Matt Adcock

Quote: Originally Posted by can't wait! Matt, where is Coba? Are those the Tulum ruins? And which of the cenotes is your favorite? Coba is one 45 minutes West of Tulum, in the jungle. (not tulum ruins) You can ride bikes ($3 dollar rentals) and enjoy serveral hours touring the property, then top it off by climbing the tallest pyrmaid in the yucatan! Then, there are a few cenotes that are just nearby, the perfect place to cool off. They have some crazy names, that I can't pronounce or even try to spell... Here is the fun part of the adventure....if you see a sign for one, stop and explore.... They are usually $5-$20 for entry...some are WAY more, like hidden worlds cenotes ($80 per person), but its a fun tour! i have tons of fun videos from our adventures there, one of these days we will have a video section on our new blog so you can live the experience with us... cheers! mateo

Quote: Originally Posted by adias.angel Thanks! Actually I saw the restaurant in one of your TTD session pics and fell in love. Do they take reservations? Is it large enough to comfortable accommodate a group of 15-20? Since we don't want to do a buffet thing, is their food expensive if each person were to order their own? Thanks again! Carla Thanks for the comments I wish I could take credit for these images...Our killer associate Vincent shot these. I was present on the shoot assisting him with the lighting del Sol Photography associate photographer Vincent if anybody else wants to see the photos you were talking about. *disclosure* those are some seriously hot photos. The couple is beautiful... the gal in the photos was the former Miss Pennsylvania. We opted to shoot inside the restaurant because it was raining. After the rain subsided, we went out to the ruins and the beach. The folks at Cueva told me that they could accomodate a full wedding of 50 or more people... your group should fit just fine. The seating may be broken up between their outside garden and the inside area. Its a very open restaurant without walls, so everybody will mingle well Its SO unique and a tip top award winner of a spot! PS, we had our rehearsal dinner there, 35 people. I'm very sure that they would take reservations! good luck .

would do: 1. go to COBA (mayan ruins) 2. spend time visiting at least 5 cenotes 3. spend the night in a hammock on the beach in a tulum cabana (oh, be sure to wake up to watch the sunrise) I did this last week for the first time in my life 4. visit the beaches of tulum, just absolutely beautiful! Not do again 1. forget to put on sunscreen 2. if I were a bride, I'd remember # 1 if I was wearing a strapless dress

Quote: Originally Posted by adias.angel Need some advice. We are thinking of coming in by cruise ship so we would like to do a morning ceremony and a lunch reception for those people not traveling on the ship with us (then some TTD pics hehe ). We are looking for fun, unique and informal. I saw some pictures of La Cueve Del Chango restaurant from some pictures on Matt from Del Sols site. Loved it! Has anyone been there? Would you recommend it? Thanks, Carla You obviously know how we feel about this spot but just in case u need more... We would rank this restaurant as one of THE favorites in the entire city. Its cozy and the atmosphere is so kewl We are actually building a vendor section in our NEW BLOG that features Cueva as the TOP recommendation spot for luncheons / receptions / rehearsal dinners. The food is traditional mexican style| Breakfast is SOOOO yummie... my personal favorite is their homemade granola sprinkled on a fruit bowl with natural oatmeal and yogurt . Thumbs up from del Sol Contact Owner: Andres Friederich [email protected] for info, tell em del Sol sent ya

Quote: Originally Posted by Philly_Bride I own you guys an apology!!! The news about Barceló allowing outside photographer is just a roomer. I thought i got the news from a trusted source but apparently it wasn't. I called the resort my self just to make sure and they said they policy is still the same. I was just so excited for all the future Barceló brides that i couldn't wait to brake the news. I should have called the resort before i posted this. I'm very sorry and i really hope nobody has booked an outside photographer yet. We photographed a wedding there 4/24. We booked the job 3 weeks before the wedding but before we signed the contract, we requested proof that this policy had been changed. Our client wrote back and copied the correspondence that approved the outside photographer: Hello Chris, I have spoke with my Boss and she Authorized only for this occasion , we allowed you to have your external photographer ,because we know how import is for Mandy. However there will need to purchase the day pass and it cost $77 usd per person. I will need some information from the photographer. name of the person? How many will come? What time will they get in? Company name? thank you and look forward to hearing from you soon. Ana Bautista Coordinadora de Bodas/wedding coordinator Tel.52 (984) 875 1500 ext.6768 Fax 52(984) 875 15 24 [email protected] We are hoping they see the importance of allowing outside vendors, not only to make the brides happy but to open the door to worldwide marketing from professional photographers who actually make an effort for their imagery to be seen all over the world, published in mags, on tv, etc... PR is huge for del Sol and we would like Barcelo to get on the gravy train Cheers! matt

Quote: Originally Posted by Jessica&Adam Ok I just got ahold of Vincent and answered my own question. He is cheaper (although slightly) than using Sol or Matt. For 5 hours of coverage plus a TTD Session its $5000. Not too shabby, and comparable to Elizabeth Medina's prices! Just a little FYI on the del Sol Brand. You will be using a piece of Sol & Matt, no matter what as we have provided the equipment for Vincent, trained him hands on, and we do the editing. Vincent shows up and shoots. Post production and fine art editing takes days and days. Sol & I have a hands on through the whole process. Its all about building the del Sol Brand. We critique Vincent and his assistant after every wedding so they continue to evolve in their art! Comparable to Elizabeth Medina...wow, thats a compliment! Thanks! 2009 will have a price increase to sloooow down the booking process. Just trying to figure out when to initiate it. We are slammed up against 45 weddings in 70 days, and shooting dozens of TTD's in that same time frame. April, May & June dates go quick for us. thanks for the shout out Mateo

del Sol is SO happy that we can now provide our marketing to Barcelo via slideshows and brides who participate on this forum Barcelo, This is a HUGE marketing PR decision. Lets hope to see other hotels follow suit! Cheers, Matt

Quote: Originally Posted by soontobeamrs Do you know if Dreams Tulum allows outside photography? I was going to wait to talk to you in more detail until we have it booked- we are waiting for the '09 rates to post. But would be good to know if you are even an option for us? One of our friends / wedding guests is Sandra Casillas, dreams Tulum wedding coordinator. We are really promoting Dreams Tulum as one of top picks these days

Emily, I spent several days working on your photos... You have a beautiful family and your daughter is absolutely beautiful. She is a blessing! We thank you for the referral and kind words here. As you know and for others to know, del Sol is no longer taking reservations in any hotel that does not allow outside photographers. This is only our 2nd wedding at moon palace in 5 years and it will be our last unless they change their photography / outside vendor policy. We work in the world of wedding planning 2.0 (a play on words of web 2.0) where brides actually do all their planning and research online, as Emily did. She hired us from thousands and thousands of miles away and from the UK I might add, and trusted our vision. We want these hotels to trust our vision that we can get their word out to brides thousands and thousands of miles away by showcasing their venue in slideshows and in other outlets where these brides will recommend their services. They do this by showcasing their photography and then their thoughts on their experience. Resorts need to see how they can grow from a mutually beneficial relationship that we are trying to establish with our marketing practices. Allowing us on their property will not only provide free marketing their weddings through brides who post on forums like this one, bur also potentially direct 1,000,000 + page views per month to them from sites like BDWF. Lets face it, Bridal planning for destination weddings is an online business. This is not rocket science here... There are only a small handful of other resorts that have the same policys... or...resorts that charge a fee plus 3 nights to stay at their hotel. Regrettably, Emily will be the last bride that del Sol will photograph in Moon Palace resorts unless they change their policy. We are sad by this but it is a decision that we made on the behalf of our clients. If anybody from moon palace is reading this, please contact us and lets negotiate on how we can make the world a better place for everybody. We are happy to provide your hotels with tip top notch professional marketing by slideshows displayed from weddings occurring at your resort. How did we shoot on their property... sneaking in. We don't want to play like that anymore though... we hope all brides can understand. Emily, thanks again for trusting our vision. We absolutely love your photographs and thank you again! Cheers, Mateo

anyone see delta's & northwest's quarterly earnings? Delta lost 6.4 Billion Northwest lost 4.0 Billion They cite raising gas prices as the culprit

Quote: Originally Posted by Elizabeth Medina Muy bien Mateo! I already told Sol that I really enjoyed seeing these. I especially loved the range of expressions you captured during the mass! best, Elizabeth Thanks Elizabeth! How lucky was I to get to shoot such a beautiful bride? I was recently digging through your blog....sheesh, that last bride & groom were out of this world, I love the traditional Mexican setting, love the groom's outfits! i'm wondering when we can shoot together! Cheers, matt

Quote: Originally Posted by antonia321 Mateo!! I am LOVING ALL the shots! I just got my complete wedding album from Matt today via e-mail (still waiting for the CD) and I was just blown away. There are so many beautiful pictures I am seriously stunned, even more than I was with the initial slide show. Is there a way to do a wedding album for our coffee table with 500 pictures!?!?! When I got the favorites slideshow I was thinking -- oh, these must be the best. but no, they are ALL fabulous. For all of you who are thinking of booking Matt. BOOK HIM! He is worth every penny ... and maybe your first born... ok i'm kidding Thanks Tanya, I really felt like this is some of the best I can offer... There are lots and lots and lots of amazing shots and making a coffee table froom 500 images can be difficult.... Always a good problem to have eh? Again, thanks for trusting & recommending our professionalism! Cheers! matt

From the beginning, del Sol has been and will always be committed to doing whatever we can for our clients, even if it means standing up for them. If you have been following this policy from the beginning, you will know that it has been all over the place. They have been inconsistent and we have voiced our opinion about this issue. Del Sol wants it to be fair to clients but also fair to local photographers. Seriously, why would we spend 3 nights in their hotels when we live down the street? We have openly disagreed with the policy but agreed to be up front with all of our clients that they needed to pay these fees. Up to 2 weeks ago, all was good to go. We are doing whatever we can to resolve this for our currently contracted Karisma Clients... We are a little dumbfounded that they made some decisions on an executive level and had little if any concern about the impact of upcoming contracted clients. In this case, we have 4 brides getting married in 60 days or less, one in December. They have all signed contracts months and months if not years ago. There were no implications or sanctions regarding our clients when they signed with Karisma. Just keep in mind that we are doing all we can to follow through for our clients. We will miss working at Karisma Hotels as they represented 10% of our weddings in 2007. Out of nearly 100 weddings per year, the stress involved has been tip top but we are sad to not be allowed to service specifically one Karisma hotel any more (ESPECIALLY HOTEL AZUL). Although Karisma may claim we are being banned due to "past unprofessional behavior", we still defend that we have always been on the side of our clients best interest and have acted professionally from the beginning with ALL issues. Edited to add: Thanks to Faith Wishnie , director of wedding services at Karisma, we have a GO to execute the remaining contracts as written. We believe this is a very good PR move on their behalf

Tanya, You are so beautiful and we absolutely loved your wedding day! Thanks for sharing all the emotions with us! Cheers to Tanya & Tim! mateo

Quote: Originally Posted by dragonfly Thats so funny about being pulled over for not wearing seatbelts, considering hardly anyone who lives in Cancun does and there were not even any seatbelts in the back seats of half the cabs there. The bus system in cancun is so simple, cheap and fast, it is the best way to travel. The cabs which we took alot because I was there alone with 3 of my children, were also simple and really didn't cost much since everything is seconds away. We also requested the same cab driver all week, we had his card and he came right away, he was great, not running the clock the entire time, waiting for us in town, ect. I loved cancun and found some of the nicest people I have experienced in all the places I have travelled, I can't wait to go back. talk about lack of saftey concerns.. A LOT of folks get around on scooters or mopeds. We witness the craziest stuff you could ever imagine... about 6 months ago, I SWEAR, no lie...witnessed the most insane disregard for safety on the planet. 1 scooter, 5 passengers. (2 adults 3 children) Guess how many had helmets? 2 children standing on floor / sitting in adult driver's lap / feet. Woman on back with (3rd infant breastfeeding! ) I wish I would have snagged a photo....

Our assistant, a Mexican citizen, was riding his bike on leisure in the streets of Playa del Carmen last night. He has these pegs on his bike that allows a 2nd passenger to stand on them at the back of the bike. His brother was actually riding on the pegs, they were bothering no-one, driving down the street. The police stopped them, said that the bike was for 1 person and that they would take the bike if he didnt get off the pegs. Seriously, hungry wolves looking for loot! What it boils down to is that police here are on a cash mission, sadly. Corruption and politics seem to be hand in hand. I have noticed that in Mexico, almost anything goes. It just depends on the time of day and being at the right place at the right time. One thing on your side is that most people reading this or on this forum visiting Meixco are TOURISTS. Believe it or not, this place really is built to cater to tourists... Keep positive and you will be fine BUT, be sure you stay off the back of anyone's bike Cheers! matt

Quote: Originally Posted by emandom Just to update you. I was being lond and using 0052 dialling code instead of 001!!!! I spoke to Matt and am feeling a lot better now. Thanks Emily, sorry about the communication problem. I'm pretty sure that something is fishy with the junk mail system on somebodies side... We have sent 3+ emails back to every one of your requests.. Often this happens with commercial accounts and we certainly apologize for any trouble... Good thing is that you can always find someone who knows where we are Cheers and see you on the 15th! mateo

Quote: Originally Posted by chonee The Barcelo allows for outside photographers to come take your photos. The catch is you must purchase them a day pass or they must book a room and stay the night. We just had an inquiring bride who also confirmed this about Barcelo. I can't keep up with these hotels and their changing policies... i just want to shoot

Quote: Originally Posted by ecat522 I'm new to the website and recently engaged! We are planning on getting married in April '09 at the Barcelo Maya Beach hotel (Riviera Maya). I was browsing photographers and didn't realize they were so expensive! The average was about $3500! Is this how much they usually cost? I guess I don't really know....does the "hotel photographer" do just as good of a job or is it better to hire someone else? Please let me know! I'm lost! Thanks! last time I checked, Barcelo has a strict no outside photographer policy... FWIW

Quote: Originally Posted by Nic Dragomire Hey Mateo nice first dance. That big fellow in the white shirt looked a lot like Sergio 15 lessons Yep, that is Serg! Here is Paul in action, literally going above it all to score an amazing angle photo credit: Ben Chrisman cheers! mateo

a la cueva del chango... La Cueva del Chango Restaurante Mexicano en Playa del Carmen in Playa del Carmen, 5th & 38th.. one of our favorite places and the MOST UNIQUE spot in town cheers! matt

Bre, It was a pleasure working on these photos. I find my job amazing sometimes as I get to live vicariously through my clients! I really feel like i was there laughing with you both at the ceremony as you both enjoyed the humor of that song! You guys looked like you both had a killer time! And how HOT are you? Sheesh, Pete is one lucky dude! I really liked this shot! Cheers & many congrats on your special day. Thanks for allowing me to be a part of it! Matt & the del Sol Team!

Quote: Originally Posted by heidi&alex Thanks everyone for the great advice! I just wanted to update you guys on my decision... all the photographers mentioned are extremely talented and I don't think I would have gone wrong with any of them... but in the end I decided to go with Vincent, the associate photographer with Matt and Sol! I'm really happy with my decision and will definitely be posting pics after my wedding! I was able to view a lot of his prior work, and his pictures spoke to my FI and I the most... so artistic and creative, and it sounds like he's wonderful to work with. His prices are also really competitive for the quality of his work, and Matt and Sol have been so great to communicate with. Thanks again for all your advice... another crisis situation diverted thanks to BDW Congrats on your decision As you already know, it will be our goal to do whatever we can and are committed to excellence! In the meantime, enjoy your engagement on cloud 9! Cheers, mateo

CONGRATS!!!!!!! I edited these photos, so I got to know you and your whole family via these images. Its pretty amazing how much I can get from your wedding story by interpreting these images... Just beautiful stuff! I loved the parasols & sombrero's, very very nice touch! Vincent done good I really like this one... How insane is the color in the sky on your wedding day? Magic eh? Cheers! del Sol

Quote: Originally Posted by Morgan Thanks for all the information. I've emailed Jorge about planning the trip. He said it's only an hour from Puerto Aventuras to Coba. I thought it would take a lot longer. I didn't want travel time to get much over an hour. I think we'll plan a shorter trip. I don't think all of our guests could last the whole day. Do you recommend eating lunch somewhere near Coba? Or should we go to Tulum or Akumal? I'm just trying to figure out what all we have time for. I don't want to go to lunch much later than 11:30. Grandma eats early. Thanks for the tips. My grandma's top thing on her list was to see the jungle. I'm excited to find a way to show her the jungle & still plan a trip that everyone else will enjoy. Yep, 160 was the total cost for us, all day strong though. This is a super deal! Unfortunately at Tulum, there isnt the bicycle option. Coba is BIG BIG BIG and FLAT FLAT FLAT and surrounded by jungle. Its rather amazing! Plus, the 20 or so peso bike rental (single bikes) for all my friends was so much fun, highly recommended too. For eating, it just depends on when you leave... It looks like you will be in Coba before noon and if you do that tour, you will likely be hungry just after. I'm not too impressed with the local food joints around there... Your next option is bring something to sustain grandma and snacks. We had sandwiches, apples, chips, water, sodas etc. We ended up driving our car and had the back packed with the cooler. This way we could snack just after coba and before the cenote and still get our full day in on our tour closing at the beach. Key thing is that its 45 min from the closest restaurants (taco joint on the corner of highway and road to coba) in tulum to the coba ruins. think in terms of 1 hr drive, 1.5 hrs at ruins, 45 min drive to closest tulum restaurant. that is big window of time for no grub... sandwiches worked for us. good luck! mateo