Wedding Date on Oct 23, 2018

The first I knew of Hurricane Willa was through a welcome text from Jenn (Flora & Fauna Photography) upon landing at Puerto Vallarta Airport. “Have you seen the news?!!”, accompanied by a photo of the news reporter, an image of a huge swirly cloud and the caption “Category 4 Hurricane heading to Mexico’s Pacific coast”. Karen and Calvin’s Destination Wedding at the Hyatt Ziva in Puerto Vallarta was our final event of 2018 and boy was is special. The intended plan was for the guests to take a boat, out to the ocean and conduct the ceremony & reception at Las Caletas, a private and secluded beach. It was to be the wedding of their dreams and they had poured their hearts and souls into planning, making, designing everything. As the day progressed news came through that the port had been shut down and the wedding would have to be relocated or cancelled completely. Karen and Calvin remained strong, and together with their planner (Adventure Weddings Mexico) and the co-operation of the Hyatt Ziva, a new ceremony and reception was planned. Hurricane Willa was due to hit the next day and all we could do was wait. That night I walked around the city streets, observing windows being boarded up, sandbags being put in place and a few hotels being evacuated. It was an eerie experience and I couldn’t help but wonder “am I really filming a wedding here tomorrow?” Well, the morning was remarkably calm. The news reports stated that the storm had been downgraded and was going to hit the coast 100 miles north of our location. The ocean swell was still pretty huge, but nothing that would affect us too much. I called into the family, let them know all was OK and headed for the hotel to begin our day of filming. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Our favourite weddings are those where a couple just throws themselves into the experience. Karen and Calvin lived every moment of their day, despite the threat of natural disaster. They laughed, cried, poured their hearts out to each other and partied all night at each other’s side. They were still lucky enough to have their destination wedding in a beautiful part of the world and looking back, I can’t imagine they’d change a thing.