Ninety minutes in the only place that looks like this
People come to Tulum for a look: coconut palms bending over pale sand, raw wood, macramé, limestone and vines. For an engagement session that is close to a gift, because none of it needs styling from us and none of it needs renting. A public beach, a cenote five minutes up the jungle road and a pueblo full of painted walls cover three completely different galleries, and all three are free or nearly so.
There is a second reason, and it is the practical one. If your wedding is here, a session the day after you land teaches all three of us how this works — where you put your hands, how you two behave together, how the light moves on this particular beach — and it makes the wedding photographs measurably better. If a Tulum wedding is where this is going, that conversation lives on our Tulum wedding photographer page.
What a Tulum session gives you
A look you cannot get elsewhere
Low palms, pale sand, jungle architecture. It is the most recognisable aesthetic on the Mexican Caribbean and it needs nothing added.
Save-the-dates on a deadline
A full edited gallery in about 72 hours, sized for print and for your wedding website.
A rehearsal for the wedding day
The single best thing you can do for your wedding photographs is to have been photographed once already, without any pressure.
Two settings, no permits
Public beach plus a cenote or the pueblo. The beach is federal land and costs nothing; the cenote charges entry. No venue, no rental, no approval needed.
Three Tulum settings for a session
Two roads and a town. Which two we use depends entirely on what hour you can give us.
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Playa Las Palmas
The public access north of the hotel strip and the postcard version of Tulum: wide pale sand, coconut palms leaning toward the water, nothing built behind you. East-facing, so sunrise is extraordinary and the last hour of the afternoon is warm but short. Parking is limited and fills by mid-morning.
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Gran Cenote or Cenote Escondido
Five to ten minutes up the Cobá road. Limestone, cool fresh water and a beam of light through the opening between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. — the one setting where midday is the best hour rather than the worst. Entrance per person and usually a professional-camera fee.
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Tulum Pueblo, after the beach
Murals, painted walls, string lights and the kind of warm reflected light that only exists in a small town at dusk. Because the jungle takes the beach sunset early, the pueblo effectively adds thirty usable minutes to an afternoon session.
We will confirm access, fees and the exact hour for your date before you commit to anything.
The Portfolio
Real weddings we photographed in Tulum
Couples who said yes with us along this coast. Not every frame is from a Engagement Session — we would rather show you honest work from the same beaches, the same light and the same team.
Tulum has one great hour, and it is not the one you expect
The beach faces east and the jungle behind it is tall, so sunrise is spectacular and sunset barely happens. The sun lifts out of the Caribbean between 6:20 and 7:10 and for forty minutes the light is low, warm and coming off the water; in the evening it disappears behind the canopy well before the official sunset time, and the sand goes grey early. Couples who book a sunset session in Tulum are often surprised by that, so we say it up front and plan around it.
In practice that means one of two plans. Either we start at first light, when Las Palmas is genuinely empty and the light is the best on this coast — worth the 5:45 alarm, and most couples say so afterwards. Or we start at a cenote around midday, when high sun finally helps, and finish in the pueblo as the walls warm up. Both work. A late-afternoon beach-only session is the one option we will talk you out of.
What to wear, what to bring, how it runs
Two outfits. Something loose and light for the beach — linen, a long skirt, anything that moves in the wind, because there is always wind — and something you do not mind soaking if a cenote is in the plan. Solid colours beat prints, earth tones sit beautifully against Tulum’s wood and stone, and bring shoes you have already walked in: the beach road is sand. Bring the ring cleaned, and a towel if we are getting in the water.
Ninety minutes is standard, enough for two settings and one change. We send the meeting point and the exact hour a week ahead, along with what the light will be doing. Delivery is about 72 hours — save-the-dates have deadlines, and you will want to post one before the trip is over.
Sargassum, the beach road and the ruins
Tulum catches sargassum harder than most of this coast, roughly April to August, and the public beaches get less cleaning than the hotel frontages. For a session that is an easy fix: we move to a cenote, which is unaffected and photographs beautifully, or north toward the Akumal coves. We check the week of your date and tell you honestly what the sand looks like rather than letting you find out on arrival.
Two practical notes. The beach road has one lane each way and does not move at sunset, which is another argument for a morning session; and the archaeological zone is INAH-protected — professional photography needs a permit and a fee, and drones are prohibited overhead — so we do not promise the ruins. What we use is the public coast beside them, where the same limestone cliff meets the same turquoise water.
Ninety minutes, two settings, everything edited
Directed, not posed
We give you something to do rather than a position to hold. Movement is what makes these frames look like nobody was directing.
Beach plus cenote or pueblo
The contrast between pale sand and limestone, or sand and painted walls, is what carries a gallery.
Ring and detail frames
The close work that ends up on the invitation and the website — quick to shoot, always used.
Drone where it is legal
Over the public beach, yes, and an aerial of two people on an empty Tulum beach is worth having. Over the archaeological zone, never.
How It Works
From your first message to your date being held
Four steps, and none of them is a price list. We would rather understand your day first.
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Step one
You tell us the basics
Date, or the month you are aiming at, and roughly what you are picturing. Two lines is enough to start.
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Step two
A brief planning call
Fifteen or twenty minutes with the photographer who would actually shoot it — the hour, the location, the light, what matters to you.
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Step three
A quote written for your day
Coverage, hours, whether video or drone is worth it, and any fees we already know about. No package you have to squeeze into.
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Step four
20 % holds the date
A deposit reserves your date and your team. The balance is due before the day, and every edited photo is included.
Reserve Your Date
Tell us about your Engagement Session
A few details and we will set up a short planning call, then send a written quote for exactly your day. Peak season (November to April) books early.
Request received!
Thank you — the next step is a brief planning call. We'll understand your day first, then prepare a custom quote.
Planning call — choose a time with us Continue on WhatsAppPrefer to chat? We usually reply within minutes. Message us on WhatsApp
Prefer to meet us before you decide? Book a free 15-minute video call — no commitment
Engagement Session in Tulum — the questions couples actually ask
How much does a Tulum engagement session cost?
We quote instead of publishing a rate: it depends on the length, the settings and whether a cenote entrance and camera fee are involved. Tell us your dates and what you want, we plan it on a short call, and you get a written quote with any pass-through fees listed separately.
Sunrise or sunset in Tulum?
Sunrise, honestly. The beach faces east so the sun comes out of the water, and at 6:30 Las Palmas is empty. The jungle takes the evening light early, so a late beach-only session gives you a shorter window and greyer sand. If mornings are impossible, we start at a cenote at midday and finish in the pueblo.
Can we shoot at the Tulum ruins?
Not inside the archaeological zone — it is INAH-protected, professional photography requires a permit and a fee, and drones are banned overhead. We use the public coastline beside it instead, where the same cliff meets the same turquoise water, which is the frame most couples are imagining anyway.
What should we wear?
Two outfits: one loose and light for the beach, one you do not mind soaking for a cenote. Earth tones and solid colours sit well against Tulum’s wood and stone. Fabric that moves helps, because there is always wind. Shoes you have already walked in — the beach road is sand.
What if there is sargassum that week?
We move. A cenote is completely unaffected, and the Akumal coves to the north behave differently from the Tulum beach. We check conditions the week of your session and tell you what the sand looks like rather than photographing you in front of it.
Is this different from a proposal shoot?
Completely. A proposal is covert — one person does not know and we shoot from a distance. An engagement session is collaborative: you both know, we can direct, and the photographs are about the two of you. Many couples do the proposal at sunrise and the session the following evening. See our proposal page.
Engagement Session at the resorts of Tulum
Each of these has its own wedding page with the venue, the light and the vendor rules. Your Engagement Session can happen at any of them.
Read before you book
Planning something bigger, with guests and a reception? See all our wedding collections for Tulum