Most resorts on this coast offer a version of the same good idea: sand, Pacific, sunset, repeat. It works, which is why it’s everywhere. But a handful of wedding venues along Riviera Nayarit break the pattern completely, and they tend to be the ones guests describe to people who weren’t there.
What makes a venue unusual here is mostly geography and ambition. The coastline climbs at Punta de Mita, so one resort put a ceremony space at the top of a cliff. Another built its wedding venue on the roof. One property has a colonial chapel on its grounds, and another has a hall licensed for 1,500 guests, which is less a room than a small arena.
Below are five venues that look like nowhere else on the coast, with what each one holds and what it asks of you in return. Our Certified Destination Wedding Specialists can tell you which carry weather or wind restrictions worth planning around for your destination wedding.
Best Unique Destination Wedding Venues at Top Riviera Nayarit Resorts
Five wedding venues that use something other than a beach, ranging from 80 guests to 1,500.
1. Armony Marival Resort & Spa Punta de Mita – MGallery Collection
Armony Marival Resort & Spa Punta de Mita – MGallery Collection has the most dramatic ceremony setting on the coast. The Vent sits at the top of the cliff with panoramic ocean views and holds 140 guests, which is the only venue in Riviera Nayarit where you exchange vows with the Pacific below you rather than beside you.
Elevation like that is a function of the peninsula, where the land actually rises, and no beachfront resort closer in can replicate it. The Vent Garden adjoins it for 80, and La Brise takes 200 for a reception with the same panorama. It’s 4.5-star and family-friendly, about an hour from the airport.
Learn more about Armony Marival Resort & Spa Punta de Mita – MGallery Collection and get a free quote today >>
2. Marival Distinct All-Suites & World Spa – Handwritten Collection
Marival Distinct All-Suites & World Spa – Handwritten Collection runs the Insú Sky Bar, the only purpose-built rooftop wedding venue on this coast, seating 80.
A few floors up, the bay opens out, and the sunset lasts noticeably longer than it does at sea level, which on a west-facing coastline is the whole argument. The bar and the lighting are built into the room rather than brought in, so it works as an evening space with nothing added. Five-star and family-friendly in Nuevo Vallarta, with Mozzamere Beach below for 500 if the ceremony needs more room than the roof allows.
Learn more about Marival Distinct All-Suites & World Spa – Handwritten Collection and get a free quote today >>
3. Grand Palladium Vallarta Resort & Spa
Grand Palladium Vallarta Resort & Spa has Nuestra Señora de las Nieves, a colonial-style chapel seating 80 on the resort grounds, and it’s the only building of its kind at any wedding property on this coast.
A chapel is unusual at a Mexican beach resort because most were built for the beach. This one lets couples have an actual church ceremony and a Pacific reception on the same afternoon with nobody getting into a van. The resort is 4.5-star, family-friendly, and the largest property here, so the chapel sits alongside indoor salons for 130, two beach venues at 150 each, and an Ocean View Deck.
Learn more about Grand Palladium Vallarta Resort & Spa and get a free quote today >>
4. Hard Rock Hotel Vallarta
Hard Rock Hotel Vallarta is unique here by sheer scale. The Sanctuary Ballroom is licensed for 1,500 guests, which is not a number any other wedding venue in Riviera Nayarit comes close to, and its two beaches each hold 650.
Very few destinations anywhere in Mexico can put a thousand people under one roof, and for a destination wedding where the guest list genuinely runs that way, scarcity makes the choice for you. A brand built on live music also specifies its rooms for sound in a way most resort ballrooms are not. It’s 4.5-star and family-friendly in Nuevo Vallarta.
Learn more about Hard Rock Hotel Vallarta and get a free quote today >>
5. Dreams Bahia Mita Surf & Spa Resort
Dreams Bahia Mita Surf & Spa Resort has the Beach Garden & Wooden Deck, a polished timber platform built into the sand with garden planting behind it, holding 240.
It solves the oldest problem with beach weddings without giving up the beach. Chairs stand level, tables don’t sink, guests can walk in heels, and the ocean is still a few steps away. Add the two Presidential Terraces above and the Moon Deck looking over the water, and this is the property with the widest range of unusual settings on the coast. It’s 4.5-star and family-friendly, up toward Sayulita.
Learn more about Dreams Bahia Mita Surf & Spa Resort and get a free quote today >>
More Information for Planning Your Unique Destination Wedding in Riviera Nayarit
Unusual wedding venues come with unusual conditions attached. Here’s what our Certified Destination Wedding Specialists raise before couples commit.
Unique Destination Wedding Venues Appeal
The honest draw is that nobody else has your photographs. A beach ceremony on the Pacific is lovely and looks like a thousand other beach ceremonies on the Pacific. A clifftop, a rooftop, or a colonial chapel does not, and that difference survives in the album long after the day itself has blurred.
These venues also tend to make the decision for you in a useful way. Couples who spend months comparing resorts with similar beaches usually find that one distinctive space settles the question in an afternoon, and the rest of the planning follows from it.
The constraints vary by venue rather than running across the category. Elevation brings wind, so ask about the resort’s policy and what the fallback is. A chapel brings a religious process that starts at your home parish a year out. And a 1,500-guest hall brings production costs that a beach never generates. Ask what each specific venue requires rather than assuming they behave alike.
Riviera Nayarit Destination Wedding Cost
The average cost of a destination wedding in Riviera Nayarit is $10,215 all-in for the couple, covering the wedding package, accommodations, airfare, and add-ons. Hotel costs average roughly $299 per person per night over a typical five-night stay, with airfare from $200 to $800 per couple. Couples marrying here average 45 guests.
These averages reflect real spend data from couples who booked their destination wedding with our Certified Destination Wedding Specialists.
Signature venues often sit outside the base package as an upgrade, which is the most common gap between a quoted figure and a final one. Ask directly whether the space you want is included, and whether getting everything to a clifftop or a rooftop carries a separate service charge, because at some properties it does.
Riviera Nayarit Destination Wedding Packages
Complimentary and deposit-only wedding packages are widely available with a qualifying room block, running roughly $1,350 to $5,000 at entry tier, $5,500 to $7,000 mid-tier, and $7,500 to $14,000 and beyond for full productions.
Base tiers are written around a beach or garden ceremony, so most of these wedding venues start a tier above that. Decide on the venue before you compare package prices, since a cheap-looking quote from one resort and an expensive-looking one from another often just reflect different spaces.
Riviera Nayarit Destination Wedding Travel Information
Licenciado Gustavo Diaz Ordaz International Airport serves the coast with direct flights from most major US and Canadian cities. Nuevo Vallarta is 25 to 40 minutes away, Punta de Mita about an hour, and the Bahia Mita resorts sit further north toward Sayulita.
The venues with the most distinctive settings are generally the furthest out, which is the trade-off. An hour each way is nothing for you and adds up across a hundred guests arriving on different flights. The November to April dry season matters more than usual for the open-air ones, since a clifftop and a rooftop have no cover of their own.
Riviera Nayarit Unique Destination Wedding Venue FAQs
What is the most unusual wedding venue in Riviera Nayarit?
The Vent at Armony Marival Punta de Mita, which puts the ceremony at the top of a cliff for 140 guests, and the Insú Sky Bar at Marival Distinct, the coast’s only purpose-built rooftop venue at 80. Neither has an equivalent elsewhere on this coastline.
Can you get married in a chapel in Riviera Nayarit?
Yes, at Grand Palladium Vallarta Resort & Spa. Its colonial-style chapel, Nuestra Señora de las Nieves, seats 80 and sits on the resort grounds. It’s the only on-site wedding chapel on the coast.
How large can a wedding be in Riviera Nayarit?
Very large by destination wedding standards. The Sanctuary Ballroom at Hard Rock Hotel Vallarta is licensed for 1,500 guests, and the same resort’s two beaches each hold 650. Most couples here bring around 45 guests, so those capacities are far beyond typical.
Get Ready to Plan a Unique Destination Wedding in Riviera Nayarit
A cliff, a roof, a chapel, a timber deck in the sand, and a hall that holds fifteen hundred. For a coastline best known for its beaches, the genuinely unusual options here are more varied than almost anywhere else in Mexico.
Fill out our online wedding planning form, and one of our Certified Destination Wedding Specialists will check availability and tell you what each venue actually requires.
About the Author
Maggie Sabin
Maggie started as the SEO Manager at DestinationWeddings.com in 2024, where she works to drive organic traffic and conversions while creating meaningful, SEO-optimized content for the website. Previously, Maggie's career spanned from Human Resources & Recruitment to teaching at international schools for almost 10 years. Maggie spends her free time traveling, learning new languages, reading non-fiction books, working out, going to the beach and spending time cuddling her dog, Lola!
