Friday, February 10, 2017

Love is in the air. Getting married in Mexico!

Punta Sur, Isla Mujeres
It’s a perfect place for romance – Isla Mujeres.

Sunshine, white sand beaches, palm trees, and dozens of locations where you can tie the knot, get hitched, walk down the aisle, go to the chapel, drop the anchor, or get spliced (two ropes woven into one). 

You could also celebrate your mutual weirdness or blend your families.

First, there are numerous options for the proposal, ranging in price from expensive, with the fine champagne, an enormous diamond, and dinner at a classy restaurant. 

Or a spur-of-the-moment sign on the beach using pieces of coral and shells, asking his lady love to marry him. She said, Yes!
Marry me?
 

Then there are the bachelorette parties frequently featuring the bride, maid-of-honour and bridesmaids wearing matching t-shirts. Hilariously happy, the women ricochet around the island, flitting in and out of bars, nightclubs, and restaurants, creating their own party wherever they go. 

Typically, the bachelorette bashes are the advance party, celebrating the last few days of singledom for the bride. 

Occasionally, the women celebrate for a week in paradise before returning to their northern homes for a large formal wedding.

The Bachelorette!
Guests arriving for destination weddings are recognizable by the amount of luggage and the fancy clothes draped across overburdened arms. 

They disembark the passenger ferries in chatty gaggles of parents, in-laws, assorted relatives, and close friends. The groups disembark the passenger boats heading to the host hotel, or an assortment of private homes rented for the occasion. 

Once the throng has settled into their accommodations, they start the social whirl of gatherings, getting to know one another before the big day. By the time the event takes place, everyone is relaxed and sociable, having finally settled into the slower pace of island time.

Zama's Beach Club decorated for big day
For venue choices, there is everything from large all-inclusive beach resorts, beach clubs, beach restaurants, or simply on the beach. 

You can arrange for your guests to arrive by boat, taxi, golf cart, or whatever transportation method you can dream up.

We have also seen a colonial-style, horse-drawn carriage transport the bride and groom from the church to the reception. 

 
Bodas Colectivas 2012
And for the economy-minded, the municipality of Isla Mujeres traditionally sponsors Bodas Colectivas, collective weddings, group weddings around St. Valentine’s Day for residents who wish to be married in a civil ceremony.  

A decorated bus drives the prospective brides and grooms to the chosen location, and everyone recites their vows together. It’s an affordable and festive event reserved for Mexican citizens.

Goddess IxChel at Punta Sur
And for the younger just-marrieds, a stop at Punta Sur, a small gift for the Goddess IxChel, is rumored to quickly produce offspring. 

A couple of years ago, a thirty-something American woman told us her four children forbade her from even looking at IxChel. Every time the woman visited the goddess, she became pregnant. The kids said, “Enough already!”

We have attended an assortment of island weddings, everything from a handful of people to hundreds of guests joyfully celebrating the happiness of the new couple.  

Isla Mujeres is a romantic destination for the proposal, the wedding, and of course, the annual celebration of your unforgettable experience in paradise.

Golf cart decorated for a wedding

Cheers
Lynda, Lawrie, and Sparky


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