The Reef Coco Beach Session Is Built Around the Shortest Attention Span in the Family — and Costs Nothing to Book
Everything here runs on the smallest person on the booking: a four-year-old and a six-year-old give you one honest stretch of cooperation, so the photograph you would most hate to lose gets taken first and the rest follows in order of importance. Then the list opens. Grandparents who came to help with the baby and have spent three trips holding bags instead of standing in the frame. A quinceañera awake before the light, the dress already on. A seventh birthday a long way from school friends. An anniversary neither set of parents remembered. Maternity portraits at thirty-one weeks, taken sitting down. A proposal alive in a group chat since spring. Cousins whose only overlap all year is this week. Then one portrait of a mother by herself, because no recent one of her exists.
The house explains the hurry. This is a mid-sized all-inclusive that fills with pre-schoolers rather than honeymooners: high chairs at every table, a children's programme running all day, and half the guest list still in single digits. So The Reef Coco Beach photographer sessions open with a priority list instead of a backdrop — first the photograph nobody would forgive us for missing, then down the list until the youngest has had enough. That order came out of thousands of sessions across Playa del Carmen and rarely needs changing. Ages, head count and the hour your children are usually at their best get settled in a chat window long before anyone packs, and putting a date there is free. Read the money part while they are asleep, not while one of them is pulling at your sleeve: nothing on it costs extra because there are three children in the frame, and the whole list — by the photograph, or by the set — fits on one screen of our Playa del Carmen photographer page. Tell us their ages and which morning is yours, and we will send back the order we would shoot it in.
The Sessions The Reef Coco Beach Families Book Most
Almost everyone who books us from this hotel is travelling with people who are either very small or in no hurry at all — exactly who this stretch of sand suits. These are the three sessions we photograph most often for guests staying here.
Families with little kids
This is the one we shoot most, and the reason is the water. The reef sits about 200 meters off the shore in front of the hotel and takes the punch out of the swell before it lands — so the shallows stay flat, and a four-year-old can wade in without getting knocked over once and refusing the sea for the rest of the trip. We never ask toddlers to pose. We keep a family session loose: chase the water back, dig the hole, steal grandpa’s hat — and we photograph the reaction.
The grandparents’ trip
When three generations finally land in the same place, somebody always ends up holding the phone and missing the picture. That is the one we fix first. We choreograph a group session so nobody is left out: the full lineup while everyone is fresh, then quick rotations — grandparents with the baby, the cousins in a heap — before the little ones are done with us. And nobody has to walk far to be in it, which is usually what decides it.
Everyday vacation memories
Plenty of guests here have no occasion at all. They simply do not want to fly home with a camera roll full of strangers’ shoulders: the toddler meeting the sea, the teenagers pretending they are too cool for this, a slow walk down the shore before the beach wakes up. Our vacation photoshoot guide shows the frames we mean.
Where The Reef Coco Beach Sits — and Where We Meet You
The hotel is in the Coco Beach area — Colonia Luis Donaldo Colosio, on CTM, the street almost everybody here calls Calle 46 — and what that address buys your family is quiet: it sits north of the busiest sand in town, so at eight in the morning your kids can run in a straight line and the loudest thing on the beach is the water. We meet you on the public sand directly in front of the property, about two minutes from your door, and send the exact pin on WhatsApp the day before.
Quiet is not the same as remote. The north end of Quinta Avenida, the pedestrian main street, is roughly three to five minutes away on foot — which is why so many families here shoot at sunrise and still get the whole avenue for dinner without anyone getting into a car. The reef out front is also one of the very few in Playa del Carmen you can swim to straight off the sand, no tour to book — so the snorkelling the kids keep asking about happens right after the session.
Plan on about an hour. Sunrise is the slot we push hardest for, and not because of the light: the sand is nearly empty, so your kids can run wherever they want while we work, and you are back at the buffet before the day has started. If their body clocks disagree, the hour before sunset works too.
Simple Pricing, No Session Fee
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 grandparents and the cousins want in — you only pay for the images you love, which takes all the pressure off an hour with unpredictable toddlers. 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.
And if somebody wants one frame of pure drama out of this trip, ask about our flying dress photoshoot at The Reef Coco Beach — the picture the grandparents will still be talking about at Christmas.
Getting married at The Reef Coco Beach itself? Our wedding photography guide for the resort covers vendor fees, timing, and coordinating with the resort's wedding team.
Tell us your dates and we will send back the sunrise time for your week — or see everything we photograph around town on our Playa del Carmen photographer page.
Ready to Book the Session Your Kids Will Actually Enjoy?
Send us your dates and your headcount. Sunrise slots on Coco Beach go first in high season.
Everything Your Family Takes Home
One unhurried hour on the sand in front of the hotel, and a gallery you choose from.
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Everyone in one frame
Somebody is always missing from your pictures because they are the one taking them. That is what we fix first: the whole family together, then every combination you want.
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A session built around naps
The sand is two minutes from your room, so we start the moment your baby is fed and happy — and if it falls apart anyway, your room is right there.
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Kids we never ask to pose
We build situations and photograph the reaction. The frames parents print almost always come from the stretch where nobody was cooperating.
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Photos you pick yourself
No session fee, and no bundle nobody asked for. You see the gallery, you choose the images you love, and those are the ones you pay for.
Family Sessions at The Reef Coco Beach — FAQ
Is a beach photo session realistic with a toddler and a baby?
It is the session we shoot most often here. We never ask small children to pose — we set up situations and photograph the reaction, in short bursts with breaks to dig and splash. The sand is two minutes from your room, so we start the moment your baby is fed and happy, and nobody is stranded far from a nap.
Can you photograph all three generations, grandparents included?
That is exactly what the group package from $200 USD is for. We shoot the full lineup first while everyone is fresh, then rotate quickly — grandparents with the baby, the cousins together, each couple on their own. And nobody has to walk far to take part.
How much does a family photo session near The Reef Coco Beach cost?
There is no session fee. It is $15 USD per photo with a 10-photo minimum ($150 USD), or a group package from $200 USD when the grandparents and cousins are in the frame too. You pick the images after you have seen them.
We are not photogenic and have never done this before. Is that a problem?
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. Nobody is left standing on the sand wondering what to do with their hands.
More Playa del Carmen & Riviera Maya Resorts We Photograph
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Playacar
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- Riu Palace Mexico Playa del Carmen Photographer
- Riu Palace Riviera Maya Photographer
- Hotel Riu Playacar Photographer
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- Hotel Riu Yucatan Photographer
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Mayakoba
- Alila Mayakoba Photographer
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Riviera Maya — Xcaret & Playa Paraíso
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- Hyatt Zilara Riviera Maya Photographer
- Occidental at Xcaret Photographer
- Hotel Xcaret Arte Photographer
- Hotel Xcaret México Photographer