basis and just enjoy nature. I’m talking gorgeous unadulterated white-sand beaches, mesmerizingly bright turquoise waters, and lush fully-inhabited jungles. The seafood was so fresh and it was prepared so perfectly, I wished I could get hungry 4 or 5 times a day. The little bungalows and shops were so beautifully designed, I have a whole slew of new ideas for decorating my own home. And, as with most trips, I’m left here wondering if it really did happen, and if I am the same person now as I was before the trip. I wonder how in the world it can feel like time went by so fast, and I’m baffled that we managed to cram so much in to those 9 days.

Planning to go to Tulum? Here are a few tips to make your trip as delightful as ours was:

1. If at all possible, rent a car. Give yourself the freedom to go wherever you want, whenever you want and you will not regret it. It was so nice not to have to depend on others for our transportation. There are some things we would have for sure not done had we not rented a car. Yes, it cost us about $50 a day, but not having to look up schedules, wait for transportation, lug our suitcases to and fro, and budget taxis into every activity is PRICELESS.

2. Go with someone you really like. You are going to be spending a lot of time together. Make sure you really like the person.

3. You don’t have to plan EVERYTHING beforehand. The only thing we planned beforehand was purchasing plane tickets and getting vacation time. Other than that our trip was completely play-it-by-ear. We didn’t know where we were going to stay, what we were going to eat, even what activities we were going to partake in. We let it come to us on an inspiration-basis.

4. Find a balance between documenting and living the moment. Yes, take pictures, but don't spend your entire vacation planning photo-ops. It's about enjoying the moment, and sometimes that means putting the camera DOWN. With that being said, make sure you give yourself something to look back at (especially if you're a picture lover like me!). Seeing a picture from your trip will make you smile years from now.

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Trato de cultivar una actitud de felicidad y satisfacción donde quiera que esté. Enfocarme en lo que tengo y no en lo que no tengo. Apreciar lo que está en frente de mi, y no desear lo que está lejos. Pero hace un par de meses me cayó el veinte que hay algo que he estado extrañando mucho: el océano. Hay algo increíble que pasa cuando te paras al lado del mar, esa masa gigantesca de agua que no se puede calmar ni por un segundo. Su tamaño nos recuerda lo pequeños que somos; su fuerza nos obliga a ver nuestra propia fragilidad. Creo que fue ese mismo día que se me acercó Benjamin y me dijo “¡Extraño la playa!”. En ese momento supe que teníamos que planear nuestra escapada de esta jungla urbana para visitar uno de nuestros lugares favoritos: Tulum.

Tulum se sitúa en la Riviera Maya a menos de dos horas de Cancun. Pero las diferencias entre ambas no podrían ser mayores. Tulum es uno de esos lugares a donde vas para olvidarte de todo, para alejarte del ruido, la gente, la tecnología. Vas a Tulum no solo para apreciar la naturaleza, sino para quedarte anonadado con ella. Estoy hablando de playas hermosas de arena blanca, aguas brillantemente turquesas, y selvas pobladas. Los mariscos eran tan frescos y los preparaban tan perfectamente, que me hubiera gustado tener otra panza para seguir saboreando. Los pequeños bungalows y tienditas tenían un diseño tan ecléctico que ya tengo muchas ideas nuevas para decorar mi propia casa. Y, como me pasa después de la mayoría de los viajes, me encuentro aquí preguntando si realmente sucedió, y si yo soy la misma persona que la que abordó ese avión. Me pregunto cómo es posible que el tiempo se haya pasado tan rápido, y a la vez me sorprendo al pensar en todo lo que logramos hacer en tan sólo 9 días.

Planeando ir a Tulum? Aquí te van unos consejos para que tu viaje sea tan placentero como el mío:

1. Si es posible, renta un carro. Date la libertad de ir adonde quieras, cuando quieras. No te vas a arrepentir. Me encantó no tener que depender de nadie más para nuestra transportación. Hay algunas cosas que definitivamente no hubiéramos hecho de no haber tenido carro. Si, nos costó alrededor de $50 por día, pero no tener que andar viendo horarios, esperando colectivos, arrastrando maletas a media calle, y pidiendo taxis realmente NO TIENE PRECIO.

2. Ve con alguien que te guste mucho. Van a estar pasando mucho tiempo juntos. Asegúrate que realmente te lleves bien con tu compañero de viaje.

3. No tienes que planear TODO de antemano. Lo único que nosotros habíamos planeado era comprar de boletos de avión y pedir días libres del trabajo. De ahí en fuera todo fue espontáneo. No sabíamos donde nos íbamos a quedar, qué íbamos a comer, ni en qué actividades íbamos a participar. De esta manera nos dejamos guiar por la inspiración.

4. Encuentra un balance entre documentar y vivir el momento. Toma fotos, claro que si, pero al querer documentar no se te vaya a olvidar vivir el momento. Aveces, apreciar el momento implica guardar la cámara. Ahora, ya que aclaré eso, asegúrate de tomar unas cuantas fotos para poder recordar tu viaje más intensamente. Ver fotos de tu viaje seguro te hará sonreír, año tras año.

Photos by Holly Tuggy and Benjamin Vargas