Matt Adcock

hola brides and grooms on BDWF, I have endeavored the most insane and amazing adventure of my entire career. We have spent the entire last 2 days experiencing unbelievable and exciting turns of events. I have posted a story on my blog, Matt Adcock Photography Blog but will be doing a more formal writeup soon, with photos. imagine waking up on your wedding day being told that you were not having a wedding, govt mandated evac! then, having to plan a ceremony / reception spontaneously, for 35 guests the same day, in a city you had never been to.... and, have the service and reception still be elegant and what you dreamed of? Lets say that you were my bride, who planned: missionmexico and put 1 billion details into it, I mean everything has details with mission mexico logos on it, Tshirts, hats, tags on all the guests luggage, golf carts that were rented with signs, jars of honey, parasols....everything was personalized. mission mexico was no joke, it was one heck of a mission... just imagine, being evacuated from an island, and the way you and all 35 guests were leaving was by walking out to the beach in front of the hotel, and carrying all your luggage over your head and tossing it into a boat, then traveling across a section of water that is 15 miles to the mainland in a FREAK storm (not the hurricane) that drenches everybody and all the bags and lightening bolts that were blasting literally right in our face (hit a tower that we were all standing 2 feet from). they did have a reception in a beauuuutfiul historic hotel, with one long table in a private amazing room (that I recommended) because of my recent travels with Sol Tamargo... It helps to know a local! They arrived to surprise all the guests dressed as bride and groom, then had dinner, and had a ceremony at the table... romantic and just one heck of a story... Contracted shooting time: 8 hrs. Total day shooting and traveling with group: 16 hrs more of this story coming soon.... check out my blog for my "day of write-up" Matt Adcock Photography Blog photos coming soon, this one was unbelievable. And it all happened! I purchased an emergency return ticket to Atl tonight for $1500, one way! Demand for tickets are insane. ps. think twice about planning a wedding during hurricane season. never know what you or your guests will be asked to do. I also have a wedding near tulum on the 21st.... NOT going to happen.

Quote: Originally Posted by lambert13 Holbox is not the kind of place I would want to be in a Hurricane. Just make sure he knows the directions for how to drive to Merida from there if he has to evacuate. Best of luck to you guys and be safe. I'm leaving there on Sunday, headed to the airport. we will have chances to get out early... if it is necessary!

Quote: Originally Posted by soltamargo i think the wedding on saturday will be ok... maybe not a sunny day, but not so bad.. hopefully... BUT as things look now, don't know about the wedding on tuesday... if the hurricane keeps the track it's showing, it will hit playa monday afternoon... I think he will take a desition on what to do on sunday... yeah, this is a situation....8/21 wedding: I am going to be here for my clients and I think that the resort Gran Bahia Principe Coba will pretty much do anything to have the wedding... This kinda sucks BUT, one or two days of activity can drastically change the path of a storm like this, we shall see. cross my fingers! mateo

Quote: Originally Posted by bride_2_b08 Hey guys great site! Thanks so much for sharing. I'm getting married at Dream Tulum in Jan. Vincent is our photographer and i'm SOOOO excited!!!! Can't wait to see your wedding pics (you have to post some for all of us)... Happy planning michelle Michelle, Vincent is a cool dude! Your photos will be amazing... We are so lucky to have him. He is pretty popular with our clients! More images from him coming soon! Cheers! matt ps: we will be posting our images So many awesome photographers will be there!

We have a million things going right now, hardly enough time to manage our day to day work... One important thing we have overlooked is PLANNING OUR OWN wedding... Dang, we are so behind... We have finally started a wedding website. I wanted to share it here because we put some links and info that may be helpful to brides going to the Riviera Maya. Since it was written by the loco local Sol, it has some pretty rich content. You can also see some photos of us being dorks! We welcome you to check us out! Visit our del Sol wedding website We have also started a blog!!!!!!!!!!!! We write for 4 blogs now, and this one is all about our personal life. BUT, because our life is our love together and our love for traveling, we are going to document it! We enjoy making friends throughout the world and hooking up with them when we travel. Please drop us a comment there, let us know you visited! thoughts on this blog are welcome! This baby is only in the beginning stages, but when it gets updated, you will see some craaaazy stuff! Please do drop by and check it out! del sol wedding blog cheers! matt

i love this story!!! well, we jumped on the bandwagon and have a wedding website working, it is under construction. We made it last night. Thoughts? forSol and we are starting a personal blog too: The story of two photographers - Matt Adcock and Sol Tamargo We welcome comments or suggestions

Quote: Originally Posted by host if you like EDR what about karisma's other resort that is not adult only: Azul Beach: Azul beach hotel boutique. All inclusive cancun mexico resorts Karisma Hotels Mexico vacations or if you like excellence, it was run by the same company that runs dreams until recently...of course excellence was a class higher but you get the idea. the palace resorts are nice as well yep, this is absolutely the best advice I can give! Azul ROCKS! The beach there is an A+

Quote: Originally Posted by brigopens I've addressed this previously... There's no written info on this "policy" and we have legitimate guests on our list who are professional photographers... I'd raise hell if they tried to prohibit some of our guests from taking pictures... Sure, what you say makes sense... They offer no option better than their 1 hr, $500 photog. They also told me that it was 3 nights stay, or a $500 fee.

Quote: Originally Posted by MrsV-to-be okay...I'm starting to panic a wee bit Just an update... read my first post in this thread. To sum it up, I worked at Azul Beach last night(one of my most favorite resorts in the RM). This is the 3rd time I have been there, love it every time! The hotel is a Karisma hotel however it has a different owner from that of the El Dorado. Originally, Lomas Travel (representatives of all Karisma hotels) asked me to pay a 500 fee to work at any Karisma Hotel (or a fee to our clients for wanting the photographer of their dreams). Surprisingly enough, the wedding coordinator at the Azul Beach told me that this $500 fee was NEWS TO HER. The WC nor the owner of Azul has authorized this.... hummmm... We recommend a word of caution when dealing with Lomas Travel folks. These people have represented unprofessional business practices (we would consider them shady). If you are planning anything at the Eldorado, watch out! A word of advice. There are many travel agencies that have LOTS of power to change this. One of which, that we trust very much, is Luxe Destination Weddings. . Hope this helps cheers! matt

Quote: Originally Posted by jfwolfe72 I think I'm having my first wedding planning dilemma....My wedding is currently set for April 23, 2008 at EDR, but I'm having serious thoughts to change it. Maybe I'm just fired up about finding out that in order to bring an outside photographer, we have to pay EDR $500 or a two-night stay for the photog. But I just don't think that's right - especially since we will be bringing in at least 40 guests!! But I've heard such great things about EDR that maybe I should just suck it up. If we do decide to change, what are the comparable resorts in RM or Cancun? I would hate to have to start all over again, though! Actually, as of last week, I found out they Lomas Travel, representing Karisma Hotels (edr included) is now charging $500 or asking for a 3 night stay, minimum. Quote: Originally Posted by Anne Marie Sol, You said that the beach at EDR is 2/10?!?! Can you give me example of 8/10 + hotel with nice beach in Riviera Maya? What's you favorite? Anne Marie This was actually my opinion, labeling EDR as a 2. I'm pretty sure Sol doesnt enjoy the beach there either... Its not swim friendly and the beached sandbag whales are an eye sore. Palladium Beach is beautiful, Dreams Tulum is beauuutfiul, Esencia. The beach at Azul Hotel (another Karisma hotel) is wonderful and amazing! There are many other beautiful beaches, some have rocks some dont. A few site visits would help:) Cheers! matt

Quote: Originally Posted by MrsV-to-be Thank-you Matt! I truly appreciate both yours and Sol taking the time to post this info and help fight the fight! I am already an EDR bride to be (next may) and it is too late to back out. I love the resort, but know there will be some difficulties. I have the photographer problem solved already. Our photographers are coming down for the week as our guests. But what I was wondering is if you knew of any other potential problem areas or additional surprise fees! Any help or advice you could give would be greatly appreciated! I don't actually have a list of these potential places where the resorts are sneaking up and nailing our clients, however I got off the phone with one of our upcoming Azul Brides, and she has given me a ear full of some of the most amazing things imaginable. She will be writing a MUST SEE review here that will absolutely shock all of you. coming soon Matt

sorry everybody, the link has been removed. these photos wern't actually ready for the whole world to see yet. we will work on a slideshow coming soon, to represent this amazing location! cheers! matt

just a quick update. WAS $500 fee or 2 nights hotel reservation for outdide photographer and videographer NOW $500 fee or 3 nights hotel reservation for outside photographer and videographer

Krisma Hotels in the Riviera Maya: Hotel Azul El Dorado Royale Spa El Dorado Seaside Suites Mi Hotelito Resort Marima Maroma Paradise I edited this thread after working at Hotel Azul last night, and after a long talk with the wedding coordination staff, they were completely blown away by this news of the $500 fee or 3 nights... as it was "news to them". Apparently, lomas travel is charging this fee as a representative of Karisma... The folks at Azul, including the owner of the hotel, were clueless to this... Can you believe it? The original thread: This thread is ALL about additional Fees at these hotels I recommend you check out this BDWF post about a $500 Fee for an outside photographer for a little background on some BDWF members experiences. IF you are staying at Eldorado specifically, Lomas Travel, the agency responsible for booking ALL weddings for these hotels, informs me that Karisma hotels have a new policy for outside vendors. These people seem so disorganized to me, as they literally can't get their facts / policies consistent. They have recently started demanding a $500 fee (i'm calling it a penalty) for bringing in the photographer of your dreams instead of using their hotel photographer with the ameatur point and shoot camera. umm, not cool. If the $500 fee was too much, you had an option a few weeks ago to book your photographer a room (making them a guest for 2 nights) to avoid the fee. *NOTE* As of today, it is now 3 nights. Yep, thats right, these people are on a tear folks. She said that brides are starting to complain about this fee... duh? go figure? So now they are demanding more and offering LESS... WAY TO GO, thats a great policy to attract more clients! Your efforts to communicate your frustration is actually WORKING. Your travel agents are calling them out on their disorganized frivolous business policies... they are waiving fees to make the customer happy. Imagine that? Customer satisfaction? But only at a price? Please keep in mind that as a collective, your voice can change the world. If you want to stay at a Karisma Hotel, be forewarned that you will have fees and more fees... Make sure you ask what you are getting for them She simply stated that they had millions of inquiries from brides and that they could charge anything they wanted. That says a lot about how they feel about their clients, huh? I write this thread as a word of caution folks. I worry about their dedication to making your wedding as perfect as you actually envisioned! Because we live here, we experience this first hand...thought you needed to know! Cheers & best of luck getting married at one of these hotels! Matt

Quote: Originally Posted by AmyInMI Aaron and I were talking about TTD sessions and he says that as long as he can have a few drinks prior, he is all about having them taken! I was super excited to hear that because I thought he wouldn't want to have them done! LET ME TELL YOU that a corona or something of the sorts is a MUST chillin on vacation, just married, on a HOT portrait session, models, living the dream...yep... got to! these clients enjoyed beverages too on the ttd session! cheers! Matt

Quote: Originally Posted by Tlseege Congratulations!!! I must say, I don't like the REAL trash the dress sessions... it's odd to me. But the work that you guys do is just amazing. I think it's just something about cutting the dress or shoving the bride into a trunk that's not as pretty to me. Now, "trashing" a dress in a cenote or the sea... NOW THAT'S PRETTY!!! Yeah, I like John Michael Cooper's stuff, bride in trunk, but its not something I would envision. A little too edgy and as he calls it, his anti-bridals. We prefer to tie love and happiness into our sessions on the beach / cenotes... We are actually thinking of throwing a workshop in the Riviera Maya with multiple TTD sessions at one time. Sol & I would also be the subjects of one of them while we hit different locations! Possibly looking for 2-3 couples! I dunno, something exciting! Cheers & much love, Matt

We love shooting crazy stuff in the Riviera Maya... It is SUCH a beautiful place. Living there, we know some pretty insane locations to visit for some remarkable shot opps... Over the last month or so, we have had some serious national press recognition with some of our trash the dress photography sessions. I wanted to say THANK you to many of our brides who have found us through this forum and given us the opportunity to get crazy with some off the hook photography ideas... ROCK ON trash the dress! Good Morning America ran a segment this morning. Online, they are featuring these images: Good Morning America Feature The GMA homepage will likely change pretty soon, but if you hit it today, 6/16/07, you can see TTD images featured. AND Last Sunday, NYT also ran a feature.... pretty hot stuff here! New York Times Feature Click on the slideshow link in the article This bride has a son of 13 years..... she is not a professional model! more on that session: del Sol Photography - Movie - Trash The Dress We have half a dozen or so scheduled for 07 & 08.... we want more! Wanna have fun with us? Cheers! matt

What a awesome awesome set of images... Hot people, Hot Deco, Hot location, Hot Hot Hot! Damn, Sol is completely on fire. At some point, I think she has done the best she can because the images are so amazing. BUT, she continues to one up herself every time! Great work Sol!

Due to this thread, we have received several of emails and requests from our clients and potential clients who have already contracted EDR and are now asking for info about the no outside photography policy $500 penalty. Several have had less than desirable news. We have a contract with a bride using EDR in December. Apparently, EDR has had a coordinator replaced within the last 3-5 months. Her original coordinator told her to put the photog on the guest list, all would be ok. She read this post. Called EDR. Asked for written proof of this with the new coordinator staff, they said NO. Can't honor what she was told in the past. She is trying to change her wedding location. Her travel agent, who has recommended EDR and Karisma resorts is furious because she does anything she can to recommend their hotels...

Quote: Originally Posted by ajncooter i love your work sooooooooo much. ... i wish you had a twin in cabo... Well, we would love to travel However we developed our associate shooter position to accommodate brides locally in the RM. It is pretty pricy to fly a photographer across the country and reserve rooms and so forth...so why not have a local option. sorry we can't recommend a local Cabo alternative. Juan Carols? if you hire our associate photographer, you are supporting the local economy!!! YEAY!!! We are familiar with the region and know the local language too:) We have LOTS of secret places to shoot in the RM.... everyone else that has replied: Well, we are humbled by your responses... It has been YEARS of searching and training to find the perfect shooter... One of the things we have seen a lot of in the RM is photographic studios that have "associates" that cover weddings. Our fear is that these photographers are hired to facilitate a photo factory. Photo factories do not yield beautiful images... they may have a beautiful image now and then, but are they consistently amazing? Our goal: Consistently amazing photographic delivery! Thats not too much to ask for is it? Cheers! mateo

Quote: Originally Posted by Adamsgrrl Matt ~ How many hours does $3,500 include? I sent you a PM. We are happy to discuss anything and everything about our services, however we would prefer to do it via email instead of PM. Por favor Cheers & much love! mateo

Sol Tamargo & I have been working very hard in the last few years, shooting weddings in the Riviera Maya and throughout the Caribbean. Weddings happen literally every day of the week in the Riviera Maya and we just can't handle all the work. We figured that out of our 1500+ inquiries per year, we needed to share the love... we can only shoot 60 or so per year. SO, we have trained an amazing professional who is now taking commissions for our studio. Every package will get our signature editing style along with some amazing photography. Wanna see: NOTE: all these images were captured by our associate photographer. Vincent's work can be found at: del Sol Photography - Associate Photographer - Vincent Packages from $700 per hr... average package( 5 hours) $3500. Please contact info @ delsolphotography.com Availability is limited. Some reservations may require additional fees. IE: day passes, hotel reservations. Amazing Photos are becoming more affordable Here are a few... Cheers! matt

Quote: Originally Posted by MagsieMexico Sharke, Matt, Leigh, Jonathan, have you guys ever had the experience where you were put on the guestlist, bought a day pass, and thrown out, or questioned as being really a guest? I think it will be strange to say, here are our friends the videographer, and the photographer, and I'd be concerned... I'm getting married at the Barcelo Maya Colonial, but haven't signed the contract now, and am now getting really worried because they're saying absolutely no outside vendors, not even firedancers or anything... But that's fine, it's just the photographer and videographer I care about. Should I make a last minute switch to Grand Palladium (even though my STDs are out), or just risk putting our photographers on the guest list?? Thanks. Neither we haven't been thrown out of any resort at this point. It may be strange, but what is to keep you from inviting artists that you have been following for a long time, communicating with, and now commissioned to shoot for you, (call them your friends). Seriously, I make relationships with my clients for more than pictures on their wedding day --- Lifetime friendship. My clients call me when they have babies. I do sessions for no charge for their first born. I spend time with them, go out to dinner with them, meet them in destination cities all over the world during my travels.... So why can't your photographer be your friend? Seriously, ask yourself that?

Quote: Originally Posted by Tait Weddings Good tips. Also I would recommend having someone at your wedding in charge of politely asking topless guests to move when standing 5 feet away from you during your vows! Sol did you announce your photographer yet? I am hoping for Jessica Claire Also saw Matt's video on Simple Photo Minute, really cool! We have a photographer...actually like 5 of them coming to our wedding! Killer amazing photographers... I am keeping this a secret though More surprise for the time to come! We are still however, trying to plan our December wedding.... working on a location... pretty lame huh? Regarding the del sol movie of the TTD session, check this link for a higher resolution version: del Sol Photography - Movie - Trash The Dress Cheers! PS. Sol has been super super busy lately... she has more tips coming soon!