Ximena + Maicol || Anahuacalli Museum, Coyoacán, Mexico

At the end of October, Jon had the incredible opportunity to fly to Mexico City and collaborate with his good friend / fellow photographer cohort Victor Zuñiga for an all-night wedding celebration at the Anahuacalli Museum in southern Mexico City. Originally conceived by the legendary Diego Rivera, the actual museum wasn’t completed until after Rivera’s passing.

The daytime was full of the standard preparations, but the evening… the evening was something extraordinary. To call it “one big celebration” would be an infinite understatement. After doing some portraits with the bride and groom, the formal group photos, included a few b&g creative lighting portraits, and moved on to the actual ceremonies. The first ceremony was traditional; bridal party involvement, vows, music, confetti, celebratory kisses + the signing of the marriage license. Afterwards, they conducted a ‘spiritual ceremony’ of some sort, with a spiritual figure taking the lead of this one. Didn’t completely understand this part, but I was fascinated by the environmental uplighting & completely enamored that we were photographing a Mexican wedding under the moonlight. Amazing…(oh, and the couple eventually sealed a hand-written contract with blood drops from pricking their fingers with a pin)

Then the party got started. With multiple live performances (including a few numbers by YouTube sensations TropicalForever), endless cocktails, delicious hors d’oeuvres, tequila-pumping water guns, and phenomenal dancing all night long. At some point, we lost track of time… which, coinciding with the Mexican Daylight Savings Time, we were thoroughly confused. We officially wrapped up around 3:30am (or was it 4:30am?), drove back to Victor’s apartment, and completely crashed in our respective beds before the sun had risen.

Not only was this my first wedding in Mexico, but it was also my first wedding immersed in 99% spanish. It was quite a challenge (often times, I felt lost by the fast-pace advanced conversational dialogues) but I survived. And I loved every moment of it.

Thank you to my friend Victor for an amazing, out-of-this-world opportunity to join you in documenting this wedding in your country. Congratulations also to our newlyweds, Ximena and Maicol, on your new life together!

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