PHOTOGRAPHY

Rachel’s photography is all about finding poetry in reality. She is proud to be an award-winning photographer, and loves bringing the beautiful spirit of your wedding day to light! With every photo package you will receive a DVD containing all your photos in both print-quality and web-ready formats, as well as an online slideshow to share with family and friends. We offer all of these files free from copyright restrictions, meaning that they are yours to copy, make prints from, and share, forever. We use professional-quality Canon cameras and equipment!

VIDEOGRAPHY

Paul shoots every video with the very best in cameras, lenses and audio gear! Each video package includes a cinematic edit as well as full event coverage delivered on a chaptered Blu-Ray disc. Everything is captured in High Definition, at 24 frames per second, which gives your footage the film-like quality you’ve come to expect from professional HD productions on TV and in theaters. (The dramatic television series House and feature films such as Coraline were shot with the same cameras we use!) Also included is an online version of your cinematic edit to share with family and friends!

PHOTO+VIDEO

This option gives you EVERYTHING in our above photography and videography packages, and at a better price than they would be separately. Shooting photo+video gives us the opportunity to use your photos in the video mix, making for a truly dynamic fusion edit! Both Paul and Rachel will be there on your wedding day to make sure we get the best possible coverage.

!!! NEW AND AWESOME: SUPER 8 FILM COVERAGE !!!

Give your video the vintage touch by adding Super 8 coverage on real film to any video package. We know just what and when to shoot to maximize every second of film shot. Every Super 8 Add-On includes a standalone reel on video of all Super 8 footage, Super 8 highlights mixed into your wedding day edit, and delivery of the film reel itself for your archives. There’s nothing like real film!

We have been shooting weddings in the US and Mexico for 8 years and still LOVE LOVE LOVE what we do. We are based in Playa del Carmen, Cancun, and the Riviera Maya, Mexico, but often travel to other locations in Mexico, the US, and worldwide.

About Rachel:

I am a Nebraskan native. My father, a historian and English professor, gave me the gift of poetry (musical, visual, textual, and otherwise) and taught me life is always beautiful if you look at it through that lens. My mother is a first class creative appreciator and a risk-taker; she gave me my bravery.  I graduated from Harvard University with a BA in English in 1997, and from the University of Denver with an MA in Video Production in 2009. My personal work as a documentarian revolves around the moment when memory becomes story, catching serendipityon film, and finding the transcendent in the strange and small.  I came to the photographic arts through theater, when I decided I’d rather be behind the camera rather than in front of it (most of the time). In 2004, my documentary Centripetal Visions was shown at the South by Southwest Film Festival, a big honor in the film world. Paul was there too, and we remember seeing each other there in the filmmaker’s lounge. But we hadn’t met yet….

I fell in love with Paul at a Mexican restaurant in Denver in May of 2004, though he didn’t know it at the time. That summer we learned how to make beautiful, inspired videos together. Three years later, I left my life in Denver in a blaze of romantic glory to move to Mexico, marry Paul, and be his lifetime media naranja–the other half of the orange, as they say here! I am so blessed to have the opportunity to join the love of my life in this heart-centered work, making awesome films in an incredible place with an a-m-a-z-i-n-g person!

I love seeing people at their happiest. Everything is beautiful and blessed at those moments, and that’s why I love shooting weddings. Portraits are lots of fun too! After your wedding, come on anadventure with me to trash the dress!!! Who knows where we’ll end up…

Rachel is an award-winning member of the International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers (ISPWP).

About Paul:

I shot my first film at age eleven with my father’s 8mm camera. I always wanted to make films and I’ve always loved Documentary Films. In college (1983) I saw the movie Koyaanisqatsi and I signed up for film course immediately.  I graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee with a degree in Broadcasting in 1990. In school I learned how to combine technologies to make art. I learned the technical side, how to hook up the wires and set up the gear to get the best raw material. I learned how to bring it back to the lab and turn it into something people want to see.  After college I went into advertising. I had a good career working for agencies and left in 1997 to work for myself creating websites. I moved to Denver and started SpireMedia. In 2002 I sold it to my partner and went traveling with a video camera.

I made some short films and one got into the South by Southwest Film Festival. I discovered my next career, film making. I also met my future wife Rachel. When I told her I wanted to shoot short documentary films of weddings she said “hell ya!”. We started shooting weddings in Denver.

In 2004 I moved to Mexico and started PlayaWeddings. Rachel has joined me, we got married. We continue to document weddings in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Weddings are amazing stories each and every time. We never get tired of capturing that story, the personalities and bringing it together in the editing room.

http://www.playaweddings.com

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Check out the latest and greatest on our blog at http://playaweddings.blogspot.com/ !