SunBride

I think the normal range of 15-20% applies to everything (including hairstylists), not just restaurant servers. I personally don't tip in percentages anymore, sometimes it works out to be too much, especially at fancy restaurants (i.e. I'm tipping the person more than I make in an hour even thought their total service to me took less than an hour!). It annoys me that it costs so much to eat out, and yet servers make insane amount of money in tips (like 100$ in a 4 hour shift) with no education or specialized training. And this is coming from a former waitress, but I worked at a family diner and I was happy to get like 2-5$ tip per table, not 10-20$. (Sorry for the rant there!) I personally usually tip my stylist 5$ for a cut and 10-15$ for cut and highlights, which I guess is about 10% of what it costs me (actually closer to 15% as I see a stylist who works from home and has awesome prices). But honestly, if I went to a really expensive salon that charged 200$ for highlights I would still tip 10$ even though that was only work out to be 5% (yikes!). I guess I feel that just because a person (or restaurant) charges more doesn't necessarily mean I should have to tip a lot more. So in percentage terms I am much more likely to tip generously when the overall price is cheaper. Anyways, I'm sure whatever you tipped is fine. A tip should be a bonus and not expected. You have no reason to feel bad.

Quote: Originally Posted by cendcar Sounds good but what is an avatar picture and how do I create one? Also, what can I do to become a full member? Go to "quick links" on the top menu, then "edit avatar". You can upload any picture. Just keep it mind it will be small so take something like that will look nice really small. I think I just found my avatar pic by looking for "starfish" in google images or something like that. You could also put a picture of your favorite flower, a nice beach, palm tree, whatever. Or you can put a picture of you. Since the avatars are so small I prefer to put a random image for that and then put real pictures in the signature, but that is just my personal preference. Your member status will change as you post more. There are different stages like Noob, Junior Member, Full Member, Senior Member and a few others too I think.

Quote: Originally Posted by rabbitnow Anyone else going to be there in the first week of October? I do see a lot of November brides but I thought we did have a few people that were right around the corner as well. According to our list (somehow you weren't on it, so I just added you) there are no brides for September (boo for us, although smart decision on behalf of brides to avoid the worst month for hurricanes) and 5 in Oct. I don't think we've seen trisha0612 on here for a while, and I think Piggy only made a brief appearance a few months ago (although I could be mistaken, it's hard to keep track of everyone). rabbitnow - October 7, 2008 piggy - October 9, 2008 trisha0612 - October 10, 2008 B&J2008 - October 11 2008 cendcar - October 27, 2008 On a related note, I think everyone should put up an avatar picture! Not necessarily a pic of you but some random little icon or picture or something. It makes it so much easier to recognize people. Am I alone in this? I know that for some people I remember their avatars more than their names. Oh, and of course, welcome to our new member "marryingmybestfriend". Hope everything works out for you!

wow, what a crazy story. The part about your flight is the worst, it just sucks to start the whole experience so badly. Which grand oasis did you get married at? I know there is one in Cancun and one in the Mayan Riviera, and probably more. Beautiful cake! Your daughter is adorable. Love the hair flower on her!

Quote: Originally Posted by cendcar Hello all, For those ladies who are having Oct and Nov weddings, what is your timeline for the day of the wedding? I am having a 4:30 ceremony so that we can do dinner at sunset but I am wondering if that might be too late. Any suggestions? I know you asked Oct/Nov brides but I thought I'd throw in my answer anyways Here was my schedule for the day based on a 6pm sunset time. It seems crazy to have started so early, but it was great not to be rushed at all. We could have started an hour later though and it would have been just the same (hair did no take very long, this was based on a worst case scenario of hair takign 2 hours). I wanted lots of time after the ceremony for photos with my husband, so we took a lot of the other photos (alone, with the bridesmaids, each of us with our families) before the ceremony. we probably could have done it in an hour less though (we were done and sitting around having drinks about half an hour before). So I guess really we could have started about an hour and a half later and still not been rushed (which, coincidentally, is the schedule I originally had, but my photographer make me give her more time because she was really worried about not having enough time) 9am: hair appointments (planned 2 hours as worst case but only took 1) 11am: get dressed and do make-up 12pm: photos of me alone and with bridesmaids 1pm: photos of me with my family 2pm: photos of groom alone and with family 3pm: ceremony and toast 3:45pm – 4:30pm: group pictures 4:30pm – 6pm: pictures of bride and groom (only took about 1 hour) 6:30pm: dinner Sunset time in Oct is 6:30pm in early oct and 6:15pm by the end of oct. So your sunset time is actually very similar to mine.

If price is such an important factor, I say go for it. Changes are you will enjoy your wedding day and be so happy about how everything went regardless of where you go. I am a perfectionist and I live for details, but honestly on my wedding day (and for my receptions) it just didn't matter anymore. You will wonder what you worried and stressed about. Honestly, looking back, I really don't understand why I was so stressed for several weeks about picking the resort. There is no such thing as a "perfect" resort. I don't know why we drive ourselves crazy thinking we have to pick the right one, when honestly, there are so many choices that would be right. I mean, I am very happy with my wedding and I loved Dreams Tulum. Do I think I made the right resort choice - well honestly, no. I think I could have chosen many other resorts (pretty much any resort experienced with weddings and that didn't charge a fortune for every single little thing) and I would have been just as happy. So I made a good choice, but it doesn't mean that I made the "right" choice, because there were many other equally good choices. That being said, I still think it's worth doing a little resaerch to make sure the resort you choose is up to par. I remember from researching this one that it is. It may not quite be a 5 star but it's close. All the complaints seemed to be the usual stuff you read about everywhere (food, service, etc). If the savings are big I say go for it!

Is this for the US only or can Canadians use it too? I use coupons, but it only ever saves me a few dollars, I don't understand how you guys say you can save 60-90%, or how you can get 30$ worth of stuff for 1$! That is just nuts! The best I do is when cereal is on sale for like 2$ a box, and sometimes there will be coupons for 1$ off per box (either right there, or coupons I have saved from another time) and so I get cereal at 1$ a box and I get so excited. But we're talking like once a year this happens Also there is some stuff I never pay full price for, I always stock up when it's on sale (canned soft drinks, canned foods, cereal, pasta, etc) but still that stuff will be at most half price when it's on sale. I don't understand how you guys are saving so much money on so much stuff! I thought I was cheap (my husband calls me the Bargain Hunter) but I obviously have some stuff to learn from you girls!

that first one is really awesome! You look like a super hot model!

I considered it as an option. They have a free wedding package and their infinity pool looks beautiful. But I just wasn't convinced about quality and service. It is rated as a 4.5 star resort by the tour operators here, and I wanted to stick to a 5 star. Why are you thinking of switching resorts? I'm guessing it has to do with the lack of response from wedding coordinators? Or the travel price?

I strongly considered it as an option. They have a free wedding package and their infinity pool looks beautiful. But I just wasn't convinced about quality and service. It is rated as a 4.5 star resort by the tour operators here, and I wanted to stick to a 5 star. Why are you thinking of switching resorts? I'm guessing it has to do with the lack of response from wedding coordinators? Or the travel price?

people have different opinons in these. I wouldn't mind them except I wouldn't want them in my wedding pictures! Unless they are everyone, it's probably possible to avoid them for pictures. Not all resorts have these. They are there year round, not a temporary thing.

Quote: Originally Posted by Lulu I'm so happy that I picked Dreams Tulum for our wedding...especially because there is so much useful information on here about the resort and planning a wedding there...thank you Sunbride for putting this together! So to introduce myself... Username Lulu Names (optional, first names only) Mike and Lisa Date & Time Feb 3, 2008 @ 4:00pm Wedding package - Complimentary one Wedding extras (and cost charged) - not sure yet Type of ceremony - Symbolic Coordinator - Landy Number of guests - 16 booked so far Ceremony location - beach Reception location - not sure yet Photographer - Citlalli Rico Videographer - not having one Welcome from a fellow Canadian! Quote: Originally Posted by Melissa24 I am totally worried about the hotel photographer not getting the pictures that I want, does anyone have suggestions on a reasonable outside photographer? Do a search in the "mayan rivera forum" there are so many threads. A few common suggesetions for cheaper and still great local photographers are Vanessa Vargas and Martha Roque.

Quote: Originally Posted by 411Bride Hey SunBride! I have an opinion question for you =) I reserved the ballroom in the convention center for my reception and i was wondering how big that room is... we have about 30 people booked right now and we're expecting around 50. I definately don't want the room to look too big for our party. Will a party of 50 be lost in there? Excellent job, by the way, on your review. You are absolutely beautiful and so are your pictures. Thank you so much for helping our all us bride-to-be's and answering all these questions; it is so much appreciated! Sorry, I can't help you with this one. When I went there the ballroom was newly built and I asked Landy to go see it but she said it was locked as it wasn't in use that week. So I never got to go inside. There are 3 different rooms. The smallest is Coba and only fits 20, the largest is Chichen Itza and fits up to 200, but can be divided for smaller groups. The middle sized one is Uxmal, I don't know how many it fits. I would email Lizette for clarification. Chibi411 may be able to help you too as she used one of the ballrooms, you may want to try sending her a PM. Or ask Alin&Mako (had to do a search to find the right people as I remembered the info being posted but couldn't remember who!) as she did a site visit and was the one to give us info on the ballrooms, and she provided all the pictures of the ballrooms posted on page 2 of this thread. Send them a PM in case they don't see this. If you do get a capacity # for Uxmal please let me know and I will update page 1 with this info.

Quote: Originally Posted by MonoAmor I was just wondering if anyone has been getting emails back from Landy lately. She hasn't returned any of mine in almost a month and needless to say I'm getting a little worried. I have to have some details confirmed with her so I can get the information to be printed for menus, programs, ect. Has anyone tried calling them before? Does it help to get answers or no? I have to admit that we are starting to regret our decision of choosing Dreams Tulum. So far we have found the wedding coordinators to be unhelpful. I imagine they must be very busy ladies, but as I am leaving to go on vacation for a couple of weeks before the wedding I only have about a month to finish all the planning. Any suggestions?? Thanks!!!!!! I would suggest you try emailing Lizette, as many brides have posted lately that Lizette answers much quicker. Also I would try calling. you may have to try over and over again (if you leave a message, I highly doubt they will call you back) until you reach them

sorry, it looks like the dress has been sold. Just waiting for a cheque from the buyer.

Okay, I'm a bit confused about all this starfish sharing stuff. I know BDW used to officially have starfish to share but no longer does (was getting abused with people not passing them on) and now it's done more informally. I understand from reading this that you guys use this as your "something borrowed". But I'm wondering what you actually do with the starfish? A decoration for the ceremony table? I had a bunch of starfish for my decorations. So just wondering if you guys do something in particular with your one borrowed starfish.

wow, congrats for thinking about going into a very male dominated career! Hope it works out for you. I am also contemplating a major career change. I did my masters in Economics a few years ago and now am working for the government as a policy analyst. I'm thinking of doing a drastic career change that totally won't make use of my studies. The ideas I have in mind right now are high school teacher (which would require me giong back to school for my teaching degree), wedding coordinator/event planner and I have a bunch of other random ideas too. It's scary to think about doing a total switch. Also would likely involve a major pay cut (for a teacher definitely, but at least I'd have my summers off, for other jobs it would depend, probably a big cut in teh short term but if I am successful eventually it might work out to be the same). My husband's aunt was a teacher and quit to open her own florist shop. She's so good at what she does and loves it. so she's my inpiration. I figure people must have thought she was nuts when she said she was going to open her florist shop!

Quote: Originally Posted by 411Bride Username: 411Bride Names (optional, first names only) Christina Date & Time April 11, 2009 Wedding package Ultimate Wedding extras (and cost charged) I don't know yet =( Type of ceremony Religious - performed by my best friend's dad =) (who is a minister) Coordinator: Landy Number of guests: 30 right now Ceremony location: Beach! Reception location: New Ballroom (convention hall) Photographer: Resort Videographer: Grandpa John Special arrangements / activities (i.e. welcome dinner, special set-up, anything that's not the norm) I really want a welcome dinner, a girly-girl spa day, a day for golf for the guys and a mystery dinner but I dont know how to go about setting it up =? Oh yeah, I've been meaning to say, welcome 411bride! Adding your info now...

Quote: Originally Posted by sisterofthebrideerica Here is the answer I finally got to the per hr. charge for the photographer. I am going to print this email and bring it with me!! 50 USD PER HOUR Wow, that is a different answer than I received! As I posted a few pages ago (see here: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...-37#post518294) I was quoted an extra 430$ (this is for somebody with the ultimate wedding package) for an extra 4 hours (6 hours total). So that's over 100$ per hour. That also included 30 additional photos (which I didn't ask for, I only asked for extra hours but they threw in the extra photos). so your quote would be 200$ for 4 extra hours and mine was 430$ for 4 extra hours with 30 pictures. Those 30 extra pictures definitely aren't work an extra 230$!!!! Hopefully they honour the 50$ an hour as that is a great price. There is no reason to get extra photos from them, just buy the CD and print them back home for way cheaper. It sounds like the price for the CD is a flat rate regardless of the amount of photos they took.

great idea for a thread to minimize repetition. You should ask the mods to make this a sticky

I know Go Travel Direct (which only operate out of Ottawa and Montreal) always use zoom.

I didn't want to spend a lot. Found many good photographers willing to do it for 150-200$. I would say 200-300$ is probably average for an average photographer. One with less experience might do it for 100$ or even for free (beginner photographer) and I don't want to imagine what the most expensive photographers probably charge. I'd say you could find a photographer to suit whatever you want your budget to be.

wow, so so thoughtful! Nobody even did anything for me at work, nevermind my husband!

Quote: Originally Posted by FutureMrsRust I was just wondering the same thing... One thing I have liked from some girls' sessions is the kind of wild hair look...like they took their wedding hair down and had fun on their wedding night and then got up to take the pics and didn't necessarily fix their hair again...wow, that was a ramble... haha, good in theory, but in my case that didn't work! since I had an updo, and lots of hairspray to keep it in place, once I took out all the bobby pins it was a disaster. so I had to wash it, dry it and curl it. But the humidity and then the water destroyed it pretty fast. we did ours in the morning for the lighting and to avoid crowds. But I think in terms of lighting it's only good at sunrise. No way was I getting up that early teh day after my wedding (we were leaving the next day so had to be that day) so we aimed for 8am. I don't think 8am lighting is much different than later in the day. I could be mistaken though.

Quote: Originally Posted by dreamstbride Hey ladies! I had a quick question regarding your Trash the dress session... where abouts on the beach did you go to take the pictures?? Did you walk down the beach a ways before deciding on a spot?? or did you just plop down in front of the resort and start shooting?? FH and I were planning on getting up nice and early 6am the following morning to take the pics. So the beach should be pretty deserted but I dont know were to take the pics?? suggestions would be great! THANKS so much!!! We did a bunch in the middle of the beach right in teh middle of the resort. It was around 10am so there was already a small crowd. But there are never a lot of people swimming in the water seeing it's rocky. For the 2nd half of the session we went just past the seaside grill and then over to the rocks. That area of the beach is desserted since there are no lawnchairs there.