8 Mexico Elopement Ideas that will make you rethink a Traditional Wedding

We are here to inspire you with some amazing elopement ideas!

An elopement is usually a small wedding, most often just the couple, though a few close family members sometimes attend. Elopements are often less formal than a traditional wedding. One thing is for sure, with a smaller guest list there are far fewer people to please! No need to worry about what aunt Suzie and uncle Bob think. Ask any couple after their wedding if they were surprised by how much influence their family and friends had on how their wedding turned out. Spoiler – it’s WAY more than you would ever expect. Elopements give you the freedom to fully express yourself, indulge your tastes, and focus on each other.

Elopements are also budget-friendly. With fewer mouths to feed, you can splurge in other areas like a gorgeous dress and amazing location or the photographer of your dreams. Planning is also simplified as the wedding reception portion of the day pretty much goes away. Elopements can be religious, spiritual, playful, or even SECRET! There are no rules, and no limits more than your imagination.

Here are 8 Mexico elopement ideas to inspire you to start planning today!

Contact Us to plan your travel

Del Sol Travels is a full-service travel agency that specializes in planning destination weddings, honeymoons, and special events. Del Sol Travels services are complimentary, and our expertise is not limited to weddings. Our team is available to assist you with travel planning around the globe!

Cenote Elopement

If you are looking for a spectacular elopement location in nature, the cenotes are for you! We’ve planned cenote elopements in as little as 2 weeks, and the experience is magical. The cenotes are freshwater sinkholes in the Mexican jungle. There are cenotes near Playa del Carmen, Cancun and Tulum. The cenotes have significance in the Mayan culture. Cenote elopement ideas include having a Mayan “spiritual” wedding ceremony. It’s a unique experience! If you were considering a Trash the Dress, the cenotes are one of the best locations for underwater wedding photography in the world. With no guests, you can go straight from your ceremony into an underwater photo session. If you like to walk on the wild side what about an “Adam and Eve” experience?

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“We didn’t think there was much point in traveling to a foreign destination to have a wedding that you can have in Canada. Why travel if you’re not eager to immerse yourself in the local culture and practices, at least to some degree? We agreed when we started looking at destination weddings that we would try to do things with as much local influence as possible.” – Cherise + Tom

See Real Cenote Elopements

“Matt suggested that Del Sol could put together a wedding experience unlike anything done before. We were not expecting that at all but the more we thought about it the more it made sense. Del Sol obviously produces world-class photographs. Letting them put their creative spin on our wedding could potentially create something amazing. We knew it would be a risk to hand over control of our wedding. We also knew what we would get by going with the more common all-inclusive resort route. This was taking a chance to have something truly unique that embodied the spirit of the locale and that spoke to us as a couple.” – Cherise + Tom

All-Inclusive Resort Elopement

If you love the all-inclusive experience there is no better option than a resort elopement. The onsite wedding coordination team can handle anything you can dream up for a stress-free experience. If you would like a Catholic elopement or religious ceremony, some resorts have on-site chapels. Keeping everything in one location is a great way of reducing costs and keeping your wedding budget under control!

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“We chose Secrets Maroma for our Elopement as we were looking for a very romantic, luxurious, all-inclusive and adults-only resort to cater to our wedding needs.” – Hali

All-Inclusive Resort Elopements

“The first time we traveled to Mexico together and to Secrets Capri was a bonding experience and became “our place” just for the two of us. We looked at wedding venues at home in Dallas and none of them offered the special, unique feeling that Mexico brought to us. We were able to exchange our vows in our most personal location.” – Mer + Matt

Boutique Hotel Elopement

Boutique Hotels do not necessarily have their own wedding planning department. However, they can be extremely accommodating about having a small ceremony on the property. Every hotel is different though. Some have their own vendors, while other boutique hotels have privacy policies that do not allow photography in certain areas. It’s important to know their individual rules before you arrive.

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If you love the all-inclusive experience but yearn for boutique-style there are options! We recommend Zoetry hotels for the best of both worlds. Zoetry Paraiso de la Bonita near Cancun and Zoetry Villa Rolandi on Isla Mujeres offer a very boutique setting for the all-inclusive experience and have an on-site wedding coordination team.

Boutique Hotel Elopements

Elopement Photography + Videography

Elopement photography is extremely important – after all, you will be the only people to witness it! Even if you don’t want to share with friends and family it is important to have a tangible memory that will help you remember your adventure.

However, having a full photo and video service can involve a team of 4 people, that’s a lot when it’s just the 2 of you! Del Sol Photography offers a videography service that captures still AND moving images – without bringing a huge crew along for the ride – check out Grace and Bryan’s Nizuc elopement “Video-tography!”

Luxury Hotel Elopement

Staying at a luxury hotel is an incredible travel experience! Luxury hotels can be epic elopement locations. They may have an onsite wedding team and they will certainly be able to look after you, whatever you have in mind. Our sister company, Del Sol Photography has documented several elopements in the award-winning Nizuc Cancun. Nizuc has a pier that is ideal for intimate wedding ceremonies and elopements that guarantees total privacy, plus the best sunset in Cancun!

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“Having an elopement in Mexico was a way we could do it at a unique destination that we love and can remember together – We get both a private intimate wedding ceremony and a celebration event with all the people with care about to support our marriage in the future.” – Erika + Saif

Luxury Hotel Elopements

“Knowing Sol’s talent, coupled with a desire to immerse in Mexican culture, I recognized that investing in a Del Sol Travels experience was truly a once in a lifetime moment.”- Crystal

Outdoor Adventure Elopement

If you and your partner love exploring the world, it’s natural to combine eloping with adventure! Mexico has almost every climate you can imagine and there are endless stunning locations for an epic elopement. A custom trip, visiting off the beaten track locations, and culminating in a ceremony in an epic location is an unforgettable experience. Adventure elopements can include a stay in a boutique hotel or camping in the jungle, depending on what your version of fun looks like! We have a ton of adventure elopement ideas in Mexico – just ask!

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“The whole experience has been a dream. Beyond thankful for the dedication for the creativity for giving us this once in a lifetime experience” – Holly + Rodolfo

See more adventures

Travel For Love Adventure with Del Sol Photography

What do you get from living? What do you value most in life? These days we’re all shifting our focus away from materialism and “things” because we realize what makes us rich is EXPERIENCES.

Capturing epic experiences is at the heart of what we do. Documenting the most important moments in your life with photographs. But we do more than document what is happening in front of us – we design, create and coordinate unique custom moments for you!

Private Villa or Holiday Rental Elopement

If you are planning on staying in a private rental, you may have already found the perfect venue for your destination elopement! If you are planning to have a ceremony at your rental you need to ask the owners if it’s possible. You need permits to set up anything on in Mexico and you don’t want the police moving you along as you say “I do!”

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“After researching online for our Isla Mujeres elopement, we were a little disappointed. Most of the venues appeared too large, complicated and chaotic. Privacy on the beachfront could not be guaranteed. It simply wasn’t a good fit for our special moment. I had already booked the place to stay. One day the light went on! Our rental was absolutely the perfect spot for our wedding. Beachfront property with beautiful water, palm trees, the Cancun skyline in the distance, little to no people, but most of all, a beautiful place to view the sunset! It was the perfect spot.” – NeeNee + Tom

Private Villa Elopements

Sunrise Mayan Wedding Private Villa Elopement

Tessa and Kevin rented a private villa on Akumal Bay for their elopement adventure. Knowing the area, we proposed a SUNRISE ceremony. Waking up early meant Tessa and Kevin had the beach for themselves, not another person in sight, as well as seeing the sun rise over the ocean.

“Sunrise made it look magical, and for us, it was. When you guys proposed the sunrise ceremony, we were excited at the idea of such a unique experience!” – Tessa

They also chose to have Mayan Wedding ceremony. The spiritual wedding, which includes throwing blessings of flower petals into the ocean, was especially romantic at sunrise!

“Most wedding ceremonies I’ve discovered are based on a couple’s relationship in regards to a deity, and that’s not what we are celebrating. A Mayan ceremony seemed to give the most focus to the couple themselves and how they will discover their own future together.” – Kevin

“We just liked the idea of running away and getting married, and that it would be more romantic if it was just the two of us” – Jackie + Matt

Hacienda Elopement

Mexican Haciendas are one of the best-kept secrets when it comes to wedding locations in Mexico. They show a very different type of Mexico to the beach resorts and showcase a whole different culture and architectural style. The Mexico you discover staying in a hacienda may be more authentic than an all-inclusive resort, and the experience can be equally or more luxurious. The surroundings are some of the most photogenic and romantic that we have ever seen, and perfect for elopements.

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“We’re both private people and we love to travel. An elopement made perfect sense! It gave us the best of both worlds – a beautiful, memorable wedding experience that satisfied our wanderlust. We thought Mexico would offer elements similar to the very best of our Asia experiences: amazing food and people, rich history, and beautiful ruins. It certainly delivered all of this and more! We wanted our wedding to be different to the many beach weddings we’d seen. We wanted the same relaxed feel, but in a private romantic setting surrounded dense green foliage and history! Similar to a beautifully romantic picnic we had experienced at the ruin of Angkor Watt in Cambodia.” – Jacquie + Matt

Hacienda Elopements

Hacienda Elopement Adventure

If you are eloping to a beautiful Mexican Hacienda consider having a photographer document more than just the ceremony! The day after their wedding Jacquie, Matt, and the Del Sol team set out for a portrait session around the grounds of the Hacienda before venturing into the colorful town of Campeche.

“Sol took us to a few places we wouldn’t have had access too or wouldn’t have even known about without her local knowledge. Our favorite part was getting to walk on top of the old city wall and being serenaded by a Mariachi band in a jam-packed, authentic Mexican cantina. Not to forget, after a full day of exploring with the Del Sol team they captured us cooling off in the Hacienda’s swimming pool!” – Jacquie

“Trash the Dress” Elopement with Underwater Photography

Getting married is a great moment to work out what is really important to you. Cassandra and Joel decided that the wedding ceremony itself actually wasn’t that high on their list of priorities. They decided that they’d rather invest their money in a really amazing travel experience, and plan a “trash the dress” photoshoot for some unique wedding photos! We improvised a surprise ceremony for this adventurous couple in a Mayan village. For thinking outside the box, Cassandra and Joel had an unforgettable experience and epic photos to commemorate it!

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“Instead of having a big wedding, we decided to put the money towards a trip, just for the two of us. We haven’t regretted it. We got to explore a beautiful area together and experience an adventure” – Cassandra + Joel

Discover Trash the Dress

Contact us today to discuss elopement ideas! We have a ton of gorgeous locations throughout Mexico. Our sister company, Del Sol Photography is based in Playa del Carmen, and have first-hand knowledge of all of the venues in this post. If you are looking for elopement ideas outside of Mexico we can help too! The Del Sol Travels team is constantly finding spectacular locations around the world. We visit as many as possible personally in order to recommend truly great travel experiences!