Aside from picking your husband-to-be, the next most important decision you are likely to make about your wedding is picking your photographer. This person is charged with memorializing the most cherished moments from your big day and, more often than not, capturing those you and your husband didn’t even realize had happened. Your photographer allows you to relive your wedding day, and experience it anew based on all the experiences he or she captures that you weren’t witness to.

That’s why we are partial to documentary photographers at weddings. Theirs is an eye that seeks out the spontaneous, unexpected and little seen. Don’t get us wrong, we love those photographers that can stage and orchestrate your family and friends into photos that you blow up to 8x10 and place in elegant silver frames. But, we are more in love with the images that capture the vulnerability, love, intimacy, unexpectedness and originality of the grooms, their family and friends.

Eder Acevedo of Puerto Vallarta is just one of those photographers. He started his career in commercial and portrait photography and became a wedding photographer by accident. “I was working in a hotel and shot my first wedding because they were short staffed.” His discomfort with weddings was being present for a really intimate experience, and being an outsider.

But, over time he came to realize that the trust couples and their families’ place in him, actually made him feel like he’d been “friends with them forever. I started to love wedding photography not because of the pictures, but because of the people.” As a result, Eder describes his approach as a friendly one, which makes sense given Puerto Vallarta’s reputation for being the friendliest city in Mexico.

As a result, Eder looks for couples who are really natural with each other and with him. “I know from that, that I have their trust and they have mine. And from that trust I can then explore the symbols of their past and their story to capture in the wedding.”

“I move around the wedding like a friend able to give my opinion throughout the day, which helps them forget the camera.” And, because of that, Eder captures something that is “closer to the reality of what happened at the wedding.”

When describing his work with gay couples, Eder notes: “I am amazed how much more together and intimate they are, how tight they are with their families, and that gives me a way in to capture many, many moments.”

And, speaking of many moments, Eder goes on to note that, when having a destination wedding, like in Puerto Vallarta, you have a lot of time to get to know everyone at the wedding because everyone is together on so many different occasions, from the formal to spending together by the pool. Expense notwithstanding, we like the idea of documenting much more of your wedding than just the main events.

When asked what advice he’d share with couples, Eder’s answer is simple: “Be present. Anything that might not be exactly right with the flowers, or the tablecloth, or the cake, doesn’t matter. Because, at the end of your wedding, what you will have is your memories and the photos.”

And, the when capturing the reality of what actually happened at your wedding, it is all down to the story of your love.

Check out more of Eder’s beautiful work with handsome grooms Alex & Kevin.