Caletas_bridetobe

I know this is late but perhaps it will help others. We used Franco Gonzales and he did a great job at capturing the right moments. He was great to work woth! Here is a link to our online photo book and a few of my favorties: Gallery Project Details

Pretty wedding! I liked the set-up and location. Seeing the pictures makes be want to go back! Here is our site: Your Wedding Webpage - The Knot

Quote: Originally Posted by chicago2PV Hey there Caletas bridetobe- I am getting married at RIU Vallarta later this month and so far haven't seen anyone's pics from there; I've only seen pics from Jalisco. How was your stay? Do you have any pics to share? I'm very nervous about the wedding, as I haven't been able to see anything in person. I had been working with Andrea for months and then she sent me an e-mail and informed me that she was leaving. I thought I was going to faint! We will have over 60 guests and I'm just curious to find out how everything went for you durnig yuor stay. Thanks, chicago2PV You will love the Vallarta. The staff was great and there is plenty to do. The hotel is stunning and there are plenty of restaurants and activities even with your large group. One suggestion though…make ala carte reservations early!! Other than that no complaints. Oh if you can get an ocean view room do it!!! You can watch the dolphins swim by in the morning. For the wedding…I would suggest following up regularly, even if it means calling the hotel and speaking to someone. I will tell you that I had a bit of a mix up when looking at the RIU Vallarta for our wedding. They booked for the wrong year and it was very hard to communicate to get things straight. I did see a beautiful beach wedding while we were there. They had a large group and there was a white garden arch with a bit of fabric and flowers. The chairs were covered in white and had colored bows on them. They also had some small floral arrangements. It was really pretty but a bit plain for my taste. You can always add a bit more fabric, flowers, and maybe torches. But I don’t really know what you are looking for. The couple was married later in the day and I would suggest that due to the beach traffic and the beautiful sunsets. They are breathtaking!!!!! If you haven’t made your dinner reservation yet I would suggest the Brazilian/Steak restaurant. It is private, open, and on the beach. It is great for a beach wedding and for large groups. The couple that way married there had a reception up there as well. Try not to worry about things though I know its hard to leave it all up to someone else. It will all turn out great. When you get to the resort take care of business right away. This way you can take care of all of the details and you can relax and enjoy the resort. If you need anything else let me know.

Quote: Originally Posted by tvt hi girls. this is totally off topic from the current discussion, so I appologize in advance. I'm FREAKING out about our wedding. If you've read the ceremony starts at 615 sun sets at 623 thread you have an idea. But the more I think about this the more I flip. I'm checking into chartering a boat so we could start the stuff early. IF that doesn't happen FI and families will go early. So we'll get fam pictures in daylight. However, the ENTIRE wedding ceremony will take place at dusk!!!!!!!!!! then the dinner and reception and going to be super dark. Now i"m worried that i'm going to spend a chunk of change on a photog and all our pictures will be in the dark! i'm really stressed about this. first off i'd really rather not see joe before the wedding, and i want to be able to see Joe when we say our vows. Not to mention why would i hire a photog to take pictures that probably won't be great since it will be dark out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ugh, i'm very extremely stressed Have you talked to Nicole to be sure of when the sun will set? I think she would be able to give you the best advice. I was also stressed about the same thing. I knew that I wanted the late ceremony as I knew how beautiful Caletas was at night. But really freaking out about having poor quality pictures. But I was happy with how everything turned out. If it helps here is a link to our evening photos:Snapfish: Share:Registration Good luck

I used Franco and he came out on the boat with us. But we also had the intimate ceremony due to the small group. He brought his equipment with him which was just like a backpack. He used remote flash for the lighting and it worked fine. I was happy with the work but only got the small package. He was willing to do whatever poses we wanted but I really let him be the guide. Also as far as Carlos I think that he didnt show up one time, I was going to use him but after I heard that I didnt want to take the chance. Hope this helps.

Quote: Originally Posted by mellibean well one of the girls got back to me about doing the vow renewal thing. so far i know i cant get a fire dancer and will have to do the night package which is seeing that night show. i emailed her to find out if i can come out earlier but i dont have a clue what is going to happen. i asked her about what time will my vow renewal begin? if its late then it is back to the drawing board because i am not down for a night ceremony im keeping my fingers cross in finding out the answer is what i hoping to hear. I had the night ceremony and it wasnt "wack". It was really romantic actually. Depending on what time of year it would be, like June for example, the sun does not set until after 8pm. Hence your ceremony and pictures will be during the day. Im assuming the vow renewal would be the same as the intimate package where you get there by 7, have your ceremony at 730, and then pictures after that. Then you have a nice dinner under the stars with your hubby and time to sneak in a few dances and your off to spend more time crusing the coastline back home. I dont think because of the way that the shows are scheduled that you can get extra time w/o paying for the deluxe wedding all over again. But like I said, the evening ceremony was beautiful and I would not have traded it for the world. Just try and scedule it when the sunsets later and I think that you will be just fine. Good luck.

I used franco gonzales and his work was good. he is more expensive than the others though. also, nicole said that they used to use carlos melnik but havent used him in a while due to some issues.

Quote: Originally Posted by Rkiss It was Lindsay (Feb14bride) that had the green arch - wondering what that is called... love it, adds some colour. If anyone knows please tell me! And also wondering if it costs extra as the bamboo chuppa does. That was the palm arch. I had it for mine, it was nice and added a pop of color. It was included in the intimate package.

Quote: Originally Posted by MarlaB Melissa, Just wondering if you were secluded in the Intimate package? It looked like you were. Did you see others around? How long were you at Las Caletas? Yeah we had our own private area and Brad did a great job keeping anyone who wasnt supposed to be ther out. We actually never really say anyone except on the boat. It was very quite and private. There was a nice private area for the ceremony and dinner as well. There was also space if you wanted to dance. I wish I would have known that before hand they were giving us sound equipment though and I would have brought more music to dance to. I bascially just put together ceremony music so we recycled the same songs over again Also, we did get to use the suite to get ready but you are definatley rushed in order to get everything started on time. Other than that everything was great and I couldnt have asked for anything better. Oh, and Franco is a great photographer and is really laid back. We opted for the basic package w/o prints and just got a Cd. He shot 75 images and we were able to pick 25 w/o extra charge. He usually charges more for his work but we got him for the basic package price. You wont be disapointed.

Your pictures look great Ann. Everything was beautiful. I wish that we could have extended the time but I dont think that is an option for the intimate package. It ended up being that we were only there for like 3 hours and withe the reception, picture taking, and dinner, we really didnt have time for much else. But the boat ride back was nice and like a mini reception.

I think that some of the picture files were so big that you cant view them. Try the slideshow, I think that works better. Yeah, it was really small just my hubby and my parents. Im glad though because I didnt want to have a big ordeal. Everything was great but it was just way to short. how about with you? Do you have any pictures?

Well, Im back and it was wonderful. I couldnt have asked for anything better! Except that it was entirely too short. It felt like it was over in a flash. Here are some pics....franco gonzalez was the photographer and he was great!!! Snapfish: Share:Registration

Hello, I have been to the RIU Jalisco 4 times and it is great, youll love it. We were going to get married at Riu Vallarta until the booked us for the wrong year with 2 months to go so we canceled!!!!!! Anyway.....The beach is definatley swimable and is not crowded. You can walk for miles either way and it is goregous. The resort offers kayaks, boogie boards which are a blast with the waves, and catamarans. Thewateris not crystal clear like in cancun but still beautiful.

Hey Melissa, Ive seen it in person and you would just need a few touches to dress it up. What about draping fabrics from the window openings to create a flowy/breezy effect. Also draping the fabric around the railings would be a nice touch. Maybe just placing candles everywhere too. I thinks that would be really romantic.