SunBride

Check out other threads about photographers in the mayan riviera sub-forum. Also check out our bride list on page 1, in the detailed bride list section people have listed their photographers. My personal choice for local photographer would be Claudia Rodriquez, I found their prices to be semi reasonable (a bit more than I wanted to spend but not super expensive) and their quality great. There are also some vendors on the forum who often respond to other threads so if you poke around you could find them.

Quote: Originally Posted by MonoAmor How are they able to fit so many extra people in Barcelo? Are they not at capacity in Nov? I doubt the resorts are at capacity in November. It is still officially hurricane season (the last month of the season). I don't know about you Americans, but in Canada hardly anybody travels south in November. I have noticed it seems to be a very busy month for weddings (perhaps because the price is better than the winter season). But I don't think it's busy beyond the weddings. I don't know, maybe other people can chime in as to whether they have heard that it is a busy month for regular vacationers. In Canada, the busy time is like mid December to end of March, with the busiest weeks being the last 2 weeks of december (Christmas break), mid/end of February (spring break for universities, different weeks in different provinces) and the whole month of march (spring break for elementary/highschook, different weeks in different provinces). Also, Trish mentioned in her review of the Paradisus that it was totally empty (although that was mid October, which is closer to the prime time of hurricane season), like 30% capacity.

wonderful news for you guys. And there is quite the crowd that will be at the Barcelo at the same time. Maybe we should start a new bride list to keep track of those that have been moved: RabbitNow - Oct 7 - Dreams Cancun Piggy - Oct 9 - Barcelo Maya Palace Trisha0612 - Oct 10 - Paradisus Riviera Cancun B&J2008 - Oct 11 - Paradisus Riviera Cancun cendcar - Oct 27 - Paradisus Riviera Cancun Nueland - Nov 12 - Barcelo Maya Palace Dreamstbride - Nov 13 - Barcelo Maya Palace Meggzilla - Nov 14 - Barcelo Maya Palace I'm so happy for all your girls, and really, I know I so shouldn't complain seeing as I got my wedding at Dreams tulum but it makes me so sad to hear you guys getting moved after all the hard work I put into the Dreams Tulum thread. There were very few weddings and reviews between mine and now, and I was so looking forward to the large number of weddings in October and November. It's kinda a funny coincidence that we have the best thread on this forum, and then the info ends up not even being used because of this! Oh well, we'll have another Dreams Tulum bride soon, I just know it. There is no way this is permanent, it's just a matter of time. Okay, end of whining, don't feel sorry for me, feel sorry for the brides to be!

So I was just cleaning up the pics on my computer and before deleting all my inspiration pics I thought i would upload them to photobucket to share with you. I was surprised to see that there was no big thread for bouquets so I thought I'd start a new one. I did find this one when I did a search, but it was old, and there is lots of discussion in it, so I thought I'd start a new one with just pics, pics, pics http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t2586 Maybe if this thread catches on and everyone posts a ton of pics we could make this a sticky like the centerpieces thread? ***also when you post your bouquets it might be usefull if you post who your florist was (i.e. the resort, outside florist in your resort area, or artificial flower contact person/website) and state what flowers they are as everybody always asks these questions! I know when I started looking for inspiration I saw beautiful pics and had no idea what the names of the flowers were! It may seem obvious to you but I'm sure there are some flower hunting newbies that don't know! Some tropical bouquet inspiration pics My bouquet Pink Amarillis, White Calls, Green Orchids My bridesmaid bouquets (Artificial Real Touch flowers): White Peonies and white orchids My free bouquet from the resort (just used it as a centerpiece) Pink Gerbera Daisies, Ginger and Birds of Paradise

I always use Jamieson Vitamin E oil. It's like 15$ for a small jar at the drugstore. It's kinda thick and sticky but I really notice a difference on small scars with just one or two applications. The drugstore lady told me about a new similar product called "Bio-oil" she says it's even better than the Jamieson Vitamin E oil. It's 12$ at the drugstore and I've seen it at Wal-Mart too. It's always prominently displayed at wal-mart since it's a hot new product.

Quote: Originally Posted by Meggzilla has anyone been transfered to barcelo palace for a wedding yet?? would love to hear if someone has a review or thoughts on the resort?!? Check out the rest of the forum (the Mayan Riviera section). I'm sure there are other Barcelo brides. If there is no "Barcelo thread" do a search to find the reviews. Also check this out UNOFFICIAL BARCELO MAYA | Your unofficial guide to Beach | Caribe | Tropical | Colonial | Palace

I just paid for their dresses and accessories! I figured they had enough costs involved with travelling there so I didn't want them to have to spend money on those things as well.

Quote: Originally Posted by neen good luck carina! can't wait to hear all about it (and see pics) when you get back! have a blast!!! Who is this? Just joking - we've hardly seen you around here lately! Why aren't you freaking out about the closure like the rest of the DT brides to be ? ? ?

I can't be of any help as I had brought my own photographer, but if you put your price range it might help, because one person's idea of "out of this world" price might be somebody else's idea of "reasonable" (that is one thing I've learned from this forum, peoples' budgets are vastly different!)

Hey Trish, might be usefull for other brides being moved if you explain how they charged you. They charged you the price of your Dreams Tulum package right? How about any extras such as having more than 20 guests, extra flowers, etc etc, did they charge you the Dreams Tulum price for all that stuff?

Quote: Originally Posted by cendcar Hi, we ended up buying a suit and shoes for FI. So we are heading to the PRC, I am super excited! Brooke and Trish sent such great pictures that my worries have melted away. We leave tomorrow! Congratulations, good luck with everything, I'm sure it will be wonderful at the Paradisus looks and sounds like an amazing resort! I think I probably would have picked it over Dreams Tulum if it weren't for the fact that their wedding packages were much more expensive!

Oh and also Brooke had posted a few photos here I'm Back! A Few Non-Pro Teasers w/ few from Jean-Marcus! *Pics*

Hi Ladies, for anyone who may have missed it, Trish posted a reviews and some non-pro pics! http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t30864 http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t30879 http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t30994

Wow, wonderful review!

I love the close up of your face as you are walking down the aisle, you look so beautiful. I can't wait to see the pros!

Yeah I've heard Orchids are very expensive in Mexico. Some of the flowers I remember Landy and the florist recommending were roses, lilies and gerbers. They come in a variety of colors. why not look at what's in the picture file, but then thing about how you can change the style or mix and match different types of flowers, but using the same flowers shown there (the ones I recognize are roses, lilies, callas and alstroemaria) You know for sure they have those and that they the basic flower price.

I understand about wanting great photography, but if I was you I would splurge on the wedding day photography, and get somebody cheaper for TTD. Don't get me wrong, TTD pictures are awesome, but the wedding day is obviously a lot more special than a TTD session.

wow, I was surprised most answers so far have said no, when I've seen this question before the general consensus was that it was not necessary but a lot of people do it when they are super happy with the service. For me it would depend on the price paid - if I paid a fortune for great pics and great service, I would think I paid enough. But if I felt like the product and service I got exceeded the price I paid (i.e. price paid was a good deal) then I would likely tip them 50$ (if I was super happy) or 100$ (if I was super ecstatic). In my case, I ended up paying for my photographer to have her hair done at the resort on the wedding day (45$) even though I hadn't seen the pics yet and even though I had had some issues with the photographer already at this point (not super serious issues but enough to have me majorly annoyed prior to departure. But those issues aside she had been very nice on the trip so far). I was paying for the bridesmaids so I decided to pay for hers too as a tip.

Hi, I would think the only major disadvantage is that chances are you are not getting a very experienced DW photographer (maybe a very experienced photographer but likely not one who has done a lot of weddings). In my case my photographer charged travel + 800$. The only thing is that she insisted that I give her TONS of time to take photos because she said at her previous DWs the brides didn't give her much time and she was disappointed that after the travelling and being gone for a week she wasn't overly happy with her work due to lack of time. I didn't mind at all her demanding lots of time, I wanted lots of photos so it sounded like we were on the same wave length! I also thought her demands were reasonable seeing as she was just trying to make sure she could do a fabulous job. But later as the date approached she kept demanding I give her more time, even though the wedding day schedule I had drafted allowed a few hours for photos (i.e. like 3-4 hours just for photos), she was insisting she needed more (1 hour of bridal party only, 1 hour with each family, 2 hours bride and groom not to mention photographing events as they happened such as preperations, ceremony reception) and she was very insistent saying that we had an "agreement" that I would give her tons of time. So that was frustrating because I thought she was going overboard and making the photos completely take over the day. In the end, it was not the end of the world, sure she stressed me out by always being on my back about it and making me change my wedding day schedule, but the advantage is that I ended up with a ton of pics. Still, I wish we could have gone about it a little differently but overall I was satisfied. So anyways, I guess the lesson to be learned from that experience is to be careful about making a "deal" or "agreement" with the photographer that because they are giving you a good price you need to give them something in return.

Great review, so happy to hear everything turned out so well after all the drama (I knew it would!) Can't wait for all your pics Brooke is the one who posted a few non pros from the week (including one with you) and a couple teasers from JM

Quote: Originally Posted by a_bailly Hello ladies - I'm not sure if this is helpful for you all but I did to a generic google search "Is Dreams Tulum Resort Closed?" and tripadvisor.com came up and a woman on there just got back (10/12/0 from her honeymoon at Dreams Tulum...here is the URL: Dreams Tulum - Traveler Reviews - Great Time at Dreams - TripAdvisor Notice her date of stay (at the bottom) says Sept 2008, so before the closing. Quote: Originally Posted by Mel88 There are a few recent postings on Trip Advisor with no mention of the closing! I am extremely confused. Does anyone have an update? Postings that don't mention the closure are likely old. Some people don't post reviews immediately after they return. Tammy started this thread only for a petition to Dreams to get answers. See this thread for updates and keep all discussion there http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t29989

Quote: Originally Posted by SBlake This sucks. My wedding is not until January but I'm starting to get calls from wedding guests to 'warn me that the resort is having issues and what are we going to do. I was hoping to avoid these conversations. I finally had to break the news to my mother because of these calls. her response was, 'you can always get married in Chicago.' Comments like that don't help. My soon to be MIL was actually quite calm about the whole thing and has complete faith that it will all work out for the best. I need more people to keep telling me that because I'm starting to stress. I just want to cont to plan my wedding and this is putting the breaks on. my mom even said we should hold off sending out our offical invites. thats when I snapped and said we're going to cont with things as planned and deal with it later if it becomes an issue! Sorry guys, just had to vent!!!! Thanks:) Poor you. Stick to your guns - you wanted to have a DW and you are going to have one. Worse case scenario is that you will be moved to another resort - and we have already heard back from some of the brides who this has happened to that everything went amazingly well.

Post them bigger next time so we can see better!!!! Can't wait to see more

You probably don't want to consider Dreams Tulum seeing as it's temporarily closed and we don't know if the issues will be resolved, but the experience I had was that the coordinator was quick in responding when it came to set the date (although it wasn't always 100% clear which days/times were available) but afterewards the response was slow about other stuff seeing as they prefer to deal with it once you arrive (which is difficult, for your own sanity, for budgeting purpose, and in my case it affected what "supplies" I was going to be bringing). But once I arrived the coordinators were fabulous with very strong attention to detail and they were very organized. I would say almost everyone has had the same experience at Dreams Tulum. I think it is a common problem with many resorts that the coordinators are bad at answering emails (they are overworked and they prefer to deal with details when you arrive). But I think there are a few exceptions, it's just a question of finding which resorts that is. I think one of them is Paradisus, I have heard some brides say that their coordinator is great at getting back to them.

Quote: Originally Posted by dreamstbride CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! My little brother is coming to Mexico with us, and it just hit me! he's 17!!! Is he considered an adult? can he go to an 18+ resort? 18+ means 18! CRAP! I already e-mailed Landy and said no children ( to me he's not a child, it didnt occur to me, until now..) Does anyone know if he's considered a child?? PLEASE & THANK YOU! Ask the coordinators and even if it's normally 18+ ask if an exception can be made since he's so close to the age and none of the other guests will know the difference. I could be wrong but I think sometimes adults only resorts means 16+ I could just be making this up though.