A Puerto Vallarta Destination Wedding at the Royal Decameron Complex, Bucerias, Mexico

Celeste and Kit held their destination wedding in Puerto Vallarta at the Royal Decameron Complex in the little town of Bucerias, Mexico. They married on the beach on the leap day (February 29th) among 50 family and friends. It was a HOT, beautiful-blue-skies kind of day. Daytime margaritas, good music, happy and laughing people EVERYWHERE, taco dinner and maraca melodies to welcome the newlyweds to the reception, this leap day wedding was definitely one to remember. The timing couldn’t have been any more perfect, as just two weeks after we all returned in early March, the COVID-19 pandemic affected worldwide travel. This was my first destination wedding in a country outside of Canada, and I am so excited to share all of the goodness with you!

Their Bucerias Destination Wedding Story

Their Bucerias destination wedding story began two weeks earlier when they loaded all of their items onto a Vancouver city bus after getting off of the Duke Point Ferry from Nanaimo. They traveled with their three-year old son, vacation clothing, the wedding dress and all of their wedding decor. Needless to say, they had their hands full! I would get to know Celeste as a caring and generous individual with a knowledge of holistic medicine and wellness. She made fifty individual Thank You Bags for every guest that attended, including me and my friend. This kit included homemade organic sunscreen, hand sanitizer (which would value like GOLD a few weeks later!), band-aids with funny text like PIMPLE written on them, little hangover vitamin packs, vitamin C crystals, lip balm and some Mexican street candy. You bet she packed that on the bus too in a plastic blue tote. Amazing.

They spent their first week travelling from place to place in Puerto Vallarta, no concrete plan just an adventure to really explore the grit and authentic Mexico they so loved. They met up with their family one week later at the resort where everyone got real comfortable together before the wedding took place. It was great. Guests were able to really get to know one another and had plenty of opportunity to talk and make genuine memories with the bride and groom. On a typical wedding day, the time that the bride and groom have is really quite limited and I thought this was such a relaxed way to do it.

Legally Marrying In Canada, Symbolic Ceremony in Mexico

Celeste and Kit held their legal wedding ceremony in Canada in their hometown of Nanaimo among a handful of family and friends on Valentines Day. They did this because in the end, the process is easier than getting blood-samples taken in Mexico to legally marry there. On the leap day, they married in Mexico symbolically with Celeste’s Dad officiating the ceremony. They passed around the wedding rings to their bridal party to give well wishes, and the wedding day felt just as impacting as if they were marrying legitimately. The bride and groom stayed apart throughout the day, Celeste wore a beautiful wedding dress, there was a wedding cake, and all of the traditions such as her Dad walking her down the isle and sharing a first dance were still done. One of my favorite moments was when they arrived back at the reception and everyone was shaking maracas to a high-vibe song blasting in the hot sun.

At their casual Nanaimo wedding, Celeste wore a pretty green dress and they went out to a nice dinner that night with their friends. These two can mix up when they celebrate each year; either on the 14th or every fourth year on the 29th. Savvy savvy these two are! They combined their wedding with their honeymoon by marrying in Mexico, and tripled that with an epic vacation with family and friends. Congratulations you two ♥♥♥