Katelyn & JR

Katelyn and JR came to One&Only Mandarina in August 2025 for the kind of wedding day they had been talking about for years: small, barefoot, family only. The Pacific did most of the announcing. As their Mandarina wedding photographer, I spent the day a few steps behind them, in the quiet between moments, while Dani worked alongside me with her Super 8 camera.
The ceremony happened on the sand, late in the afternoon, when the light along Riviera Nayarit goes long and soft and a little gold. JR's hands were shaking before Katelyn appeared from the path through the jungle. Their officiant kept things short. Afterwards, the family who had flown in for them gathered for a long, lingering dinner, and the two of them slipped down to the water once the plates were cleared, still in their wedding clothes, to watch the stars come up over the cove.
If you are planning a destination wedding in Mandarina, or anywhere along the Nayarit coast between Sayulita and San Pancho, this is the kind of day I love photographing most. Quiet, no big production, lots of unguarded looks between people who actually know each other. Reach out anytime to talk about your own One & Only Mandarina elopement or wedding weekend with us.