Playa Fiesta Weddings

Congrats to the two of you! And fellow Vancouverites too!

Thanks for the welcome!

Hi Magalie! - I checked out your blog and your great reviews helped me seal the deal at PF. I wanted to ask, I think you mentioned that you had done research into photographers in the VAncouver/BC area-- do you have any recommendations? We are considering Michelle Turner but photography is one area we are willing to splurge a bit.

 

Thanks for any help!

Hi and Welcome!!! So have you done a sight visit or are you going site unseen? We have both on here:)
And what is your real name? Unless you want us to call you ives?

Congrats ives on booking! Location seems to be the hardest (and most important decision). You're going to love PF. Did you do a site visit?

Glad to know that it helped!

Geez, I looked at tons of photographers, all over BC and the US! There are so many amazing ones out there. I also found that some were willing to give discounts - I think that the economy crisis was helping the negotiations (desperation for work?). I looked at many people from Vancouver & BC, but not many of them were offering discounts and so I couldn't hire just whomever and still stick to my budget.

(By the way, I would have gone with PF's Beth Lloyd had she been available, and that would have made things faster!)

Of course I will recommend who is shooting my wedding, Amber Hughes (Vancouver Wedding Photographer | Amber Hughes Photography - Home)! I haven't gotten any photos taken yet, so I'm not speaking from experience but she has been great thus far. She was offering at the time all of her packages at 50% since she is trying to build her destination wedding business - she might still be offering this. In the end I was hesitating between Michelle & Amber and I chose Amber because 1) with the discount, it was still cheaper even with travel cost, 2) I love her work, and 3) she works with a 2nd shooter (turns out my 2nd shooter is BDWF's own Michael Washniack (Vancouver Wedding Photographer | Michael Wachniak). I really liked Michelle's work but I hesitated because I found that most of her best shot were from further away.

Just so you know, for about the same cost than that of Michelle Turner (who also offered a discount when asked nicely ), with Amber I am getting: 2 photographers, 4 night hotel, flights, engagement shoot in Vancouver, rehearsal dinner coverage, wedding day coverage and day after shoot.

It's worth to look around! My suggestion is to sit down, write a little paragraph about what makes the two special and how you envision your day, and email away to photographers!

Hi all! Thanks for the warm welcome. My real name is Ivy -- so excited about starting planning! We have never done a site visit , we picked the hotel simply based on TripAdvisor reviews, this forum review and the best vision of what we were looking for.

We were looking for a small hotel with a more intimate setting that was also within the budget of our guests! We originally were looking at T&C (too expensive, no AI resorts) and then switched our search to Dominican Republic. However, I kept coming across reviews of Playa Fiesta and couldn't deny that it had everything we were looking for.

I've seen enough photos from everyone's blogs/posts that I am confident it will be awesome.

 

I have about 2 months to pick a photographer which is plenty of time I suppose. Thanks for the advice Magalie! I asked about outside photographers and they requested that outside photographers that have never been to the hotel before. So I won't be able to really check out Amber Hughes (her website looks great though!) as an option. I haven't yet had a chance to look at Beth's website but I will do that!

Welcome Ivy! Don't worry- we went sight unseen too. And we are going in a couple of weeks so if you need me to ask or take any pictures let me know.

That goes for all of you!

Ivy, what I understood was that you couldn't hire a photographer from Puerto Vallarta, but aside from that there wasn't any restrictions (apart from the additional fee). I would ask them just in case!

 

Michael is the 2nd shooter and so not technically my photographer, and has shot destination weddings before. It could be a loophole!

Hi again!

Thanks for the advice - we ended up going with Michelle Turner. We like her portfolio and my fiance was a little weary of having to pay the cost of coverage and hotel stay for a photographer locally.

 

We just sent in our contract and it did state that US photographers brought into the resort were only allowed if they had not worked with the hotel before. There is also a $250 fee for the wedding day and they need to provide the photos on a CD for a slideshow and sign a release form or pay another $500.

Perhaps this is a new clause given that you didn't know about it?

 

Given that added cost, we thought it would be best to use Michelle ! and we like her photos too.

 

BTW Magalie, I thought you might enjoy this link to a great etsy site i found :

Art and Custom Handmade Papel Picado by aymujer on Etsy

I was thinking about ordering some banners to add to the decor -- looking at your blog header picture, I thought you might also want to take a look!!

Thanks Ivy! I already had it bookmarked!

 

I'm glad that you decided on the photog, it's a big decision! She does wonderful work, you're in good hands!

 

The clause is the same as in your contract. Adam didn't care as much about the photog contract line than what is stated in the contract, so we got it changed to reflect what they actually cared about (and make it be more realistic - which photog can give a CD of images 1 day after an event?).

 

 

For anyone who got married at PF before, did you use Lucie? If so, did any of you changed the ceremony wording? We are hoping to change it to have it reflect us a little bit more and were wondering how open to this she is. Thanks!