Marla and Edy are from Oaxaca. For visitors, Santo Domingo is the postcard everyone takes home: the stone façade, the atrium, the organ-pipe cacti of the Ethnobotanical Garden. For them, it is the church of their own city. They got married there on Saturday, September 19, 2026, in the middle of the rainy season, with a calenda on the way out and a party at Lisianthus Jardín de Eventos.

This is the story of that day, in the order it happened. The times are not from memory: they come from my files.

The morning, a few blocks from the church

They both got ready at the same Airbnb, a few blocks from Santo Domingo: a house in the historic center with a courtyard, a tree in the middle and white walls that, at that hour, fill up with leaf shadows. One of the first photos of the day has nobody in it. It is that light, and the silhouette of someone walking through.

Courtyard of a house in downtown Oaxaca with a tree and leaf shadows on the white wall, early on the wedding morning

Marla was in white satin pajamas, peeking out of the wooden doors with her friends. Nerves in sight: none. Or if there were any, she kept them well hidden behind the laughter.

Marla, in white satin pajamas, peeks out smiling from a wooden door next to a friend

Her mom was there from early on, in pajamas too. There is a moment from that morning you rarely see, because it is the other way around from how it usually goes: Marla straightening her mom's pajamas. And a few minutes later, the hug.

Marla straightens her mother's pajamas in a doorway while getting ready
Marla and her mother, both in pajamas, hugging and laughing against a white wall

On the other side of the house, Edy was putting on his watch.

Edy, in a dark suit, adjusts his watch before the wedding

The first look

A little after ten, both dressed, Edy saw Marla for the first time in the courtyard. The bridesmaids, still in pajamas, crowded in behind with their phones up, one of them even on her knees so she would not miss a thing. And Edy laughed the way you laugh when you do not know what to do with what you are feeling.

The bridesmaids, in pajamas, film on their phones as Edy sees Marla in her dress in the courtyard
Edy laughs as he sees Marla in her wedding dress for the first time, in the Airbnb courtyard

Between the stone and the cacti

From there we walked. That is the advantage of getting ready a few blocks from the church: the whole morning happens on foot. There were portraits against the stone of Santo Domingo, and the wedding party coming down the steps in front of the organ-pipe cacti of the Ethnobotanical Garden, several of them carrying the train of the dress.

The wedding party comes down stone steps in front of the organ-pipe cacti of the Ethnobotanical Garden, carrying the train of Marla's dress

Between shots, Marla sat down against a stone wall, barefoot, and the team from Mari Carmen Junco Wedding Planner gave her a foot massage. It is the kind of thing that never makes it into a planner's video, and it says more about their work than any centerpiece: at eleven in the morning, with the whole day ahead, someone was thinking about the bride's feet.

Marla, barefoot and sitting against a stone wall, gets a foot massage from her wedding planner's team

The group photo was on the stone steps next to the church: bridesmaids in every color, the groomsmen in green, and the old stone behind them.

Marla and Edy with their wedding party on the stone steps next to the Church of Santo Domingo

Seven minutes later, on the same steps, Marla held up a red umbrella —it was not raining yet— and along the sidewalk above, a man walked by with his bicycle, minding his own business. In downtown Oaxaca a wedding is never alone: the city keeps passing behind it.

Edy stands on stone steps while Marla holds up a red umbrella; above them a man walks by with his bicycle

And Edy's groomsmen ended up leaning against an orange wall, under the green sign of an Irish pub. Oaxaca is that too.

Edy's groomsmen, in green suits, leaning against an orange wall under the sign of an Irish pub in downtown Oaxaca

Santo Domingo, inside

By noon we were inside the church, and Edy's nerves would not let up. At 12:07 I caught him biting his fist.

Edy, nervous, bites his fist inside the Church of Santo Domingo before the ceremony

Two minutes later, the priest said something to him and Edy burst out laughing, his mom hanging on his arm and Marla's mom laughing behind them. I doubt the joke was that good: Edy's nerves were on edge, and nerves come out wherever they can.

Edy bursts out laughing next to the priest, his mother on his arm and Marla's mother behind them, inside the church

Edy walked in with his mom. Marla, on her brother's arm.

Marla walks into the Church of Santo Domingo on her brother's arm

Her dad was waiting at the front, in his wheelchair, in a gray suit and a pink tie. Before reaching the altar, Marla stopped, bent down and kissed his forehead, and her mom leaned in with them. It lasted a few seconds, before Mass began. Moments like that do not announce themselves: either you are there, or you do not see them.

Marla bends down to kiss the forehead of her father, waiting in his wheelchair by the altar, with her mother beside them

Inside, Santo Domingo is an excess in the best sense: the vault covered end to end in gilded relief, and the main altarpiece at the back throwing a warm light that tints everything. For a photographer, the challenge is scale. The nave is so tall the couple gets lost in it; from the entrance, Marla and Edy are barely two figures in front of the altar.

The nave of the Church of Santo Domingo seen from the entrance, with the gilded vault and the main altarpiece at the back during the wedding
Santo Domingo's gilded altarpiece with Marla and Edy, small, in front of the altar

At 1:04 came the lasso, and both mothers placed it: Marla's on one side, Edy's on the other.

Marla's and Edy's mothers place the wedding lasso on them during Mass at Santo Domingo

The calenda

At 1:19 the doors opened, and the atrium of Santo Domingo did what it does best: fill up in minutes. The chinas oaxaqueñas came out spinning their skirts, baskets of flowers on their heads, and Marla and Edy crossed the esplanade between them.

Marla and Edy cross the atrium of Santo Domingo between chinas oaxaqueñas dancing with flower baskets on their heads

The white paper parasols were for the sun, which at that hour was beating down.

Marla smiles under white paper parasols during the calenda, next to the palm hat of a tiliche

And all around, the tiliches: dancers covered in strips of colored fabric, with tall palm hats, spinning while Marla's family hugged her. They are not the monos de calenda —those are the giant bride and groom figures— and it is worth not mixing them up; I explain it properly in the church guide.

Tiliches covered in strips of colored fabric spin in the atrium of Santo Domingo while family members hug Marla

Then the calenda took to the street: the marmotas with "Marla y Edy" written large, the bride and groom monos swaying above everyone, the brass band, dancers in feathered headdresses and, in the middle, the two of them holding hands. That is the cover photo.

At 1:49, back at the foot of the church, the chinas were still dancing on the cobblestones with half the wedding around them.

Chinas oaxaqueñas dance in the street next to the Church of Santo Domingo while the wedding guests watch

That is the advantage of getting married at Santo Domingo: the atrium is so big that the calenda starts before it ever reaches the street, and by the time it does, the party is already on.

Lisianthus, and the rain

The reception was at Lisianthus Jardín de Eventos. Marla and Edy walked in at 3:20 among agaves and cacti, with the guests on their feet and phones up once again.

Marla and Edy walk into their reception at Lisianthus Jardín de Eventos among agaves and cacti

After five, the dance floor belonged to the mothers first. Edy danced with his; Marla's held her the way she had that morning, only now without pajamas and with feathers on her sleeves.

Edy hugs his mother on the dance floor during the reception
Marla laughs in her mother's arms, her mother in a pink dress with feathers, at the reception

And at 5:14, the first dance, under the tent, with the floor lights drawing waves at their feet.

Marla and Edy's first dance under the tent at Lisianthus, surrounded by guests

After that, there was no stopping the bridesmaids.

The bridesmaids dance with their arms up next to Marla during the party

Once night fell it started to rain, and hard. The tent held and the party went on as if nothing had happened. The rain gave me something else: a few minutes outside with Marla and Edy, a plaid umbrella and the water falling backlit against a brick wall.

Marla and Edy under a plaid umbrella in pouring rain, backlit against a brick wall

At eleven at night, the party was still going strong.

Marla and her friends shout and hug on the dance floor, late at night

The day, hour by hour

If you are planning your wedding at Santo Domingo, these are the times from that Saturday, read from my files. It is not a rule —every wedding builds its own schedule— but it shows how a day with a noon Mass and a calenda afterwards actually unfolds.

  1. 8:40Both getting ready, at an Airbnb a few blocks from the church.
  2. 10:03The first look, in the courtyard.
  3. 10:20Portraits, wedding party and groomsmen around the church and the Ethnobotanical Garden. An hour and a half, all on foot.
  4. 12:13Into the church.
  5. 13:04The lasso.
  6. 13:19Out to the atrium, and the calenda. Before two they were on their way to the reception.
  7. 15:20Entrance to the reception at Lisianthus.
  8. 17:07The dance floor, first for the mothers; at 17:14, the first dance.
  9. 20:47Portrait in the rain. The tent kept the party going.

Marla and Edy got married in their own city, with their own people, in the church the rest of the world comes to photograph. My job that day was to be there without getting in the way, the same idea I write about in how I document a wedding without directing it.

If you are thinking about a wedding in Oaxaca, start with the Oaxaca wedding guide, or go straight to packages and pricing.