Sean & Dani

Hotel Mousai stands in the jungle above the south shore of Puerto Vallarta, inside the Garza Blanca preserve — adults only, dark stone and glass, with Banderas Bay on one side and the Sierra Madre climbing behind it. The terraces are cut into the hillside, so every table looks out over water.

Sean and Dani married there on the last Friday of February, under white orchids that ran all the way to the ceiling.

One day, from the first toast to the last song

The morning belonged to the women. Dani, her mother, her sisters, something cold in the glasses, and the light coming off the bay through the window. Downstairs, Sean did up his tie for the fourth time.

The ceremony was on the terrace at the hour when the jungle turns gold. Candles down the length of the tables, orchids and heliconia overhead, greenery on every side. Her father brought her up the aisle and she arrived with both arms in the air.

After dark

Speeches, then confetti, then neon. Somebody produced a bottle and I will say nothing more about that. The floor stayed full until the lights came on, and the last people out were not the youngest ones.

Venue: Hotel Mousai, Puerto Vallarta · Photography & film: Julien Leveau

Getting married at Hotel Mousai

February is one of the best months on this coast — dry, warm, and the light stays long and clean at the end of the day. The terraces face west, so the vows land in the gold and dinner begins under the stars. If you have a date, tell me.