lambert13

Quote: Originally Posted by babycow Thanks again for all your awesome reviews. Vanessa Vargas was already at the top of my list but it help to hear some personal experiences. BTW: Love your Invitation with the tropical couple, where did you find the image? Thanks! I found the images in the invitation in a book of vintage Mexican travel graphics I have at home. I cut out the people, color blocks and such then scanned them into photoshop to compile them together. The funny thing about the people in the image is that they are from two completely different images in the book. I cut the woman out of a scene with her and a bunch of other women. The guy was on a boat in the original image in the book. It was sheer luck that they were at about the same scale and lighting.

I hope so too. I forgot to mention that Vanessa is a member of the forum now as well.

Quote: Originally Posted by lucky k72 Ahhhhhh! My husband is soooooooooooooo funny!! lol! You know that I crack myself up. But seriously, I really cant wait. I think it will be such a good time and hopefully everyone will have a good time with us.

I figured it's about time that we post a formal review for Vanessa Vargas and Juan . After a couple months of researching photographers and getting price quotes I stumbled upon Vanessa's website. I was immediately impressed with her work and I knew that if we could afford her rates that she was the one for us. So, we sent an email and unlike most of the others that I contacted she responded the same day. The price quote she gave us for a custom package with photo and video was very reasonable. And we found out that she is from a city in Puerto Rico right down the road from where we are considering a move to. Some of the other studios were not even willing to budge on their standard package prices. The next step was to sign a contract (through email) to secure her for the date and send a deposit through paypal. The whole payment system involving paypal was comforting rather than sending a check through the Mexican mail system. All we had to do from that point on was wait. Over the following months I would email Vanessa every once in a while with questions or ideas about what we wanted and she was always helpful and prompt with replies. Then came the wedding day. Our wedding was scheduled for 10Am and Vanessa was scheduled to arrive at Karen's room at 9Am for some getting ready photos. At 9 on the dot the doorbell rang in Karen's room and Vanessa was there. Karen and Vanessa immediately hit it off as friends and Vanessa stepped right up to help Karen get her dress on since her dressing assistant was a no show. Vanessa got some amazing photos of Karen and helped to keep Karen somewhat calmed down leading up to the big moment. I first met Juan when I went down to the wedding site to wait for Karen. Juan had been running around Dreams getting video footage of the resort while Vanessa was with Karen. Juan was a pleasure to meet and talking to him and the judge while we were waiting was a big comfort to me as well. Ceremony, cake and all that was and still is a blur for me. All the emotions and adrenaline made everything go so fast. Thankfully Vanessa and Juan knew what they were doing and were able to direct us along the way. They even got me to dance! I never dance. We got them back by making them do mandatory tequila shots with us when the photo session was all done. Our custom package did not include any prints or albums and because of that we arranged to pick up our video and cd's with the photos on them in Cancun. Vanessa and Juan met us at out hotel in Cancun right on time and Juan had a portable DVD player to show us a little of the DVD. Again, we were so impressed with them and their work. After we got the cds and dvds we chatted for a a few minutes and we parted ways. FINAL REVIEW NOTES: I am a photographer myself. I have done my share of wedding photography in the past so I think I may have a more critical eye for technique than the average bear. With that being said, I would recommend Vanessa and Juan to anyone and everyone. On a personal level, they are such wonderful people and so easy to get along with. It felt like we were hanging out with friends who were taking our picture and getting video of us. If and when we go back to Cancun we would love to get together with them for dinner or something just to see them again and catch up.

Thanks again everyone! The big trip report is almost done and will be up sometime soon also. Thanks again Vanessa for everything. You and Juan helped make our day the most wonderful day of our lives. I just put a review up for you guys in the Riviera Maya vendor section. I think you guys know how much we like you guys and your work, but I wanted everyone else to get the whole picture as well.

Quote: Originally Posted by pasi hello everybody ! i was just wondering if any of you had their wedding in a restaurant in CAncun? the reason of this is because we want a latin band and we want the party to keep going late .but i cant really find anything any suggestions? if not , does anybody knows of a hotel that lets u have the music on until late at night? well thank you!! i hope to hear from someone soon =) Are you looking for a place to have your reception at? If that is the case, there are a bunch of restaurants in the hotel zone and downtown that would be able to handle that. Do you have any hotels that you are considering for the wedding yet? If you need to transport your wedding party to a restaurant away from the hotel I could help you arrange group transportation to and from the reception restaurant also.

I think it sounds perfect too. Can I come to it? I promise to wear my best spandex shorts, hyper-color tank top and blue blocker sunglasses for you. All fluorescent like colors and everything. I can't wait for Saturday! I think it is going to be so much fun.

Welcome Erik. We are severely outnumbered here but they all play nice.

Maybe its because I am overly superstitious, but I would feel weird about the old ring having something to do with the new rings if you did a trade-in thing towards the bands. Most privately owned jewelery stores will buy stuff from private sellers though.

Hello wife!!

Congrats to you guys!!! I hope everything goes well for you two and that your wedding day is everything you hope for. We can't wait to hear about it when you get back. P.S. Say hi to Sandra for Karen and I.

My wife Karen (luckyk72) and I just got married at Dreams Tulum. We love the Tulum/Akumal area and weould be more than happy to help you out. And welcome!

Etsy is the bomb! I have an account set up there for if and when I get my ass in gear and start producing more artwork to sell. Lots and lots of great tshirts on there too.

Karen and I got one for an engagement gift and we love it. Right now we have all of our wedding photos on a memory card inside it to use at our AHR this coming Saturday. I don't think its something we will use all the time, but it really is a nice way to display photos when you need to.

No problem. Glad I could help.

We kind of figured that if it ended up being a huge hassle to get all the name change stuff done for Karen when we got back that we would just go get a quick courthouse ceremony done here in NY. Luckily we have not had problems at all so far.

I am going to bogart your idea there Laura. Those look so cool. Good luck with the AHR. Ours is coming up next weekend. Luckily ours is going to be pretty low key so we don't have too much to do.

I attached a PDF of the hotel zone for you to take a look at. Let me know how it works out. If it is no good, I might have different maps on my computer at home I can send you. cancun_zone.pdf

If you vote for us we promise to put soda machines in the cafeteria and 2 hours of recess every day. But seriously, thanks guys. It's an honor to even be thought of for this.

Quote: Originally Posted by Tlseege Welcome! We like the grooms on here! They do sweet things that our men hate, and we envy!!! Karen is always warning me about how one day there is going to be an angry mob of BDW husbands and fiances at our doorstep with torches and pitchforks.

Weight Watchers snack cakes. They are not the best thing in the world for you, but when you really want a bad-for-you snack they do the job with far less calories and fat Dried fruit. Its sometimes difficult to find ones that are not covered with sugar, but they are out there.

Karen and I got married at Dreams Tulum in July. I think it may be worth adding it to your list of places to research. It's not overly huge, reasonably priced, good WC and a great beach.

Welcome to the board Darren. If you have any questions feel free to ask away.

That is too funny. Before our wedding I kept having nightmares about arriving in Mexico too early and having to figure out how to get home.

Si! Karen and I stayed at the Grand Oasis, but it was the Grand Oasis Playa which is just down the street from the Grand Oasis Cancun. I have been in the Grand Oasis Cancun before and it looked like a very nice place. Karen had our issues at the Playa this time around, but overall we were still pretty happy with it. The big thing that bugged us is their new affiliation with some sort of time share resorts. The "concierge" was good for nothing more than pushing time share presentations. The beach at the Grand Oasis Cancun is great, the restaurants get good reviews, and the rooms get decent reviews also. It is definitely the nicest Oasis property in the Cancun area.