Since I've been closer to the beach, I have realized that Beach Destination Weddings are just beyond amazing!  It's a perfect option for the bride who wants to have a breathtaking ocean background, mini vacation, and your most important guests share their day with you.  I wrote a whole post on why you should have a destination wedding, you can read it HERE. 

I want to share with you guys the beautiful decor that each bride pours their heart into to create the wedding of their dreams.  Each of the inspiration boards are from REAL BEACH WEDDINGS!  Each unique, each different and all amazing!  Make sure you pin these images!

Jessica + Jordan Puerto Vallarta

Colors: Teal, cream, bright and soft pings, and orange.  Adding some glam with the brides sparkly shoes and votive candle centerpieces.  Florals were those beautiful lilies in bright tropical colors as well as white.  

Everything mixed well together to create a beautiful tropical ambiance to the wedding.  Can't get over the bride's maids mix-matched dresses in different pink hues!

Anais + Mario Mazatlan Beach Wedding

This couple wanted more of an elegant and timeless feel to their wedding with a beach ceremony and beautiful closed reception hall for their party.  It was not with out beautiful details to keep it tied to the beach theme!  Those tiffany blue bride's maid dresses are to die for! Tying it with white florals for the bouquet and boutonnieres make it look effortlessly elegant!  

We continue to see the trend of using glass votive candle centerpieces with roses and lilies to create that glamour during the reception.  Paired with sliver charger plates and tiffany blue linens.  Love!

Gabriela + Fernando Puerto Vallarta Beach Wedding

Can you mix blush pink, grey, and mint for your wedding? You can bet on it! These colors made for a beautiful blend of feminine and masculine with the mint and grey while keeping it flirty with the blush pink.  Ah! I can't get over how it just works so well together!

And let's get some of those beautiful votive candle centerpieces and plush pink tipped roses to light up the night while we're at it.

Cristy + Eduardo Cancun Beach Wedding

This couple kept things light and airy during their wedding! Makes perfect sense since the background of their wedding provided a lot of decor with an intimate chapel ceremony and beachfront reception.  Cristy opted to mix-match her bridal party dresses ranging from soft mint to rich teal hues and her bride's men? They wore matching colored ties.  Definite win!

Add the sand colored centerpieces and white bouquet, this wedding made a statement to not overpower the beach in the background and keeping it classy and playful at the same time.

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I hope these inspiration collages help you to get more ideas for your own destination beach wedding!  Make sure you pin them so you can reference back to them when you start planning your big day.  And don't forget, we would love to document your wedding as well! ;).  

Oh, and if you're looking for beautiful wedding invites, make sure you check out Paperless Post - they were an inspiration for this post and have great wedding invites for your event!  Check out their website HERE.

Connecting with families is something I absolutely love to do! Even though the sessions now look a little different than before, we still have a great time chasing after little ones, getting real expressions, and smiling behind the camera when families are having fun.

Needless to say, I think we tuckered these two little ones out! Thank you Victoria and Cristian for trusting me and letting me photograph your beautiful family. This family visits us from Mexico City!

*Note: You’ll see a little sun and water logo at the bottom of these images - they were created for Bella Arte Foto which is our Puerto Vallarta local studio and is for national clients. Visit the FB page if you’re interested in learning more!

This pandemic has really thrown everyone into a spiral. At first I felt pretty fine being home, as a natural homebody, but then days turned into weeks and weeks have turned into months and now it seems we’ll be closing this year the same as we started.

What has maintained me afloat has been the little things. Little pleasures that create a sense of routine, self care, and just overall wellness in my mind.

I would say body but let’s be real, I don’t exercise and really don’t like it haha. Probably should though but eh, it’s just the truth so I’m not gonna lie, ha!

Anyway, we recently went up to the mountains and stayed in a cabin. Then we got word that a really good friend was going to the mountains and so we jumped on the opportunity. All with safety precautions and we wore masks and the whole thing.

It was fun and so great to smell the fresh air and be in nature where our cell phones didn’t have signal. The best part of the whole trip? The actual drive there and back! It was drizzling and so we got to see waterfalls the whole way up, insane fog rolling among the mountains, and it was actually cold.

Puerto Vallarta doesn’t cool down until late October so it’s nice to be able to be in humid free cool air.

I posted a couple of images on my Instagram stories if you’re interested in snagging them as backgrounds for your tech.

All the photos were snapped on my Huawei phone (not an ad, although let’s talk Huawei?!) and it takes pretty stellar photos.

Hope you are all find small ways to keep afloat.

Today, for me, it was enjoying a great tasting coffee and remembering great trips into the forest.

Xoxo,
Jackie

Don’t let styling your home with photos overwhelm you!

I’m here to help you style your photos in your home so that you can enjoy them every time you pass them by.

I have this photo ledge in my entrance space and so I decided to style it with a couple of printed photos. The pyramid photo can be purchased in my fine art shop starting at $15.

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A post shared by Jackie Lamas Photographer (@jackielamas) on Sep 6, 2020 at 8:55am PDT

The sizes are one 8x10 print of our wedding in an 11x14 frame and a 4x6 wall art print in an 8x10 frame.

Pin this image so you can come back to the video!

Getting your portraits taken while on vacation can seem a little overwhelming because you have one chance to get everything right…

I’m here to make sure our session goes as smoothly as possible and so I’ve rounded up some things that maybe you have or haven’t thought of yet and want to make the most out of your time with me.

Schedule your session two or three days before your return

Planning your session a few days before your return flight is the best way to ensure that if anything goes wrong, the weather doesn’t allow for great photos, we still have a couple of days to reschedule your session to a more ideal time.

It rains a lot and sometimes the weather can be unpredictable or the location can be closed off, especially right now with COVID where the world is still taking its time to open fully.

The sessions last about an hour and so really it’s quick and won’t take up much time from your vacation.

Bug Repellent

Bugs are really common here - especially mosquitoes. And they are a pain in you know what and having bug spray or cream works wonders.

I recently had a morning session, we’re talking about 730am! and there were mosquitoes like no other! I get bit and it seems like they look for me honestly so I always put on bug repellent in order to make sure that I’m not uncomfortable during the session.

Off and Fly Away are great ones to consider. If you forget this at home, don’t worry, the shop at your hotel or a local pharmacy will have what you need.

Baby powder

Okay, hear me out… I learned this trick through a deep rabbit hole on Pinterest and it absolutely works! Baby powder is great for getting wet or stuck sand off your feet and anywhere on your body.

Just sprinkle it on, wait a few seconds, and then rub off with a towel. It’s that simple!

Foot powder works too just make sure the mint isn’t irritating to your skin. Getting a small bottle of this can help if you don’t like sand or want to get the sand off without getting wet.

I literally never go to the beach without baby powder now and it’s saved us a lot of sand in the car and keeping sand off of faces without having to get wet. A true lifesaver if there ever was one.

Hat & sunglasses

It can be hot, especially here in Puerto Vallarta and while in the shade it’s perfectly comfortable, while out on the beach and in the sun, it can be harsh. The beaches here generally don’t have any cover or trees at the shore so it’s best to bring some sunglasses or a hat so that when I’m photographing details or other members of your family you are not uncomfortable.

They also work as great props for the session too!

Don’t be afraid to add ideas

I love it when my clients have ideas for poses and setups that help the session give them exactly what they want. If you see a great location at your hotel that you’d love to have as the backdrop to our session, let’s do it! If you see a great wall with pretty flowers you want for photos, let’s do it! If you want a photo of you sipping a great cocktail poolside, let’s do it!

Let’s do all the photos that you want! Because, and if you’ve been reading along for quite some time here, you’ll see that I repeat often that THESE ARE YOUR PHOTOS, NOT MINE.

Sure it’s cool having them to post on my website and on social media, but they aren’t going on my walls. They’re going on your walls. They’re going to sit in an album on your coffee table, they’re getting framed for your college student to hang in their dorm.

So you have full authority to tell me what you want and where and all the things. I’m here to give that to you - the best photos you want!

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Making the most out of your vacation beach portraits doesn’t have to feel like more work or overwhelming, it can be easy and smooth like an extension of your vacation. An added bonus, if you will!

Let’s do it!

Getting to photograph families is something that I enjoy so much because I get the chance to create something that will be passed down through generations.

Someday, these girls will look at these photos and remember the amazing vacation they took amidst one of the worst pandemics in the world.

Together and united they enjoyed a little rest and relaxation at a top destination, Marival Distincts Resort, in Nuevo Vallarta.

With all the safety regulations in place, families can get a little vacation in and enjoy the beach, pool, and restaurants in Puerto Vallarta even during this unprecedented time. Resorts are only at 30% capacity, maintaining all of the sanitation regulations and helping our locals get back to work.

Partnered with Localgrapher for this session.

11x14, 8x10, and 5x7 prints (frames not included).

Getting wall art for your home can be a little overwhelming and sometimes the images can be too generic or too expensive!

Which is why I’ve curated some of my most popular images and set up an affordable Wall Art Shop! Photos are printed on high quality professional archival photographic paper - which is a fancy way of saying the photos are printed on really great pro paper and made to last.

Bring the beauty of the outside, inside starting at $15 for printed photos and $35 for high-resolution downloads of selected images.

We can’t get outside right now but you can enjoy beautiful photos from nature that will help you stay calm and bring in great energy into any room.

I’ll be adding more images as time goes on. I’ll also be adding limited editions so that you are getting a one of kind image!

Nuevo Vallarta is the hidden gem of the Banderas Bay (Bahia de Banderas) and is the outermost part of the half-moon shaped bay.

Lined with beautiful white sand beaches and calmer waters, these beaches are the most solicited for intimate weddings!

Marival Emotions Resort has a few options given that it is both a resort and time-share condos with access to the beautiful beaches of Nuevo Vallarta.

Marival Emotions Resort offers different backgrounds for your wedding depending on the look you want. Choose from larger areas like the convention center that can be divided into three smaller rooms, outdoor garden areas full of bougainvillea bushes, and of course on the beach.

The resort offers a day of coordinator and different options for any sized wedding. This venue has just started expanding their wedding services so I would suggest taking a look at they’re offering!

Website: Marival Emotions Resort Weddings

Family Sessions Post Covid

How we’re going to create meaningful portraits in Puerto Vallarta

When we were ordered to lock down a couple of months ago, I didn’t want to believe it. But in an effort to help, we stayed home. Either way, flights got canceled, sessions got postponed and cancelled, and everything I knew as a photographer has been on hold.

There is light at the end of the tunnel friends: we’re coming out of lock down soon and eventually, life will have to go on in a new way, but it has to go on.

I am grateful for all of my clients that have reached out and supported me all these years in giving them something irreplaceable.

It has meant the world to me in so many ways!

But the real question remains once we open up the beaches: what are sessions going to be like now?

Much the same, actually!

I usually photograph sessions alone and so risk is reduced. I also tend to keep a good distance from clients because we want to get as much of the beach as possible! Even with close ups, I’m a good 10 feet away.

I have and will wear a mask. Especially for families with children and adults over 60.

All booking and delivery of images are done online now anyway so that will remain the same.

I will only photograph immediate families that are traveling together. This breaks my heart so much because I absolutely love multi-family sessions!

Now more than ever I believe that photography is not only important but it’s absolutely ESSENTIAL.

I believe in capturing your family. I believe in creating something irreplaceable.

I believe in giving you the most meaningful souvenir you’ll ever take home with you.

If you’re planning on coming to Bucerias, Puerto Vallarta, Sayulita, and surrounding areas, let’s book your family session.

We don’t know what the future holds for us, but we can make the most of it now and create meaningful memories that last a lifetime.

xoxo,

Jackie

Even though we’re finding ourselves indoors for mother’s day, this doesn’t mean we still can’t give mama a little love.

We’ve rounded up the best photo gift guide that guarantees mom will love! Create beautifully crafted photo displays for your mom so that when she is home during this time, she can smile looking at her beautiful family.

Check them out and let us know which is your favorite!

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Image Box

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Image Folios & Cards

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Image Cubes

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Ornaments

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Mini Book (comes in sets of 3

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Small Frames

We have a complete catalog if you’d like to see it, download it HERE.

We also have gift certificates available so mama can choose her own perfect gift! You really can’t say giving the gift of you printed on pretty photo displays won’t make every day special.

Click on the image to purchase a gift certificate.

Happy mother’s day to all of our mothers out there. More than ever, they deserve to feel special!