NATASHA

I was sick, but I was sick before we left. In fact, I learned after I got back from my honeymoon (when I got the results from some tests that I had right before we left) that I had been sick for two weeks prior - I just thought that it was pre-wedding coordination stress (ha ha).

Ugh - I know how you all feel. I am actually in a full review right now that involves my CPA, real estate attorney, and financial planner. Getting married (my husband has a business, I have partial in a biz as well as income property with my family and my husband is selling his place) really complicated things this year! It's not my favorite topic. AND it really blows to sit in a room with these three guys and realize that I'm paying each of them by the hour!

I did at Casa del Mar in Cabo. I'm more than happy to take a look at it for you.

To be honest - it makes me feel better that I'm not the only one!

Dino Gomez - he was fabulous to work with, has a great style (same as Gilda and Juan), worked THE ENTIRE 6 hours that we had him, and every photo was perfect. He even came to my walk through with the wedding coordinators a few days before our wedding. He had my shot list in hand and he showed me several other shots he thought I would like. He got them all and then some. We paid $350 for the first hour, $300 for the second hour, then $250 for each additional hour. He gave us full rights to every high res image (35 mgs each so huge and I could blow them up) delivered on a disk with a slideshow. I did my own books (I wanted to). He is from Columbia but worked for a great deal of time in London. I'm not sure which of these he's using (he also books through Maye): [email protected] or [email protected]

Janet - the other thing you really need to do before you go any further is to meet with a CPA BEFORE you go through this process. Jessalyn is spot on with her info re: points. However, you need to know exactly what will impact you in your situation. Also, you need to decide if you will file separate or joint and how you will handle who gets what deductions if you chose to file separate. Keep in mind that AMT can really cause some interesting problems relative to deductions and you might not be subject to AMT today, but it can be easy for one of you to trigger it and you should be prepared for the topic as you are likely to own this home for awhile. One thing to note about state and local property taxes, you may be able to deduct them from your state taxes, but I believe that you are no longer able to deduct them from your Federal taxes.

Are your guests visiting your wedding website? I was surprised when I checked our web statistics that only 4 of 65 invitees (including my mom and my dad)actually went to our website. They responded to our emails so I know they were interested in getting information, but I was so frustrated when they all kept contacting me with the same questions and I kept saying, "Well, as I said before and in our emails, all this information is on our website."

We sent an evite. The great thing about that is that people are used to responding which greatly helped us know who was in, maybe, or no so we could plan our room blook accordingly. The feedback we received from people was that they appreciated having information early relative to: -Date (obvious) -Hotel and cost (so they could research) -High level overview on transportation (is it easy to get to the hotel from the airport) People didn't get to planned activities until literally the week before the wedding. Feel free to let people know that you will have more information about things to do while in Cabo and things you will be doing (spa day, golf outing, etc.) as you get closer. We sent that information out via email as well as included in our formal invitations.

OK, I have to confess, that happened to me last night! We were in the heat all day and then we flew home and I guess my finger just totally swelled. Plus, my band is thick and it's not smooth inside so it was just not coming off and my finger kept getting more and more swollen. THEN, my DH started laughing the more panicky I got. That didn't help. When I said, "I need you to take this seriously and help me" he said, "I can't help it, you're just so CUTE when you get kinda helpless." That cute comment really didn't help me - I didn't respond well. I actually took a bit of skin off my knuckle, but finally got it off. UGH - he took responsibility for figuring out how to deal with my ring (maybe hollow it out a bit or something) so that we don't repeat what I'm now calling "the ring incident".

Oh - and our trio was a guitar, flute, and bass.

We went with Maye's trio - they don't play mariachi music. They're a traditional trio and they have a very large and varied list. They were amazing. They even learned and played O Sole Mio for my processional. It was far more beautiful than I expected. My friend is a professional musician and he said that he was really impressed with them. That being said, I don't think anyone will notice the difference between a soloist or a trio.

Provide your guests with the information and then let them sort it out. It can get really hectic when people are calling you with questions. Also, please let them know that if they think they will want to rent a car, they should do it before they leave. I had 4 families ask me to take them to the airport so they could get a rental car and 3 of those complained about how much more expensive it was now that they were there. You don't need to worry about other people's transportation (aside from giving them information and options).

I can't count the number of times we've been to Mexico (all over, including the jungle). Neither of us have been sick. Here's what we do: -A few days prior to leaving and through a few days back, we take 3-5 drops of goldenseal 3 times a day in water. I also take a mixture of good bacteria everyday but DH doesn't (I take it for my overall health anyway, not because we're going to Mexico). -Under no circumstance do we eat lettuce or anything with lettuce (or similar leafy green). Too many times we've had companions on our trips who have and who have become ill. We eat cooked veggies. -Yes to bottled water, but I don't worry about the ice in margaritas if drinking at a resort. -When we go off property, we don't drink mixed drinks - we always order beer and drink it from the bottle. No need to risk the glasses being washed in unfiltered water. -If there's yogurt around, I eat it. -We both will eat fruit, but I'm pretty sure it's always been fruit that has a peel like melon, bananas, etc. I don't think I've ever eaten an apple there, for instance. I never thought about swallowing ocean water! That's an interesting point. I have been in the ocean quite a bit, though.

I looked into it. I have some soot stains on my dress from our fireworks. I was quoted $800 - to clean, not preserve. It wasn't the stains that were the problem. Aside from the obvious - it's a wedding gown and so it costs more because they can demand more - they had to remove all of the beadwork and crystals from my dress to clean it and then put them back on. This is true of anything on your dress that might catch or snag another part of the dress. My husband, also, likes that it's dirty. He thinks it's representative of the day. I have opted not to clean it - I'm not going to wear it for anything other than fun around the house.

My SIL brought 15 boxes that they checked (it was rediculous) for my OOT bags. All of my in laws rode on the same plane (so, there were 7 adults and 5 kids) to spread the packages around when checking in. There are guys that hang around the baggage claim area with carts. They gave one of those guys $100 and he shepparded the stuff through, communicating in Spanish with the customs people (working with the customs guys btw). No problems, no questions. Highly recommend this strategy.

Tammy - I'm SO glad you liked the De Cortez. Were you on the patio next to the beach? Your wedding - everything about it - looks so beautiful (including you). It also looked like you guys had a blast in Cabo.

Oh - one thing that was really hard for me to figure out (the duh factor), if you want to make a book that is a derivative (but different than) one already made, you just go to save as and give it a different name so you don't have to start from scratch.

Hi Tammy - you can move the pages. When you're in the "make book" section, go to "all page view" and drag the pages to whatever order you like. That's wierd that they added pages. You should complain to customer service. Also, there is a special offer for 50% orders over $100 (before the coupon) or 25% off orders over $50. The coupon is VAL2550. You can use it on as many books as you like through the end of June and you can order a different book each time (I did that for each family member). I agree - I wish I could make a full page spread; however, if you did that, it would be distorted unless you shot it with a panoramic lens.

It is a very simple (technically speaking) change for her to swap the music and burn a new CD. Don't feel bad about asking her to produce something the way you want it. What I don't know, though, is if they are allowed to sell something (even though she included this in your package, the law still looks at it as if she is making money off of her total service offering) with music that photographers haven't purchased the rights to. I doubt they are, but I don't know how many photographers pay attention to that. If that's the issue and that's why she selected the music she did, just consult with her on your options. Maybe she can give you a slideshow without music and let you know what programs you could use to add the music (the easiest way to do it, though, is using her same program, but you may have more options than you're aware of).

I would ask your doctor as to whether they've done any long-term studies about it in the under arms. There are so many glands there...

I did it three years ago. It was great - for awhile - but is growing back more each year. I don't recommend you waste the money.

It is a great place. Very beautiful and they can handle 45 people. Next door is Club Intrawest and there's Villa del Sol (further down the beach). You could look into those - if not for the wedding, then maybe to have most of your guests stay there. The Villa is really beautiful at La Casa Que Canta (I wonder if it's big enough to host the wedding) but Room #10 (called Besame Mucho) is AWESOME for you to stay in as well if you don't want to spend the Villa price. You might also look at the Amuleto for your wedding. I've seen photos from several weddings there which leads me to believe that they are a bit more accommodating price wise for groups.

I absolutely love Phanfare – Online photo albums, video & photo sharing, unlimited photo & video storage. You can password protect it and allow your friends and family in to grab photos. They can download the high resolution files (phanfare lets you put high res photos in and doesn't cut down on the size). The download can be done by picture (checking them off from good sized thumb nails), by book, etc. Also, they have an automatic transfer to print pictures with several different companies which is good because some people like Kodak more than Snapfish or Shutterfly). Anyway - it's super flexible. I have tried everyone and no one comes close. ALSO - when you go to make a book, I recommend My Publisher. They offer 50% off every other month and you can make a 100 page 11x15 coffee table book that is absolutely beautiful (I've made 5 of them so far). I also like Photoworks, but not for wedding books.

Yay - It's finally here!!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by jpkw have you been to cinque terra? (5 vilages). i went there while in college & i think we took the train in from genoa or rome. it is an amazing place - it consists of 5 villages built into the cliffs right along the sea. you can hike between them and stay in different locations, or wine taste and go into the next village for lunch. it is SO beautiful! do a google search to find out more. We loved it!! I only went to Rapollo and Potofino. I think Rapallo is the last village. I agree - it is totally beautiful!