TATrisha

Char, I just had to comment on your pictures! I actually met your photographers while doing a destination wedding in Mexico last year. They are the sweetest couple ever and we're facebook friends. She posted your TTD teasers the other day and I LOVED them... but I didn't realize it was you! How cool!! You're going to be blown away by your pictures, I'm so excited to see the rest of them!

I will usually give my brides the choice, morning or evening. The nice thing about the morning after the wedding is that a lot of brides sleep with their hair still pinned up, so they have beautiful gentle waves for the portraits. The real thing is, if you choose evening then you really shouldn't drink during the day, you have to be careful in the sun again, and you'll have to leave your family and friends in the middle of partying. So if you do it in the morning, the high of the wedding is still there. You still look amazing. And you're back in time for when your guests are ready to hang out by the pool and eat!

Happy Wedding Month ladies!!! Victoria, you should be at the airport right now, so I hope you have safe travels! I see you for breakfast next week Saturday!!! All April brides, drink more OJ! You need your vitamin C! The good news is that heat and humidity should help those with stuffy noses and sore throats

I can confirm that the cups are tiny, and with the heat your drink warms up FAST! We had custom mugs and everyone was so thankful! It was cool to see everyone using them too, and nobody lost theirs. It was great to take drink with you on a walk too, because the little plastic glasses were gone within 5 steps from the bar! These at least lasted a little bit, plus kept the drink cold.

OOO, this is one of my guilty pleasures too. I love the OC ladies. They are just nuts. I'm sad I missed all of last season though. with a new baby it was just too much. But I'm so pumped about the new season!!!

I love how many GBP brides there are right now!! The pricing is very confusing for the poolside reception, which stinks. Basically, the dinners include an hour (maybe two of drinks) but there is a 50 person minimum. I had the Grill option which is a 35 person minimum but they told me I couldn't have it for my wedding because it was plastic silverware. Honestly, I didn't care! I wanted my reception outside and I couldn't very well magically come up with 15 extra people! So after so pleeding I got the grill option with 35 people (I actually only had 32 people, but I paid for 35). Turns out, I got fancy china and silverware and the full service bar anyways! So if you really want your reception (dinner included) out by the pool, as about that option. Someone asked about a veil. I had one. I tried it on the day before the wedding. I did not wear it. It was FAR too windy at the Hammock location and it would have been wrapped around my head. This doesn't happen every day, obviously, and if you're willing to stand on the right side and your FI stand on the left side it might not be as bad. Natty, if you stay at the Akumal side, your wedding has to be at the Akumal side, which with any sizeable group I'm pretty sure has to be the hammock location.

As a photographer, I like off white or ivory because it tends to photograph better. White White tends to wash out the color of the bride. It also creates blown spots in your photo in direct sunlight like that on a beach. It also tends to hide detailing because of being so bright. None of these things are a problem as long as your photographer knows how to deal with it, which any good photographer should.

Adorama actually has really great quality books. They are lay flat seamless books, so they are actually really great! I would highly recommend them. http://www.adoramapix.com/products/books/?sid=201009081001322928t As for shutterfly, that's sad... as you're not the only person I have heard lost their BD book through them.

Thank you Greys, that's very kind of you. Midol is expensive for daily commercial use

Hi! I'm pretty much an April bride stalker. I was in your shoes 3 years ago so I always stalk the April brides, and it just so happens that I'm photographing two of you... so that means I'm a super stalker! Sorry about that... but hi, I'm Trisha! I just wanted to chime in on the Midol thing... yes... it works. We used it for my sister's wedding. If you read back way to 2007 when I joined you can probably find posts from me about it actually! But make sure you only take ONE! You're not supposed to mix them with alcohol, so take one while you're getting ready and you'll be fine by cocktail hour. As for green flowers, my bouquets has green hydrangea in them and they were beautiful. The wedding coordinator said the same thing to me... white is hard to come by, green is super cheap and easy to get. Just remember that hydrangea wilt VERY quickly, so in a bouquet where they don't have a constant source of water that is something to think about.

O. My. God. So... Basically the same dress... and when it came in... I hated it and cried my eyes out. I went and purchased a new dress. It just was NOT flattering on me. I tried it on and it was about 6 sizes too big. They said that the way it fit in the hips was only because it was the wrong size. Well... this picture is me in my size. As you can see, it has a very high waist line so the hips flare out. Personally, my hips are my number one hate about me thing, so this just wasn't going to fly! Anyway, bought a second dress... haven't regretted that decision since the day I bought it.

These turned out really great Teira! Your guests will all love them... and now i know where to stalk you Hopefully our flights will be on time and we'll be able to meet you for the dinner on the 6th!

Voted!

Tris & Tisha, you guys both look gorgeous! Tris, I LOVE that sweetheart neckline. Great choice and I think it really makes the dress! Tisha, the dress looks like it fits you perfect and has just the right amount of sparkle. Gorgeous!

Under $1,000 is going to be very tough. I think your best bet is trying to find a bride who is getting married at the same location as you and splitting the cost of travel for a photographer. Otherwise travel alone will put you over your budget. Even although you don't need full day coverage, a photographer isn't likely going to give you too great of a deal based on that, simply because that's taking up a full day where we can't book anything else. It's kind of like having an 8-5 job, but then having a part time job from 10-2. Although the second job is shorter, it's right in the middle of your full time job. Does that make sense?

Awesome!! I can take it to him whenever you'd like. I'm excited to see his face, he's going to die!!! Is your daughter excited to go? Are you nervous about traveling with her (have you before?). We booked our first family vacation on a plane for this May, so I'm excited to hear how you entertain her!! Shawn and I extended the trip by one day and we'll hopefully get a couples massage or go for a run together on the beach or something. But we currently are leaving Sunday the 10th, so we'll be home for our anniversary. There's a chance we'll be shooting a wedding on our anniversary though (kiwibride I think?), so that'd be fun!

Teira you look beautiful! I cannot wait to photograph your wedding and hopefully you'll let me capture some images of Travis opening this book!!!

I just found an awesome new feature to Google! http://www.google.com/weddings/index.html They have some great advice and tips and tricks! They even have some google apps that are shnazzy for things like budgets (although I STRONGLY disagree with a $400 Photography budget! ) I hope this helps someone!

Welcome Candice! That really is love if your fiance is willing to come here in this weather! Dang! It's FREEZING... then again, Philly probably isn't that warm now anyways. Now the real question, is he a Packer fan or Eagles?

I would be careful with giving them information about your photographer. And really, that's just because a lot of photographers don't get the correct visas to work in Mexico. So if you're bringing your photographer with you and they fill out the paperwork properly, it shouldn't be a problem.

I've posted the pictures previously, but this thread is huge so I'll post them again! This is the Akumal Hammock Beach site. I brought along the fabric. The flowers on the table are included. I added the three flowers on the top of the arch, and the two along the aisle. The fake white ones come included. You can also see my sand ceremony stuff on the table... it was so windy it wouldn't stand. I wasn't a big fan of that. This is the aisle. I had three bags of petals... Here is my Akumal Poolside reception. I brought along the table runners. Chair bows and green linens were provided. The centerpieces were my decorations from the ceremony. My sand ceremony stuff... It appears I don't have pictures of the trio on this computer... I'll try to remember to upload them soon!

sorry everything is so stressful for you ladies

I'm so sorry you're feeling down. In the end, it's YOUR wedding. Do what's going to make you happy. You will look back on YOUR big day for the rest of your life. Don't do it with regrets.

I will try and answer what I can

I paid for everything at the end with my Visa. There were no charges added for currency conversion, which was shocking to me. They explained it, but I didn't really understand what they were saying. My cost for guests was right around 600-800pp depending on length of stay. But we went in April which is busy season.