10 Best Wedding Venues on Oaxaca Coast (Puerto Escondido) - photographer’s perspective
Destination weddings and elopements are being loved more and more by our couples, and the coast of Oaxaca has recently become one of the hottest spots to get married in Mexico.
After 7 years of living here, and having covered over 100+ weddings as a professional photographer, I decided to sum up a short list of the best venues I could recommend to the couples who are deciding on a place to get married in Mexico, and specifically, on the beaches of Oaxaca.
DISCLAIMER: This is not The Ultimate List, and there is also no “BEST OF THE BEST” venue. Every couple has its own dreams of her perfect wedding. Also, I’m a person with my subjective opinion, and add to that photographer’s “eye”. There are some wedding venues that I have not worked at yet, also new and remodeled ones, and some of my “bad” past impressions might change over time. Thus, I’ll do my best to be constantly updating this list.
The criteria were:
Overall style and comfort: architecture, amount of light, size, spaces, sea view, vegetation (= how beautiful is the place?).
Management and organization (how easy is it to plan and execute a wedding there?).
Logistics and privacy (at the end I tried to give options for both IN town and OUT OF town).
So, here are my finalists:
Category: Intimate wedding or Elopement:
Winner 1. Private villas in Casa Wabi area (Casa Orgullosa, Casa Malandra, Las Marianas, Casitas By The Sea and others).
Amazing Aundrea at her bridal portrait session at Casa Bacana. WP: Pechef
I absolutely LOVE these houses recently built around Casa Wabi (30-40 min away from Puerto Escondido). They are a heaven for a photographer: beautiful architecture and design, vegetation, and most of them are ocean front, on a remote beach with few people (=privacy). They’re a great venue fit for a small wedding or for a beautiful elopement.
Check out this intimate wedding in Casa Orgullosa / Casa Bacana,
and this amazing elopement at Casa Malandra.
(both are full galleries delivered to the clients)
Winner 2. Villas in Rancho Neptuno area (Casa Gaby, Mar y Mar and others).
Amazing view behind Ali at her bridal portraits session at Rancho Neptuno. WP: Azul Bonito
Another awesome option for a mid-sized wedding. The areas Rancho Neptuno and Costa Cumana are full of private, more traditional-styled villas, some of which are regularly rented out for events. Most are designed similarly: a house - pool - garden - beach. Thus, most often you’ll get ready at the villa, have the beach ceremony and then the reception on the grass in front of the house.
Beautiful Sabrina walking down the aisle for her ceremony at Rancho Neptuno. WP: Pechef
Some restrictions have also been put in 2022 on the volume & timing of the receptions in this area, so worth checking that in advance, too :)
Hard to come up with just 1-2 leaders, but check out these weddings we had in the Rancho Neptuno area:
Winner 3. Villas Carrizalillo.
Gorgeous wedding dress of Anna at Villas Carrizalillo. WP: Puerto Bodas
Awesome wedding venue for those who want to stay inside Puerto Escondido. This hotel is in town, right above the famous Carrizalillo beach, and its restaurant Espadín is well known for both the view and the food. It’s got a nice colonial style, privacy, several rooms to stay at, a beautiful garden and needless to say, gorgeous views!
Although beach photos won’t be an option there (the access is like a 100 stairs, and it’s one of the most crowded beaches in Puerto), it still has great spaces for your getting ready moments, for the ceremony and couples photos with a wonderful view, and a comfortable reception on the terrace or at the restaurant.
Check out this intimate wedding at Villas Carrizalillo (full gallery).
Category: Intimate to Medium size wedding / tropical boho style / out of town
Winner: Hotel Escondido & Hotel Terrestre.
Sunset walk at the couples love session after the ceremony. WP: Pau Cirigo
This is one of the venues where I’ve worked numerous times and love very much: beautiful spaces, lots of wood, nice “palapas”, running doors that allow heaps of light in the rooms…and a huge semi-private beach for any type of ceremony and reception. And all the privacy you need.
Hotel Escondido fits about 40 wedding guests max, but the recently built Hotel Terrestre right across the road can fit a lot more. From what I’ve been informed, starting 2022 some restrictions were put on the party time (time limit, max volume etc) - check that in advance if you’re a big party goer :)
Check out this wedding blog of a gorgeous wedding at Hotel Escondido
Category: Medium to big size wedding, in town
Winner: Posada Real (Cocos Beach Club)
Gorgeous first kiss at the wedding of A&T at Posada Real beach club. WP: Pechef
Also one of the wedding locations in Puerto Escondido I’ve most worked at. The hotel is located in Bacocho, right on top of a hill, and has its own beach club right below (they are connected through stairs). This makes it a huge advantage as you can both stay at the hotel and fit like 300 of your guests, have a gorgeous oceanfront corner room, later have a ceremony at their beach club Cocos, and stay in the same area for the reception.
It also has a cool garden upstairs which works well for the wedding party or family pictures.
Category: Big beach wedding.
Winner: El Origen Beach Club.
At this first dance at El Origen wedding, fireworks were a great add-on. WP: V.Corro
If you want a beautiful and large coast venue, with a “private” huge beach, nice pool and heaps of space - El Origen outside of Puerto Escondido is your choice. It’s about 15-20 min away from town, and fits everything and everyone. They are also constantly building more rooms, so housing for you and the closest ones is also an option. And as far as I know, no restrictions on your party time or guests number :)
As I mentioned, this is not an exhaustive list of the best of the best wedding venues and locations here in Puerto Escondido and on the Oaxaca coast, but I hope this gives you some visual idea of what options there are here.
Are you planning a destination wedding in Mexico and have questions, or would like to see more ideas and inspiration? Feel free to check my portfolio or say hi here in the contact form for references and wedding packages:
Thanks for reading! Now let’s capture your special day :)
Alex Krotkov
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