The Best Time of Year to Get Married in Sayulita: A Wedding Planner's Honest Guide

The first question almost every couple asks me is when. Not where, not how — when. And I understand why. You're choosing a date that will live in everything: the invitations, the anniversaries, the photographs your children will eventually find in a drawer. You want to get it right.

After two decades planning weddings in Sayulita — and roughly 80 a year now — I've watched this town through every kind of weather, every kind of light, every kind of crowd. Some months are postcards. Some are quieter, stranger, more beautiful in ways you can't predict from a forecast. None of them are wrong. But they are different, and the difference matters.

Here's what I've learned, season by season.

The right month isn't the one with the best weather on paper. It's the one that matches the kind of wedding you actually want to have.

November to April: The Dry Season Couples Dream About

This is the window most couples are imagining when they picture Sayulita. The sky is clear almost every day. Humidity is low. The ocean is calm enough that ceremonies on the sand feel held rather than fought against. Evenings are warm without ever asking too much of your guests in linen suits.

December through March is the high season for a reason. The light in February, especially in the hour before sunset, has a softness I've never seen anywhere else — photographers ask me about it. January and February are the busiest months I plan; couples book these dates eighteen months out, sometimes two years.

What this means practically: the town is alive. Restaurants are full. The plaza hums. Your guests who come early will find a Sayulita that feels celebrated by other travelers, not discovered alone. Some couples love that. Some prefer the version of the town that arrives later in the year.

May and June: The Quietest Beauty of the Year

These are my favorite months to plan, and I rarely say that out loud because most couples haven't considered them. The dry season is still holding. The crowds have thinned dramatically. Hotel availability opens. The light shifts — slightly hazier, warmer, a little more golden in the afternoons.

May weddings have a particular kind of intimacy. The town feels like it belongs to you and the people you brought. Vendors have more space to give attention to the details. Prices on accommodations soften without anything about the experience softening with them.

The trade-off: temperatures rise. By late June you'll feel the humidity beginning. For an outdoor ceremony at 5 p.m., this is still completely manageable — and the photographs you'll get in that light are worth the small adjustment.

July to October: Green Season, and What Most People Get Wrong About It

Sayulita's rainy season has a reputation that doesn't quite match what actually happens here. We get rain — usually in short, dramatic bursts in the late afternoon or overnight. Mornings are often clear. The hills behind the town turn an almost shocking green. The Pacific takes on a deeper color.

I've planned ceremonies in August that no guest would have guessed happened in green season. I've also had years where September brought a storm that asked us to move plans by an hour. Both are part of the same season.

If you're considering these months, the conversation isn't whether it might rain. It's whether you're working with someone who plans for it as a matter of course — a covered backup, a flexible timeline, an honest read of the sky on the day. With the right preparation, green season weddings can feel like the most alive version of Sayulita. Without it, the surprises feel like surprises.

What October Specifically Does

October sits in its own category. The rains are finishing. The landscape is at its greenest. The high season hasn't started yet, so the town is still soft. By the second half of the month, the weather is mostly settled and the light is beginning to take on its dry-season clarity.

A lot of my favorite weddings have happened in October. It's a date that rewards couples who do their research.

A Note on Holidays

A practical thing to know upfront: weddings at Amor Boutique Hotel are not available during Christmas week, New Year's, or Easter Week (Semana Santa). The hotel reserves those weeks for vacation guests, and we don't book ceremonies on those dates.

I mention this early because couples occasionally arrive at a date they love before realizing it falls inside one of these windows. The week immediately before or after each of these holidays is open, gives you nearly identical weather, and lets your guests travel without competing with peak holiday flight prices and full flights out of major US hubs.

If you've been picturing a New Year's Eve wedding or a Christmas-week celebration, this is the moment to know that Sayulita — at this venue — isn't the place for it. Plenty of other beautiful dates are.

The best month is the one where the version of Sayulita you find matches the version of your wedding you've been picturing.

So When Should You Actually Plan It?

If you want the postcard — book between late November and early April. If you want softer light and fewer crowds — May, June, or late October. If you want the green, dramatic Sayulita that fewer people know — July through September, with the right planner.

After 20 years of doing this, I've stopped believing there's one perfect month. There's only the month that fits the couple — within the dates the venue can hold for you. We talk through this in our first conversation: your guest list, what your guests are used to, what you're hoping the photographs look like, what kind of evening you want after the ceremony ends. The date usually finds itself from there.

— Karen