Jackies Juan Carlos Tapia Review

[Jackie]

A little background as to why I am doing a separate review for our photographer.

I wanted to pay special attention to our photography review for a couple different reasons.

1. being that this was the one area that I splurged big time money wise. From day one I knew that my photographer would be the most important vendor to me. We don't have a huge amount of money by any means, we are a middle class couple and both work overtime every week, but it didn't matter to me, I would have worked even more if it meant I would be hiring the best of the best and having the greatest pictures to look back on for years to come.

 

2. Ive read a few mixed reviews (a lot of great ones too) for Juan Carlos Tapia photography and wanted to really give an honest detailed review from both mine and Ryan's point of view, because again I feel that the photographer you hire is your most important vendor IMO.

 

3. I wanted to pay special attention to our TTD review because its somewhat of a newer concept and I think after doing it I might be able to give a little insight on it for future brides.

 

Contact Accessibility: A+

Through the entire year long process Juan was truly great to work with via e-mail or telephone. I know through personal experience and through talking with other brides that this is a really important aspect of weather or not vendors are considered good to work with. Planning a Destination Wedding is truly done mostly through e-mails and one thing that can really send a bride into panic mode is not hearing back from a vendor, its important that your vendors get back to you with in a reasonable amount of time. I never once had to worry about hearing back from Juan. He communicates really well too, his ability to speak such good English amazes me. I took 5 years of Spanish and cant speak the language at all, so anyone that is able to learn a foreign language impresses me right off the bat.

 

Pricing

I'm not going to go to much into this one. Juan is expensive, but he is also very talented. This is a personal decision for each bride so I cant really grade price. It just depends on what you are willing to spend for your pictures. I do not regret spending a lot on our photographer but again it was the most important vendor to me. And Yes you can spend less and still have beautiful pictures, but I'm not comparing vendors I'm just reviewing mine. I will say that Juan works his but off for the money he charges. He was running around every time we hired him (engagement pics, boudoir pics, wedding pics, and TTD pics) trying to get the very best shot. I was absolutely exhausted so I can only imagine how he felt with a huge camera hanging around his neck.

 

Juan's Assistant A+

I feel like an idiot because I don't remember her name. But she was just the nicest girl and really helpful and personable. And again, I think she just might speak better English then I do. Definitely seems to be interested in photography and learning a lot from Juan. She made a comment about how lucky she was to have found Juan and be able to work for him, I thought that was really sweet. They worked very well together.

 

Wedding Day Shoot A+

Our ceremony was due to start at 5:00pm Juan showed up right on schedule at 4:00pm to take some "getting ready" pics of us in the girls room and the guys in their room. From the minute he arrived I knew it was going to be a great day with him. What I really like was through the whole process he would show me random pics that he was taking in his camera screen. They were so gorgeous.

The ceremony itself, I'll be honest I was so freaking nervous the whole time, I definitely wasn't paying attention to what Juan was doing. But on the plus side he really keeps himself hidden well. I really didn't even know where the heck he was the entire ceremony. I will tell you that our guests commented on how crazy he was, running around to get the best shot, they were all very impressed.

Pics between the ceremony and reception, these went really well and I am so excited to see them. I saw a few in Juan's camera and they were so beautiful. Again, here we are running around the resort to get good shots. We were in front of the resort, in the hallways of the resort, and on the beach.

This is the part I was a little nervous about. Juan is known to get carried away and not realize that the bride and groom do have a reception to get to. So I was a little nervous that we would be taking pics for 2 hours and miss half the reception. As it turns out Juan was more aware of the time then I was. He promised to get us to the reception by 7:15pm, which is exactly what I had planned for, and he did!

I hired Juan for 6 hours (4:00pm - 10:00pm) he stayed right up until 10:00pm working hard the entire time. I actually had to tell him to sit down relax for a minute and eat! lol. I cant wait to see the reception photos of all us girls dancing and having fun!

 

Trash The Dress Shoot A+

The day after the wedding we had our trash the dress photo shoot.

1. The horses

First of all I totally dropped the ball on this one and Juan definitely saved my butt. I figured I could just book the horses through Dreams when I got to Cabo. Whoops turns out they only book the horses until 4:00pm and our TTD shoot was at 5:00pm. I was bummed and told Juan that I was sorry but we couldn't do the horse part of the shoot. He looked at me like I was crazy and called his Horse guy and within 3 minutes confirmed that they would be at Dreams at 5:00pm with horses!

The horses were gorgeous quality horses. They were very sweet and well mannered. Mine a little feistier then Ryan's but had a wonderful trot and canter to him. So comfortable to ride, he had one of the best gates I have ever ridden, and was so easy on the mouth to control. One tiny tug and he would turn or slow right down, One small nudge and a kiss and we were off in a full canter.

If any of you are debating on weather or not to do the horses. DO THEM, I saw some of the photos and they are amazing! I cant believe we almost didn't get the opportunity to have them.

2. The Beach

The beach was insane the tide is pretty damn strong, and it was extremely rocky and slippery. The water was very nice and warm though. I am so glad we did this and cant wait to see the photos. Juan was his usual crazy self, working his but off to get the right/best shot. We only booked Juan for 3 hours for the TTD and we went way over our time limit all because Juan was not going anywhere until we had great photos!

Here is my honest review of the beach photos though.

1. If you truly want beach photos for your TTD DO NOT wear your original wedding dress if it is by any means a big or heavy dress. My dress had a long train to it and once in the water it weighed SO MUCH and it was really hard and dangerous to move around in. Juan wouldn't even let us take photos in some parts of the water because he was to afraid the tide would be to strong and I wouldn't be able to fight it with such a heavy dress on.

2. I will be very honest there are a lot of big crabs on the rocks that you will be sitting on in the water. Yes they ran away as soon as we got anywhere near them. No I never got bitten. But I was scared, I just wanted to be honest in case anyone else is scared of that stuff.

3. Looking back on the water part of the TTD shoot. I am so glad we did it and I think the pictures will be beautiful, Its a gorgeous spot for them. Chileano beach I think.

But, now that It is over and I have thought about, I think I would have preferred to go into San Jose and get some really cool shots full of color and life. We will have a lot of beach shots just from the wedding day itself. And I think Juan could do some amazing work doing a TTD in San Jose.

 

So my piece of advice to future brides doing the TTD shoot.

1. Get the Horses they are amazing pics!

2. If you do the beach shots, wear a light dress!

3. Really consider asking Juan if he would be able to do some TTD shots in San Jose rather then the beach.

 

Time-line on receiving pics A-

Juan said he wants to give the photos the attention they deserve and not rush. He told us it will be 3 months but no longer. Which means they wont be ready until the end of summer.

I am happy because he was very honest with us. He didn't tell us they would be ready next month, so at least I am prepared to wait and wont be wondering why the hell they aren't ready.

Yes it is a long time to wait which is why I didn't rate it as an A+, but lets be honest Juan is a busy photographer, he is not going to lighten his work load so that he can get photos out sooner, and he wants to fix them himself to make sure they are the best they can be so I cant imagine he will be hiring anyone to do this for him anytime soon, so if you want his quality of work you are going to have to wait for it.

 

 

Summary

When it was time to say good bye to Juan, I truly felt like I was saying goodbye to a good friend. I guess that is another reason I wanted to do a separate review for Juan's photos. I really do feel that he is truly an amazing artist and a wonderful person. Through speaking with him during the various photo shoots you can tell he is a great family orientated hard working husband and father who loves what he does. Both Ryan and I were very impressed with Juan as a person and photographer.

 

If I had everything to do all over again I wouldn't change a thing in regards to our photographer Juan Carlos.

[ACDCDCAC]

thanks for the honest review jackie! i cant wait to see your pics, you should put up a ticker

[Jackie]

Ohh thats not a bad idea. I kind of get depressed now looking at my ticker and having it say that everything over with!

[Leia78]

Hi Jackie,

 

I can't thank you enough for your extremely honest and detailed review. Juan is my wedding photographer too and now I'm even more excited for him to shoot my wedding!

[JessicaM]

Jackie thanks for the detailed review of Juan. I also hired him and its nice to see that even though, yes he is expensive, he is worth every penny. Like you Adam and I have saved to have gorgeous wedding photos to look back on and now you have confirmed that everything is going to be worth it!! THANKS!!!

[Jackie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leia78 Hi Jackie, I can't thank you enough for your extremely honest and detailed review. Juan is my wedding photographer too and now I'm even more excited for him to shoot my wedding!

Quote:

Originally Posted by JessicaM Jackie thanks for the detailed review of Juan. I also hired him and its nice to see that even though, yes he is expensive, he is worth every penny. Like you Adam and I have saved to have gorgeous wedding photos to look back on and now you have confirmed that everything is going to be worth it!! THANKS!!!

You will not regret hiring Juan, Hes nothing short of amazing!

[Sandra E.]

Jackie, that's a fantastic review and I'm sure will come helpful to a lot of brides. Can't wait to see your pictures!

[Jen_S]

Can't wait to see your picts after the review.

[jajajaja]

Great review Jackie. You make a very valid point about the wait time for photos. I think if you know how long the wait is from the start, it isn't as painful. It will still be painful, but a dull pain.

[Jackie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LC_Rachel Great review Jackie. You make a very valid point about the wait time for photos. I think if you know how long the wait is from the start, it isn't as painful. It will still be painful, but a dull pain.

lol, exactly, well put.