The Family Portrait You Will Actually Hang Up
You booked Grand Velas Riviera Maya, the kind of five-diamond week a family plans once and then talks about for years. A family wrote to us last summer for exactly that reason — twelve people flown in from three cities for the grandparents' fortieth anniversary, all under one roof for the first time in a decade. By the last night they had a camera roll thick with buffet plates and pool afternoons and not one frame with all twelve of them standing together. The photographs you actually want from a trip like this are the ones nobody in the group can take from inside it.
We've photographed thousands of sessions across Playa del Carmen, and for guests at this resort the answer is almost always the beach right next door. Playa Xcalacoco opens onto public sand about 1.1 kilometres up the coast — closer than the far end of the property itself — which is why the session never turns into an expedition. Six years and more than a thousand clients later, a wide, quiet piece of that beach at first light is still the easiest thing we can hand a family this size.
The Sessions Grand Velas Families Book Most
Almost everyone who writes to us from this resort is here with people they do not get to gather often — grandparents, grown siblings, cousins who live in different time zones, all of them in one place for a week that took a year to line up. These are the three sessions we photograph most for guests staying here.
Family portraits
This is the frame the whole trip is really for: everyone dressed, everyone looking, one image good enough to print large and hang where you will walk past it every day for the next twenty years. We shoot it early, while the sand is wide and empty, then loosen it up — kids running, grandparents laughing at the kids — so you go home with the formal one and the true one both. Our family photoshoot guide for Playa del Carmen covers outfits and how an hour on the beach really runs.
Anniversaries
A milestone is usually the reason a family this size flies down at all — a fortieth, a fiftieth, the parents renewing something quietly. Twenty minutes of the hour belong to just the two of them, same sand, same morning, while the rest of the family is busy being someone else’s job, and that is the frame that ends up on the wall instead of in the album. Our anniversary session guide shows how we pace an hour like that.
The multi-generation trip
Grandma in four pictures, the kids in forty, and not one frame with all of you in it — somebody always has to hold the phone. This is what we get asked for most from Grand Velas, and it is why we ask for a headcount in the first message: twelve people need a different piece of beach than four do. Xcalacoco is wide and open, so we can line three generations up properly and still have room for the running candids afterwards. Our group session guide shows how we pace a shoot that size.
How We Meet You at Playa Xcalacoco
We work where the beach belongs to everybody, and here that beach is the one next door. Grand Velas sits north of Playa del Carmen, in the Playa Paraíso and Xcalacoco stretch, and Playa Xcalacoco opens onto free public sand about 1.1 kilometres up the coast — so getting there is a short hop, not a plan. It flies a Blue Flag, the international mark for a clean, safe, well-kept public beach, which means nothing about where we shoot is roped off or bookable. There is nothing to reserve and nothing that can cancel your morning. We send the exact pin over WhatsApp the day before, and we meet you there.
Central Playa del Carmen and the Quinta are about a twelve-to-fifteen-minute drive south, so the town is there when you want it and gone when you don’t — which is part of why families choose this coast in the first place. The reason we start early is not the light; it is that the sand is quiet before mid-morning, so a twelve-person lineup gets shot without strangers wandering through the back of every frame, and you are back at the resort with the whole day still in front of you.
Want one frame that belongs on a wall rather than in an album? Ask about our signature beach-gown editorial sessions in Playa del Carmen — metres of fabric in the morning breeze, made for a trip like this one.
No Session Fee — You Keep Only What You Love
Pricing is refreshingly simple: there is no session fee. You pay $15 USD per photo with a 10-photo minimum ($150 USD), or choose a group package from $200 USD when the whole family wants in — so you only ever pay for the images you love. You can see everything we offer, and hundreds of recent sessions, on our Playa del Carmen photographer page.
Every hotel has its own rules about photography on the property. We know how each one works — message us and we’ll tell you exactly what your options are where you’re staying.
Almost nobody who books us has been photographed properly before, and they usually apologise for it in the first message. There is nothing to apologise for — we direct the whole thing, and you can see how that turns out on our Playa del Carmen photographer page. Send us your dates and your headcount, and we will tell you which morning to keep free.
Ready to Get the Whole Family on One Wall?
Tell us your dates and how many of you are travelling, and we will hold a morning for your family. The early slots go first, and they go fastest in the weeks the whole family flies in.
Why Families Here Book the Beach Next Door
Everything we shoot for families staying at Grand Velas happens a short hop up the coast at Xcalacoco — here is what that buys you.
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Everybody fits in the frame
Xcalacoco is wide and open, so a twelve-person lineup gets shot properly instead of squeezed — and the cousins still have room to run afterwards.
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It is the beach next door
The public sand is about 1.1 km from the resort, so the session is a short hop rather than an expedition, and nobody burns a morning getting there.
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We direct the whole thing
Almost nobody who books us has done this before. We tell everyone where to stand and what to do with their hands, so it looks like your family, not a school photo.
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You keep only what you love
There is no session fee. You choose from the full gallery afterwards, which takes the pressure off the hour — useful when a toddler is setting the schedule.
Family Sessions at Grand Velas Riviera Maya — FAQ
There are twelve of us across three generations. Can you photograph a group that size?
Yes — multi-generation groups are what we photograph most for guests of this resort. Tell us the headcount in your first message and we will pick the piece of beach that fits it. Xcalacoco is open enough that we build the full lineup, then break it into couples, siblings and grandparents-with-grandkids without moving anyone twice.
How much does a family session at Grand Velas cost?
There is no session fee. You pay $15 USD per photo with a 10-photo minimum ($150 USD), or choose a group package from $200 USD when the whole family wants in. You see the full gallery first and choose from it afterwards, so you only ever pay for the images you love.
Is a beach session realistic with small kids in the group?
It is the most common thing we shoot for families staying here. We work fast while the mood is good and let small kids move instead of asking them to hold a pose — and the beach is a short hop from the resort, so nobody falls apart on the way there.
Where do we meet you if we are staying at Grand Velas?
At Playa Xcalacoco, on the free public sand about 1.1 kilometres up the coast from the resort — the beach right next door, north of Playa del Carmen. We send the exact pin over WhatsApp the day before.
Can we do it in the afternoon instead of the morning?
You can, though it is worth knowing the trade. This coast faces east, so there is no sunset over the water here. Mornings give you soft light and an emptier beach; late afternoon is still lovely, just not quiet. Either way, plan on about an hour on the sand.