The 10 Best Wedding Venues in Puerto Vallarta and Banderas Bay

Most destination weddings in Banderas Bay happen at an all-inclusive resort, and there is a good reason for that. A practical guide to the ten best wedding venues in Puerto Vallarta, what the resort packages actually cover, and the paperwork nobody warns you about.

Puerto Vallarta hosts thousands of destination weddings a year, and the overwhelming majority of them happen at an all-inclusive resort. That is not a failure of imagination — it is a rational response to a hard logistical problem. You are asking sixty people to fly to another country, and a resort solves accommodation, catering, bar, ceremony space, reception space and the morning-after breakfast in one contract.

This guide covers the ten venues worth shortlisting, what a resort package genuinely includes, and the legal side that catches couples out.

First: resort wedding or independent venue?

Everything else follows from this decision.

The case for a resort wedding

• One contract, one coordinator. The resort's wedding department has done this several hundred times, and the vendors already know the property, the loading dock and the power supply.
• Your guests are already there. No transport at midnight, no one getting lost, no separate hotel block to manage.
• Group rates. Blocks of ten rooms or more usually unlock a discount, and often comped nights for the couple.
• The whole weekend is covered. Welcome dinner, ceremony, reception, recovery brunch — all inside the plan your guests already paid for.

The case against

• You get the resort's aesthetic. Packages are built around what the property can repeat reliably, and there is a limit to how far you can push it.
• Outside vendor fees. Bringing in your own photographer, planner or band usually costs a per-vendor fee. Ask what it is before you fall in love with anyone's portfolio.
• You are not the only wedding. In peak season a large resort may run two or three in a weekend. Ask how many are booked on your date and where they will be.
• Beach ceremonies are public. Mexican beaches are federal property — nobody can close one. Your beach ceremony may have a paddleboard lesson in the background. Most couples find this charming in the photos and stressful beforehand.

The ten venues

1. Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit — Nuevo Vallarta

The top of the market in Banderas Bay. All-suite, ocean-facing, with a wedding operation used to the scale and the standards that come with a luxury booking. Choose it when the priority is that nothing goes wrong and the food is genuinely good. See it in our Nuevo Vallarta guide.

2. Hilton Vallarta Riviera — South Shore

Adults-only, terraced into the hillside just south of the city, with the whole bay as a backdrop. Works particularly well for smaller adult-only weddings where the guest list is under fifty and everyone wants a view.

3. Casa Velas — Marina Vallarta

A small adults-only boutique on the golf course, which makes it the pick for an intimate wedding — thirty guests in a garden rather than a hundred and fifty on a beach. Its private ocean club handles the beach element separately.

4. Barceló Puerto Vallarta — South Shore

A large family resort on its own cove, which matters more than couples expect: a wedding with a lot of children in the party is far easier somewhere with a kids club and a water slide.

5. Marival Armony Punta de Mita

Adults-only on a quiet cove at the north end of the bay. The trade-off is the transfer — Punta de Mita is 45 to 60 minutes from the airport, and every guest makes that trip twice.

6. Hacienda San Ángel — Centro

Not a resort: a cluster of restored villas in the hills above the old town, with the Guadalupe church dome framed behind the terrace. The most photographed non-beach wedding setting in the city.

7. Las Caletas

A private cove reachable only by boat, on the south shore beyond Boca de Tomatlán. Getting a hundred guests there and back is a genuine operation — and completely unforgettable when it works.

8. Villa Premiere — Hotel Zone

Small, adults-only and service-obsessed, and within walking distance of downtown. Good for couples who want their guests to see Puerto Vallarta rather than only a resort.

9. Vallarta Botanical Gardens

Forty minutes south into the mountains, with a river, orchid houses and a hacienda-style building. Green rather than blue, which is a real alternative if you have seen enough beach arches.

10. A private villa on the South Shore

Conchas Chinas and Amapas are full of rentable villas with infinity pools and bay views. You are then building the wedding yourself — planner, caterer, rentals, staff — which costs more effort and often less money than a resort package.

What a resort wedding package actually includes

Packages vary, but the pattern across Banderas Bay is consistent. Expect the base package to cover:

• Ceremony location and basic set-up: chairs, an arch, a sound system, aisle runner
• An on-site wedding coordinator
• A symbolic (non-legal) officiant
• A simple bouquet and boutonnière
• A basic cake and sparkling wine toast
• A private dinner for a set number of guests, with a per-head charge beyond it

Expect these to be extra: upgraded flowers, upgraded cake, photography beyond a token number of images, live music or DJ, hair and makeup, the legal civil ceremony, outside vendor fees, and a private reception venue rather than a section of a restaurant.

The legal part, which trips people up

There are two different things and couples routinely confuse them.

A symbolic ceremony is the one in the photographs. It has no legal weight. Most couples do the legal paperwork at home — before or after — and hold the symbolic ceremony in Mexico. This is by far the simpler route and it is what the majority of destination weddings here actually do.

A legal civil ceremony in Mexico requires a judge from the local civil registry, translated and apostilled documents, blood tests carried out in Mexico within a few days of the wedding, and witnesses with valid identification. Requirements change and vary between Jalisco and Nayarit — which are different states, and the bay spans both. If you want the legal ceremony here, start six months out and use a local planner who does this weekly.

Timing: when to hold a wedding in Banderas Bay

• November to April — dry, warm, reliable. Also the most expensive and the most booked. December and Easter are effectively unavailable at short notice.
• May and June — hot, dry and much quieter. Good value and a real option if your guests can handle heat.
• July to October — the rainy season. Cheapest by a distance, greenest, and genuinely humid. Rain typically arrives late afternoon or overnight rather than all day, but you need a covered plan B, and hurricane season peaks in September.

Sunset is the anchor: it moves from around 6pm in December to around 8pm in June, and every schedule in the day is built backwards from it. Confirm the exact time for your date before you set the ceremony hour.

Details worth outsourcing locally

• The cake. Resort package cakes are competent and generic. A local pastry shop such as Pastelería Pavlova will make something to your specification for a fraction of what an equivalent costs at home — check the resort's outside-food policy first.
• The rehearsal dinner or a villa event. If part of your party is in a villa, a private chef in Puerto Vallarta is a far better welcome dinner than another resort restaurant.
• The day-after activity. A catamaran, a snorkelling trip to the Marietas, or a beach day at Las Ánimas gives your guests the holiday they flew in for.

A realistic planning timeline

• 12 months out — pick the zone, then the venue. Hold the date and the room block.
• 9 months — save the dates, so guests can book flights while they are cheap.
• 6 months — vendors: photographer, flowers, music, hair and makeup. Start legal paperwork if you are marrying legally in Mexico.
• 3 months — menu tasting if you are here, final guest count, decide the plan B for rain.
• 1 month — final numbers, seating, transport for anyone off-property, confirm the sunset time.
• On arrival — walk the ceremony and reception spaces with the coordinator at the same hour of day as the wedding.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to stay a minimum number of nights to get married at a resort?

Usually yes — commonly three to seven nights for the couple, and often a minimum number of room nights across the group before the package unlocks. This is one of the first things to confirm.

Can guests who are not staying at the resort attend?

Sometimes, and almost always for a day-pass fee per outside guest. If part of your party is staying in villas or condos, get this priced before you book.

Is a beach ceremony really public?

Yes. Mexican beaches are federal property and cannot be closed. Resorts manage it well — they set up away from through-traffic and time it for the quiet part of the day — but there will be people on the sand. Hillside terraces and gardens are the alternative if that bothers you.

Which zone is best for a destination wedding?

Nuevo Vallarta for large groups and the widest choice of big properties; the South Shore for views and smaller weddings; the Hotel Zone when you want guests to be able to walk into the city. Compare the transfer times in our resort directory before committing.

What about hurricanes?

The season runs June to November and peaks in September. Direct hits on Banderas Bay are uncommon — the bay's geography offers some shelter — but tropical storms do affect the coast. If you marry in that window, buy proper travel insurance and tell your guests to do the same.

How far ahead should we book?

For a high-season date at a popular resort, twelve to eighteen months. For May, June or the rainy season, six months is usually enough.