Puerto Vallarta Wedding Photographer
Where the Pacific sets straight into the Bahía de Banderas and the old town runs on cobblestone and color. Editorial coverage on Los Muertos beach, along the Malecón and through the Zona Romántica, with the Sayulita jungle a morning away. We are a Cancún studio that travels here.
Inquire for Puerto VallartaA Pacific bay, an old town, and a jungle up the coast
Puerto Vallarta sits on the Bahía de Banderas in the state of Jalisco, where the Pacific opens to the west and the sun sets directly over the water. The old town is built on cobblestone, anchored by the seaside Malecón boardwalk and the crowned Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and the Zona Romántica to the south has long been the warm, walkable heart of the city and one of the most welcoming neighborhoods in Mexico for LGBTQ+ couples.
For wedding photography this gives you several distinct visual languages within a short drive: the warm light of Los Muertos beach and its pier for the classic Pacific-sunset frame, the cobblestone color of the Zona Romántica and the old town for texture, the dramatic rock coves of Conchas Chinas just to the south, and the resort calm of Marina Vallarta to the north. IVAE Studios is the destination wedding photographer in Mexico that travels here from Cancún, and we plan every Vallarta booking around that west-facing light.
The airport sits between the Marina district and downtown, so guests flying in from the U.S., Canada and across Mexico land close to most wedding hotels, and the surf-and-jungle villages of the neighboring Riviera Nayarit, including Sayulita, are an easy morning's drive north for a second look.
Six public places that earn the frame
These are the real, public landmarks of Puerto Vallarta and the nearby coast. Each has its own light window; we will scout them on arrival and build the timeline around your ceremony and venue.
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Ceremony · sunset
Los Muertos beach & pier
The city's most popular swimming beach, at the foot of the Zona Romántica, with its modern pier reaching into the bay. West-facing, so vows land in the warm hour before the sun touches the Pacific, the classic Vallarta beach-ceremony frame.
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Couple portraits · old town
The Malecón & Church of Guadalupe
The seaside Malecón boardwalk with its sculptures on one side and the crowned Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the old town on the other, Puerto Vallarta's two most recognizable landmarks. We shoot these as an editorial walk, working around the crowds and the light.
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Color & texture · afternoon
Zona Romántica cobblestones
The walkable, warm-hearted neighborhood south of the river, painted facades, cobblestone streets and the most welcoming district in town for LGBTQ+ couples. A non-beach portrait option full of color and human detail.
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Rock coves · golden hour
Conchas Chinas coastline
Just south of the Zona Romántica, the upscale Conchas Chinas hillside drops to dramatic rock coves and tide pools. Quieter than the city beaches, with the Pacific breaking on stone, a graphic, editorial frame for post-ceremony portraits.
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Resort calm · flexible
Marina Vallarta resorts
The resort and marina district north of town, near the airport, where many couples stay and marry. Calm bay water, palm-lined promenades and on-property ceremony lawns make for a contained day with the Pacific as backdrop.
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Add-on · next morning
Sayulita & the Riviera Nayarit jungle
Roughly 45 to 60 minutes north, the surf town of Sayulita and the jungle beaches of the neighboring Riviera Nayarit give a completely different look, palm jungle, cobblestone color and wilder Pacific surf. The best second-look session for couples who can spare a morning.
The Pacific sets straight into the bay
Puerto Vallarta's defining advantage is its orientation: the city faces west across the Bahía de Banderas, so the sun sets directly over the water. That makes the warm hour before sundown the single most important window of the day, and we build every timeline around it.
November through April is the dry season, clean skies, low humidity and reliable sunsets, and the most popular months to marry here. May through October is the green season; afternoons can bring short, dramatic storms that often clear into spectacular color, but heat and humidity run high, so we schedule portraits tight to sunset. August through October carries the highest Pacific hurricane risk, so for those dates we always confirm a covered backup ceremony location and rebuild the timeline on the morning of if weather is forecast.
Sunset itself falls roughly between 6:00 and 6:30 p.m. in winter and closer to 7:30 to 8:15 p.m. in summer. For couples who want quiet, the early morning on Los Muertos beach or in the Conchas Chinas coves is empty and soft, one of the most underrated slots on the Vallarta coast.
A Cancún studio that travels in
IVAE Studios is based in Cancún, on the Caribbean side of Mexico, and we travel to Puerto Vallarta as your independent photographer. We are not on any single resort's in-house vendor list, which means we ask for your venue's name early so we can confirm its outside-vendor policy in writing before you book. Some Marina Vallarta and Conchas Chinas resorts welcome outside photographers freely; some all-inclusive properties charge an outside-vendor fee or require a day pass. When a fee applies, the couple pays the resort directly and we help coordinate access.
Because Vallarta is a destination job for us, we plan it like one. We arrive a day or two early to scout the specific light on Los Muertos beach, along the Malecón and at your venue, since the Pacific sunset behaves very differently from the Caribbean we shoot at home, and we walk the public locations to learn where the crowds and the light sit at the hour you have chosen.
Travel is quoted transparently, flights and accommodation for the team, billed at cost and itemized in your proposal, so there are no surprises. If you add a Sayulita or Riviera Nayarit session, we fold that ground transport into the same quote.
A Vallarta wedding earns more than one day
With a bay, an old town and a jungle within an hour, Puerto Vallarta gives us more distinct settings than a single wedding day can hold.
Since we travel in for your wedding, it makes sense to use the whole trip. A welcome dinner in the Zona Romántica, a sunset couple session on Los Muertos beach, the wedding day itself, and an optional next-morning session in Sayulita or the Riviera Nayarit jungle each photograph as its own chapter with its own light. The early frames, made before the city wakes on Los Muertos or in the Conchas Chinas coves, are consistently among the quietest and most distinctive in a Vallarta collection.
Spreading portraits across two evenings also protects you against the green-season afternoon storms and gives us a clean weather Plan B without compressing your reception. For how we structure full destination coverage from arrival to send-off, see our destination wedding photographer in Mexico overview.
Why couples book Puerto Vallarta for the wedding
Couples choose Puerto Vallarta when they want a Pacific sunset and a real town in equal measure. Few Mexican destinations give you a genuine old town, cobblestone streets, a crowned church, a working Malecón, alongside a west-facing beach where the sun sets over the water and a jungle coast an hour north. It is also one of Mexico's most openly LGBTQ+-welcoming cities, with the Zona Romántica long established as the heart of its community, which makes it a natural choice for same-sex and inclusive weddings.
It is a practical address, too: an airport between the Marina and downtown, a walkable center, and resort districts in Marina Vallarta and Conchas Chinas for guests who want to stay close to the water. Couples weighing Vallarta against the Caribbean usually compare it with our Cancún and Riviera Maya coverage, and those planning a high-design celebration can read our luxury weddings overview. Couples comparing the two Mexican coasts often look at our Los Cabos page for the other Pacific option.
How IVAE photographs Puerto Vallarta
We treat Vallarta as a destination job and plan accordingly. The studio shoots one wedding per weekend, so your day is never shared, and the lead photographer scouts the city's specific west-facing light on arrival, the angle of the Pacific sunset over the bay shifts with the season. Coverage is documentary first; we direct only when the frame needs it and otherwise stay invisible so the day unfolds on its own. We photograph every couple, including LGBTQ+ couples, around how the two of you actually move together rather than any default pose.
Every Vallarta collection is anchored to the warm hour before the sun touches the water, with portraits sequenced around the beach ceremony and the cobblestone color of the old town. You receive a 48-hour preview gallery, with the full edit to follow, and the studio works fully bilingual in English and Spanish to keep coordination with your Vallarta planner and venue seamless. Every session is led personally by Vianey Díaz, founder and director of IVAE Studios.
Why the Pacific matters here
On the Caribbean we shoot the sunrise; in Puerto Vallarta we shoot the sunset, because the whole bay faces west and the sun drops straight into the water. We plan every Vallarta timeline so vows land in that warm hour, then walk the couple into the afterglow. It is a different ocean and a different light, and it deserves a timeline built for it.
Vianey Díaz · Director, IVAE Studios
Puerto Vallarta, specifically
Are you based in Puerto Vallarta?
Is Puerto Vallarta a good place for an LGBTQ+ wedding?
Where do you photograph couple portraits in Puerto Vallarta?
What time is sunset for a Puerto Vallarta wedding?
Can we add a Sayulita or Riviera Nayarit jungle session?
Do Puerto Vallarta resorts allow outside wedding photographers?
When is the best time of year to get married in Puerto Vallarta?
How far is Puerto Vallarta from the airport, and how do guests get around?
Do you offer multi-day or welcome-event coverage in Puerto Vallarta?
Do you photograph at the Malecón and the Church of Guadalupe?
Do you charge a travel fee to Puerto Vallarta?
Inquire for Puerto Vallarta
One wedding per weekend, and Vallarta is a travel date for us, so the calendar fills early. Send your date, venue and a sentence about your day, we reply within 24 hours with availability and a tailored quote that includes travel.