Sarah

Yay Tammy! WOOHOO you're in Cabo as I type- I am beside myself with excitement for you! Have fun sweetie, see you soon!!!

You Riu girls are right- the Riu is definitely what you make it to be. I hope my post didn't sound critical of Riu- we LOVED our stay there and would go back in a second. I think because we were only there for 4 days we didn't get the full experience and perhaps just were a little jaded by the service when our room was wrong- it was fixed though... A couple things about Riu that are great- the view is unbeatable! I hadn't been downtown for a while, and went with my parents one day. I have to say I was a little sad not to have the great arch and rocks in the background when after all, I was getting married in Cabo! I also love the bonfire option they provide. I think Stephanie is doing that? I will be interested to see the pics- looks like so much fun. It's definitely just a personal preference, and just like any vacation, one person's experience can differ from another. I think another thing that made the Riu seem so shockingly party-ish was that the first half of our vacation was spent at Presidente Intercontinental, then we moved to Dreams half way through. However, PI is about as laid back and quiet as it gets so to go from that to thr Riu was definitely a huge change of pace...but I think that was what made that vacation so fun. We got to totally chill for a couple days, but then went and partied at the Riu! Good luck with your decision. Just remember, it's your wedding and it's your party- do what YOU want. If you like the feel of a big resort and want to be close to town to party (not to mention that the Riu is breathtaking....) then pick the Riu, despite what your family says. Or, if you want something a little more laid back and smaller, pick Dreams. Go with what you feel is right for you... By the way, Sarah, I LOVE your new sig pic!

I really should have waited to post it in it's own thread, but when I got it yesterday I was laughing so hard I just had to share. I probably still will make a thread about, when I get my pics from Juan...He just sends me one here and there while he's working on them...

Aww, thanks girls. It was so much fun!

Yay! The starfish pic turned out awesome- these look great Juan! Can't wait to see the rest! It was so much fun having Tammy & Edyta there (and their hubbies of course!). I've said it before, but it was just like getting together with old friends. They are such sweet girls!

Quote: Originally Posted by jesswins What exactly do you mean by this because that could be good or bad depending on what you want. You've already said it best! lol I've stayed at both places. I decided on Dreams because I wanted a more romantic, as opposed to party, atmosphere for my wedding. Both properties are gorgeous, both have great food, I had a fantastic time at both. Honestly I have to say that the service and staff at Dreams blows the Riu out of the water. The Riu is so large, you don't really get to know the bartenders, waiters, etc- and they totally don't want to be friends with you. At Dreams, we knew half the bartenders, waiters, etc by name and they knew our favorite drinks, snacks, etc. At Dreams all the staff we encountered went out of their way to please and seemed happy with their jobs. Not so much at the Riu. I hope some of the Riu girls can chime in, but I don't know if many of them have stayed at both places to make the comparison. I thought the Riu was the coolest place I'd ever been to...until I stayed at Dreams. But, again, it depends on what you want. Maybe you don't care about making friends with your waiter- I handpicked the waiters for my wedding reception- we'd gotten to know them through the week and they were AWESOME! Maybe a romantic atmosphere is not what you're after- at Dreams, it's usally soft romantic music playing in the background- at Riu, it's usually top-40 or dance mix type of music. If you want to party, go to Riu- that's probably where we'd go back for a vacation. If you want to relax and impress your guests with great service- go for Dreams. Dreams doesn't have a nightlife, Riu does- and Riu is close to town. Just some thoughts...let me know if you have specific questions about comparisons between the two since I've been to both. Oh, and I did get sick after being at the Riu palace, and a friend of mine who stayed at the same time also did...I've never gotten sick at Dreams, although Edyta (another bride that just got married) did one night...

Quote: Originally Posted by DREA14369 One thing is...we are doing this at 9am on sunday. Our flight leaves that day at 6pm. Will it dry by then? Nope- mine took 2 days to dry. Ok, plan B...lol Although, you don't have a long flight do you? Just bring some garbage bags to pack it in and put it in a suitcase, take it out as soon as you get home and rinse it out...

Quote: Originally Posted by leigh miller sarah - thats priceless!!! omg. your book is huge looks great! Yeah- it's 12x18, I LOVE it! I'm so glad I went with the big book- he was really impressed with it. He still looks at it, lol Quote: Originally Posted by NHPT hahahaha! that is SO funny- i bet he was pleasantly suprised! what does he say about it now? He loves it- he says he had an idea of what I was doing- who knows how...but he couldn't believe how great they are. Then, he spent a ton of time looking around Leigh's site and raving about her photography too! He was very glad I used a female photographer and specifically commented about that! lol He was very surprised that I was brave enough to do these, since it's soooo out of character for me!

So, I'm still waiting for my pics from Juan, but he emailed me one of jeff's reaction pics...I'm going to make a thread about it once I get them all, but here's the one I have for now...just had to share, it made me laugh so hard!

I'm serious- the water and sand did not affect my dress at all. What type of material is your dress? As long as it's not a super thin material I'm sure it would be fine. We just took our clothes back to the hotel and immediately rinsed them out in the tub right when we got back- then hung them up to dry.

Next you need to decide on a site!

Just an FYI- I have been to Cabo 3 times in the last year: September, February, and May. I have to say that May is absolutely perfect weather! September can be a little iffy because it's the end of hurricane season and it's really hot- I wouldn't necessarily recommend then. February is a little colder than I want to be on vacation! It was only about 70, maybe 75 during the day and then downright cold at night, about 55-65. The locals were saying it was exceptionally cold when we were there, but I still probably wouldn't go back at that time because of it. May was perfect. 90 during the day, 65 at night- we honestly couldn't have asked for more perfect weather our wedding day. I was not too hot in my dress at all, it was great! Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out...by the way, welcome to the forum & congratulations on your engagement!

Quote: Originally Posted by host hi everyone, i am working on changing the rank structure and so senior member is now 750 posts...i just made the change yesterday... I think that's a great idea. But you forgot one thing- I still didn't see "post whore" next to TammyM's name...

I double-bagged everything. I had a clear plastic bag that my TTD dress came from, and then a white more traditional wedding dress bag (but it wasn't very thick) that my real dress came in. I did get a small tear in the outside bag during travel, so I was glad I'd double bagged. I also covered everything under both layers with a white trash bag that I slipped over the hangers on the top, just to be safe as there is a small gap where the hangers go through the bag.

Umm, where is Glenda? She is the queen of awesome funny sayings...

Umm, speaking of adding the suit in with the dress, when I flew down for my wedding my dress carryon not only held my wedding dress but also my TTD dress, Jeff's TWO suits, 5 sundresses and 4 bathing suits! The sundresses & bathing suits were in the bottom of the dress bag in a plastic bag because I was soo out of room in my suitcases. You can get really creative if you have to. It just made the dress bag unbelievably heavy- but just keep that in mind if you find some clothes you just can't fit into your suitcase! lol

Paula those look great! Your guests will be impressed...

Yay Tammy! I'm so excited for you...your wedding is going to be absolutely perfect. Just remember to take in every minute...breathe deeply and soak it all in! It goes by so fast, make sure you get to enjoy yourself and most of all, enjoy your husband! I can't wait to hear all about it and of course see your pictures! You're such a wonderful person with such inner and outer beauty- your wedding will be so perfect- you deserve it! Enjoy...and may the starfish bring you all the luck it brought me!

Umm...there's no such thing as too many wedding pics around here! lol Sarah, you look beautiful in your pictures. You look so happy and like you and your group are having a fantastic time. After all, it's the Riu- how can you not?!? That's such a fun resort- we might stay there again next time, and now your wedding pics really make me want to go back! I LOVE your flowers- they were so gorgeous! Your decor is awesome, everything looks so beautiful. I can't wait to see Juan's pics!

Edyta these are great! Thanks so much for sharing. It's fun to see new pics that I haven't seen yet- a bunch of these aren't even on your slideshow. No wonder you and Terry are having trouble picking your favorites- there are so many awesome ones! You look stunning as always:) It was fun to see that pic of Jeff & I- I remember when Juan took that. Ahh, can we go back there yet? lol

OK, wait a sec...you were at Dreams and didn't look for Tammy, Edyta, & I? Your review is great! I can't wait to see Juan's pics- they will be awesome I'm sure. Congratulations! I'm glad everything went so well...

Quote: Originally Posted by jthrasherphoto.com Jessalyn... you know you're going to be getting a much better quality book from me right? Quote: Originally Posted by host jonathan, was this remark necessary! honestly, get some tact! Quote: Originally Posted by Nini_Bride Honestly, from what I've seen from Sarah's books - the quality looks impressive!! I wouldn't knock it just yet You know Jonathan, I get really tired of seeing you butt into threads that absolutely don't concern you. I personally take offense to that comment because I have made several of these books and do find them to be of good quality, especially for the price. Of course I know that I can spend 1-2k and have a photographer make a great book for me. Juan has gorgeous books, as well as Leigh that I had the option of purchasing from my various photo sessions with them. But, I chose to make my own for a couple of reasons. 1) I enjoy doing my own projects. I feel that I do a good job and have somewhat of an eye for design. It also provides a great sense of accomplishment to have something that is an heirloom that I made myself. You yourself complimented me on my first book. I enjoy making photobooks. 2) Price. The professional books that you and other photographers make are great, but a little spendy for some of us. Now, I have no problem spending big money for my pictures, there's no need to debate that. But, when I can make something that looks great and showcases my pictures beautifully for less than 10% of what a photographer would charge- what's not to love?!? Seriously, I'm sure Jessalyn is aware that she can get a book from you. Is it necessary to slam the quality of something that the rest of us (including Jessalyn) take pride in?

Quote: Originally Posted by Nini_Bride Ok, I'll look into getting that program then. I am planning to do a number of albums, so this sounds like a smart investment. Plus $119 isn't a lot for programs these days. So, you used this program and saved each page as a separate image and then uploaded it to a full page template on Sharedink... or how did that work? Be honest... was the program frustrating or difficult? Are you computer savvy?! lol You have to save each page as a separate file. When you are all done with them, you can send them as a zip file to Sharedink. The program was not hard to use- and as you know I'm not computer savvy! Don't you remember my frantic questions to you when I was trying to send my mp3 song files to Juan? lol It of course, like any program I'm sure, took some time to get used to, but it really wasn't hard. There's a great tutorial to get you started, and it's really easy to make templates so you can just reuse them for different pages. Quote: Originally Posted by host the ceo is very helpful...if you want his email, pm me.. ok, keep this in mind. each page must be 1 image. use high res pictures (250 min but i used 300) first thing to do...organize your photos together (group them)... then make templates so you can easily just swap out pics w/o having to make a new arrangement. Quote: Originally Posted by Nini_Bride So then I have to photoshop it (or w/e program) and overlap the images and save those as an image?! I don't get it. How do I get multiple pictures on one page without using their template? I think what Tammy was trying to say is that each page must be saved as 1 file. Long story, but when I made my first book, I saved about 20 pages as one file- you can't export them that way unless you buy the really expensive version of the program. So, I had to re-save each page into it's own individual file- major PITA. Just make sure that you make a page, save it, then make another page, save it, etc... You can get multiple pictures on the page using the Lumapix program. You can either click like 2,6,8 or however many pics you want on that particular page and have the program "autocollage" it for you- which often looks good, or you can size the picture however you want. You can put as many pics on one page as you want. I've done some with just 1, I've done some with like 12...That's through FotoFusion though, I don't know how to do multiple pics with the SharedInk template. Does that make sense?

I'm not even planning to have that dress professionally cleaned. I paid $99 for the dress, had $140 of alterations done to it, and I have no intention of spending any more, since it's not my real dress! I washed it out well in the tub and that's all I plan to do with it. I figure my someday daughter (or my niece if I never have kids) will have fun playing dress-up with it...It honestly isn't dirty at all- there are a few grains of sand that somehow got between the lining and the main material on the bodice that I can't figure out how to get them out, but I don't know if the cleaners would do that anyway...

lol whatever, you girls are funny... Anyway, I know I talked about doing a SI (sharedink) how-to post, but there didn't seem to be a ton of interest, so I never did it! lol The key to a great SI book is to have good software to make the pages in. I didn't even try to use the SI software or page creator, so sorry, can't help you there! Tammy recommended, and I purchased, Lumapix Fotofusion LumaPix :: FotoFusion. I bought the Enhanced version which was around $100 at the time- it is for sale now on their website for $119. Honestly, I feel this software is an important investment if you're going to make more than one photobook. I made my e-pics book, my b-pics book, I will make 2 wedding albums of my own, and I have a couple others I'm already planning to do for people who have asked me...With this program, you can auto-collage, make full-bleed pages, add text and graphics, change tone/color, etc of your photos. It's really great software. I also made my current sig with that program and have made cool collages of pics to email to people. I've also heard that if you have photoshop you can make your pages in there. I don't have it, have never tried it. What other questions do you have? The SI part itself isn't too hard, but if you get Lumapix I can totally give you a bunch of tips if you end up going that route...