The late afternoon light filters through the palms outside our studio here in Tulum, casting those familiar dancing shadows across the floor. I'm watching Vayle arrange mood boards on our work table—fabric swatches next to Polaroids, color palettes beside venue sketches. This is the moment we've been building toward, and I can feel the weight of it in my chest.
SOLAYA is officially open.
After months of planning, dreaming, and pouring everything we learned from our own March wedding into creating something meaningful for others, we're ready to work with couples who want something different from their destination wedding experience.
What We're Offering (And Why)
Here's where I want to be completely transparent with you.
We're new to the wedding industry specifically, but we're not new to our crafts. Vayle brings Master's degrees and extensive project management experience. I've spent thirteen years behind a camera and five years creating commercial films. We chose Tulum for our own wedding because we understood what makes destination celebrations transformative—the way multiple days of shared experience create connections that a single ceremony day simply can't match.
We filmed our own wedding. We planned our own multi-day experience. We lived what we're now offering to create for others.
But we need to build our destination wedding portfolio, and we'd rather be honest about that than pretend we have fifty Tulum weddings behind us.
So we're offering Founders' Rates: 25% off our premium pricing for our first five complete wedding clients.
This isn't a compromise in quality—it's an investment in partnership. You get the full SOLAYA experience at exceptional value. We get the opportunity to establish our presence in the Tulum wedding market with couples who believe in our vision.
What the Founders' Rate Actually Means
When I say "full SOLAYA experience," I mean it.
Your wedding film is still a 15-20 minute narrative documentary, not a 3-minute highlight reel. Your photo gallery is still 600+ professionally edited images. If you book our Complete Wedding Experience with Vayle's planning, you still get unlimited consultations, complete vendor management, and seamless day-of coordination.
The work doesn't change. The quality doesn't change. Only the price changes.
Think of it like your favorite restaurant's soft opening, or early access to a product you believe in. Same exceptional experience, better value for being early.
The Integration Difference
What makes SOLAYA different isn't just that we offer both planning and documentation—it's that we integrate them.
When Vayle plans your timeline, she's thinking about light. When I'm filming your ceremony, I understand the design elements she created. There's no miscommunication between separate vendors because we're one team with one vision.
We learned this planning our own wedding. The moments that mattered most weren't the ones we could have predicted—they were the ones that emerged when design and documentation worked in harmony. When the planner understands the filmmaker's needs. When the filmmaker can anticipate the flow the planner created.
That's what we're building for you.
Who These Rates Are For
We're looking for couples who:
- Value narrative storytelling over just beautiful moments
- Understand that destination weddings are about the complete experience, not just the ceremony
- Want a creative partnership with their vendors, not just service providers
- Appreciate transparency and honest collaboration
- Are planning Tulum destination weddings (or other locations—we travel)
You don't need to be planning the biggest wedding or have an unlimited budget. You need to care about the story you're creating and want partners who'll help that story unfold authentically.
How Founders' Rates Work
The timeline: Available for bookings through our 2026 season (ending October 31, 2026)
The offer: 25% off premium pricing across all our wedding services
Your pricing is locked in when you book, not when your wedding occurs. Book in November 2025 for an April 2027 wedding? You secure Founders' pricing.
In exchange, we ask for:
- A testimonial about your experience working with us
- Permission to feature your wedding in our portfolio
- Flexibility with creative direction (we'll always honor your vision, but we hope you trust our artistic choices)
What Happens After Five Clients
Once these five complete wedding bookings are filled, we transition to premium pricing. No more discounts, no early access advantage.
We're not doing this because we lack confidence in our work. We're doing this because we believe in building something meaningful with intention, and we'd rather partner with couples who value that approach than rush to fill our calendar.
The deposit secures your spot. First come, first served.
Beyond Weddings
While Founders' Rates specifically apply to our wedding services, we're also building our creative services practice—brand content, hotel photography, retreat documentation. If you're a business or retreat leader in Tulum, reach out. We're establishing partnerships with the community we've chosen to call home.
Ready to Talk?
If this resonates with you, let's have a conversation.
Not a sales pitch—an actual conversation about your vision, your story, what matters most about your celebration. We'll walk through our approach, show you relevant work, answer every question honestly, and see if we're the right fit.
Email us: connect@solayacollective.com
DM us: @madebysolaya on Instagram
Include your wedding date (or approximate timeframe), location, and a bit about what drew you to SOLAYA. We'll schedule a video call within a few days.
The Honest Truth
Starting something new requires vulnerability. Admitting we're building our portfolio requires humility. Offering significant discounts requires faith that the right clients will see the value beyond the price.
But I've learned that the best creative work happens when you're honest about where you are while being confident about where you're going. We know what we're capable of creating. We've lived this experience ourselves. We've brought that same level of intention and craft to every project we've ever touched.
Now we're just asking five couples to trust that vision alongside us.
The light has shifted while I've been writing this. Golden hour is approaching—that brief window when everything glows. It's the time of day photographers wait for, the light that transforms ordinary moments into something worth preserving.
That's what we want to create with you. Not just documentation of a day, but a complete experience designed and captured with the kind of attention that transforms celebration into story.
Let's talk.
