Exploring the Día de los Muertos


When our friend Kelly approached us at the end of last summer to be part of her Day of the Dead project, we were thrilled that she thought of us. In a year that had seen all of our weddings postponed with just a handful of small family sessions, it was refreshing to be part of a collaborative project.


If you are not familiar with the Day of the Dead, most commonly known as the Día de los Muertos, it's a Mexican annual celebration that honours both life and death, and is held over two days at the beginning of November. November 1st is dedicated to children who passed, while November 2nd is dedicated to adults who passed. It is meant to be a moment to remember and celebrate loved ones gone too soon.


People will build and dedicate altars to their departed loved ones and decorate them with bold colours, candles, flowers, photos, offerings and personal belongings in an attempt to entice the deceased to come home to hear their loved ones prayers. Families will decorate sugar skulls or calavera de azucar bearing the name of their departed loved ones and place them on the altars as ofrendas for them to enjoy.


You will often see beautiful face painting during these celebrations. The history behind La Calavera Catrina comes from an etching made by Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada in 1910. Initially meant as a political satire meaning "we are all equal in death", it became one of the most famous symbol of the Day of the Dead


Kelly's idea was to pair some of that wonderful history and give it a bridal twist. She brought together an amazing team of local vendors to bring her vision to life and we are so happy to have collaborated on this project. Our approach was to capture this a little differently than what we normally do. Less documentary and unposed for more of an editorial perspective. Which is way out of our comfort zone, but we all need to challenge ourselves to do something different once in a while right?


Here are some of our favorite images from this styled collaboration. We hope you will like them as much as we do!