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Quote: Originally Posted by Gail thanks, that is pretty much what he explained. I understand he can't risk his business. I just didn't expect it. They recently stopped adding it. Do you know of any good songs that are royalty free- where would I look Thanks You can add any music you want to your own slideshow. It's personal use. The photographer would need to use royalty free music. Triple scoop music is a good place to buy it.

We gave out a lot of cash & always left a dollar and a piece chocolate on the bed for whoever cleaned the room.

Quote: Originally Posted by MrsPain2b Thanks Morgan, I am exactly the same with the photo's but my Fiance doesn't quite see it like that bless him! I will look at Ivan Luckie, thanks, it's just difficult because they all pretty much look good! My husband didn't care at all about our pictures. I finally had to just let him know that it really mattered to me. He knows I'm not one to splurge on anything and he knows how much I love pictures. men rarely get it.

Quote: Originally Posted by Kits55 Morgan and Dmitri: the res on most photos are around 2300 x 2230 or so. It still seems a bit on the small side but I guess we could always ask him later if we wanted to get a really large print. Thanks for the resolution info! that is on the small side. You can't go much bigger than 11x14 without using something to up the resolution. Might want to see if he saves your files so you could get a large print in the future. You can also print lower res on canvas than a regular print. His intention might be that you can only print 8x10s with your disc and you need to order larger from him. but, I'd check with him. I'm just guessing. Hopefully he can remove the effect on all of your images. I wouldn't be happy with black water. I wanted my skies as blue as they really were on our wedding day. I don't care for the washed out look or the ultra saturated look. I don't think it's too much to ask for processing similar to the style on his website and at least one picture from the main events (if he took them). Photographers will have something in their contract usually to protect them if a shot is missed. That way people can't ask for money back if they didn't get a picture of a certain aunt, etc. And sometimes something is just missed. But if he did take the picture and maybe it just wasn't perfect you probably still want it. The sparklers sound like a prime photo opportunity & people often just do stuff like that for the cool pictures.

Oh, i thought he was strictly a boudoir photographer. And it sounds like he didn't give you the style you hired him for. I'd talk to him about the edits, too. I don't care for the washed out vintagy look. It's fun for a few pictures, but I want the true colors of beautiful mexico. I also think that you should get a picture from all the main events (like mother son dance & the sparklers). Even if it's not technically perfect he should give you at least one he shot.

OK I just checked the size of what I call high res & it's about 1.2MB. The dimensions are about 3000x2000. I never pay attention to the MB size, but if my 3000x2000 image is 1.2MB yours might be large enough. Check the dimensions. Some are just 300kb. It's all over the place. Must be depending on how much I cropped.

Quote: Originally Posted by Gail I must say I was disappointed my photogr stopped adding music which I think makes A BIG DIFFERENCE. I have been trying to put that in perspective myself. Did you ask about the shots you are missing? Did you ask why you didn't get music? was it on your contract that the slideshow would be set to music? Photographers need to use royalty free music, but a lot don't. People are getting more serious about the music laws and a lot of photographers have stopped adding music to slideshows or their website. They can purchase royalty free music, though. it just won't be a song you alredy know. Any time you hear popular music on a website or slideshow, it's likely not legal. In some cases they were able to get a license from the artist. Typically they did not.

also, what makes you hate the photo? is it something about the composition or a technical flaw?

I'm not sure what the GB size means. do you know the resolution? if you want to email me one, i can tell you what size it prints up to. PM me & I'll give you my email. High res means different things. Some photographers will give you high res for printing up to 5x7, because they want the larger prints ordered through them. Sometimes it's for profit, but often it's because they don't want a bad 16x20 on your wall. If something is going to be printed that large there are extra steps to make it look great.

Quote: Originally Posted by mich999 Start with what does your contract say? Do you get a CD of all photos he took? I would ask for a complete CD of all photos he took and I would also ask him about the resolution, since I assume that was in your contract and that's a really big deal. Getting a complete CD isn't common. Usually it's a bad photographer who will agree to this & they will just do a "shoot & burn" which is to just give you the files they took straight out of camera. A good photographer spends a lot of time sorting out the keepers & the rest. Then they process all the keepers. It can take more time to give people less images because you have to spend a lot of time sorting. And a processed image is much better than getting an image right out of the camera. One of the great things about digital is that you can shoot a lot & keep what works. All the ones with people blinking or making an awkward face get trashed. Then the similar ones are compared & the best is kept. Anything that has technical issues is usually trashed unless it's a really great moment. OK, to the OP. I think 400 sounds low. I'm not sure how many images i got though. Maybe around 800. For a typical wedding, 400 might be fine but for a DW you'd expect more because you do a whole lot of shooting. Then 400 great pictures is really different than 50 good ones & 350 bad ones. I can't remeber exactly how many pictures I had but I know I had enough to have tons of favorites. This guy wasn't a wedding photographer, right? doesn't he do boudoir? It's really important to get someone who knows weddings. All types of photography are different & have different challenges. If what he knows is indoor with lighting, then he could be bad at outdoor in the bright sun. Some people can do it all, but not everyone can. My friend hired a studio photographer for her outdoor wedding & the pictures are terrible. The girl didn't know how to work outside. This is why it's important to see an entire wedding and preferably one in a similar lighting situation from yours. Weddings are REALLY hard to do right. They move fast, you can't control the situation & the light is usually very difficult. Either bright sun on dark receptions & ceremonies. Someone might take some nice portraits, but it doesn't mean they can do a wedding. So likely this guy just didn't have the skills. But, that is part of doing a trade like this. You get a redduced rate because he is using your wedding as practice. it's a risk you take.

Quote: Originally Posted by koolatta Thanks Morgan for the pic of the cake!! I always wondered about it too!! Do you pick the flavors once there?? MrsPain2b, I am using Ivan Luckie. He is great and affordable. Since posting a thread on him a few BDW brides have already used him. http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t39450 I did pick the flavor there, but I already knew what the options were ahead of time. They are on one of those documents I've uploaded. I only remember vanilla + strawberries and tres leches as an option. there was at least one other option. I tried tres leches at a friend's rehersal dinner and didn't like it. Too watery. So i went with vanilla an strawberries. I don't really care for cake, but I love strawberries. When we fed each other cake, mike fed me a strawberry instead. I thought it was so cute & shows that he knows what I like. I didn't want to do all the cake cutting, feeding thing. The waiters were supposed to just serve the cake. I should have had mike tell them in spanish. But, then it was fine because the strawberry thing was cute so I didn't mind having to do the cake cutting.

Quote: Originally Posted by MrsPain2b The cake looks yummy and you both look lovely - beautiful dress. Oh what a shame the name of the photographer has been removed. I have received an excellent quote from Bluelenscaribe Photography and their pictures look beautiful but no-one including the Hotel seems to have heard of them which worries me! I am getting quotes in at the moment and am awaiting one from Cecilia Dumas. I had one from Mellisa Green and would LOVE her to shoot our wedding but she is just out of our budget sadly. It;s quite difficult chossing when you are so far away. oh no, it's not a shame. I would not recommend this photographer to anyone. the pictures were great but she was too difficult to deal with. I wrote something about blue lens caribe on another thread where you posted their site. i would be cautious dealling with them because you don't know who you will get. They have a whole team of people. You don't know whos work you are seeing on the site. the person they send to your wedding could be bad. Flying someone in was way out of my budget. I finally increased the budget & I'm so happy I did. Pictures were just too important to me. Flying someone in was also a great way to get a whole lot of coverage. We got pictures of our guests on a trip to coba. then we did a trash the dress in a cenote. we had pictures from the whole day at the wedding, and a trash the dress with my friends the next day. it was a blast. Before increasing my budget, I was going to have 3 hours of photography. I know I wouldn't have been happy after the wedding. Going cheap on photography was the only regret I was having. I did everything else cheaply (no reception, $200 dress, DIY everything, non-upgraded hotel room, etc.) Once I increased my photography budget I had a huge sense of relief. So i could tell it had really been bugging me. But, it varies by person. Photography is something I really love so for me it was worth upping the budget. I had gone under budget on so many things, too.

a guests picture our 2nd shooter's picture

Quote: Originally Posted by MrsPain2b Ooh thanks Morgan I would love to see your cake, I'm just really interested in seeing what it will be like as I don't tend to like surprises - I'm a bit boring like that ;-) My question about photos? I am looking for a wedding photographer if that what you mean or I was asking about seeing a photo of the wedding cake the Hotel does? Thanks Vicky are you asking about the hotel photographer? Or looking for another wedding photographer? I don't suggest the hotel photographer at all. I ended up flying someone in for my wedding. It was a great way to get a lot of coverage of the weekend. We had a blast with pictures. I don't recommend my photographer though. She is known as <photographer named removed> around here. Have you checked out the BDW photographers? There are some great ones. Or are you looking for someone local?

Quote: Originally Posted by MrsPain2b Hi everyone, Can anyone help me with photo's and information about the wedding cake made for the day? I am really keen to see what it is like and am yet to hear back from Demetrio at the Hotel. Thank-you Vicky I have a picture of my cake. I'll upload it when I get home. It was like a sheet cake with another rectangle on top. Nothing fancy at all. Mine was vanilla with strawberries. it tasted good. I didn't care much at all about the cake and just wanted whatever was in the package. There are pictures of the cakes in all the documents uploaded in this thread. What is your question about the photos?

snopes.com: Katie Kirkpatrick more about her here

Quote: Originally Posted by MrsPain2b Hi all, Has anyone used Bluelenscaribe Wedding Photography. They look fab so would love to know if anyone else has used them? Thanks my concern would be that they have a whole team of photographers. I'd ask who you would be getting & ask to see an entire wedding from them. The stuff on their site is good, but you might get someone on the team that can't produce that quality. If they have one excellent shooter & put all of his stuff on the site & then send out someone who isn't that great, you can really be dissapointed. My other concern is that in some packages they are giving you unedited files. Digital pictures need at least a little processing to look their best. Some of the packages include only 100 edited pictures. find out what they mean by edited. Will all the rest be straight out of camera? That can be OK if the person shooting is very good & nails it in the camera everytime. But, even then a little processing can really make a picture look great. Also, find out what these files will be. You want jpgs. My friend was given all RAW files from her wedding. They are practically useless to her becasue she doesn't know how to do anything with a RAW file. it can be a disaster if the person shooting has issues with the bright sun or doesn't nail the shot. Then you will have pictures that you probably won't want to use if they don't do the corrections before giving you the files. But maybe they mean that all images are processed to fix basic things like exposure, color balance. Then 100 get extra editing like removing people from the background.

It's a mix between snorkeling & scuba. You don't need to be certified. You snorkel about 20-30 feet underwater with an oxygen line. I'm thinking about trying it in Hawaii next summer, but I wanted to hear from people who have done it. I've also been thinking about getting scuba certified, but I don't know that I have the time to dedicate to it right now.

I personlly really don't like long trips from a wedding to a reception. But, a bus might make it fun. Will it be like a party bus vibe? if the party can get started on the bus, then 50 minutes would be fine. You could have fun music playing & just start the celebration. On my first trip to cancun, one of the most fun times was a trip to the clubs on the public bus. There was a guy playing guitar & we all sang along. It was a blast. Even more fun than the club. if it's more like the chartered van trips, I stick with 20 minutes. It's usually hot & I know I'd just be burnt out after a over 1 1/2 hours in a van round trip. Our van ride from the airport to the hotel and then to the ruins wasn't exactly fun.

I was really unhappy with artscow. Shipping was high and it took a long time. I think they are in Japan. Some of the things I got were ok & others were terrible. You can find lots of artscow codes on slickdeals.net. I have decided I won't buy anything from them again. I did get some coasters & they were fine. But, once I added in shipping for $1 each, I had wished I didn't start the order.

Ohhh, Melissa I haven't seen that last picture before. It's stunning! The greens & the blues; I love your colorful images

Quote: Originally Posted by Mrs.Hockey His works looks really nice, but for some reason they don't look clear or crisp. Does anyone know if that's just the way they look after he loads them on the computer. Or do they look like this in his prints as well? I really considering Dino for my wedding, but want to check on this first. He is a forum member, so he can answer in more detail. But, I can tell that in his signatures its because of the file type it takes to make a flashing signature. You lose a lot of image quality.

the flowers were part of the package. it included my bouquet & a centerpiece on the table during the cermeony. they then moved that centerpiece to our table at dinner. there were some other flowers around the ceremony set up that also go moved. if you needed more flowers for multiple tables, that would be extra. I'm not sure of the cost. I think we paid $4 for each boutineer for our moms.

Quote: Originally Posted by engaged maya Hello everyone, I was wondering what you guys have playing as you are/will be coming down the aisle. I have not discussed this with Elena so I am not sure what is the norm. Do they just play a CD they have or do you pick your own music. I was just curious what other people are planning on doing. Thanks!! Maya You can give them a CD. I made a CD with music to be played before the ceremony, my walking in song, the processional & music to be played afterwards. I had the disc clearly labeled so they go the right song. I also took several copies incase something happened to one. The pre-ceremony music was a song for each couple at the wedding. I emailed people & asked what their song was. Either the first dance from their wedding or a special song. This was the music playing while guests were taking their seat & waiting for the ceremony to start. I walked down the aisle to a counting cros song mike's best friend recorded on his keyboard. We walked out to U2's beautiful day. After the ceremony, the music was a bunch of songs that Mike & I really like. it played during the champagne toast, group picture & then while we started our couples pictures. I used the free program audacity to crop the music & blend it together. The sets of music were all one track so the guy running the cd player only had to skip to track two for my walking in song. I faded the songs into each other on audacity. I also cropped beautiful day so it was cued up to the point I wanted.

it's for my brother. I'm also a snorer, but DH says it's cute snoring my brother's wife can't sleep. I think he has tried a stop snoring pillow.