SunBride

This just really casts a bad shadow on my photos. I really hope one day I'll be able to look at them without thinking of the negative stuff, but for right now it definitely makes me enjoy them a lot less. Even before today, my enjoyment of my photos was slightly hampered by remember all the stress having my photographer come caused me (i.e. like people would say I made the right decision by choosing her, and in my head I would think "yeah but it caused me some stress") but now after this it's much much worse.

There's only a set of like 10 pics that have the black stuff in the ocean, yeah, it's coral or rocks or seaweed or something. Not a big deal since it's only about 10 photos out of 2500.

So my photographer read my review and is absolutely freaking out, saying I ruined her reputation and wants to cut off all future contact with me (although she will do my order for prints which are part of my contract). I keep re-reading it and thinking it's fine. I point out a few negative aspects but it's largely positive. Not all reviews can be 100% positive right? (well not if they are honest). I've made a couple small changes since then just to emphasize (i.e. one sentence in capital, deleted the sentence where I gave an example of her negative attitude, and added a numbered rating at the bottom to emphasize that I'm overall happy). In fact I really downplayed the first two negative aspects, especially the first, seeing as I did not go into details about how she stressed me out and stuff. Plus in every negative paragraph, there is some positives, i.e. "was happy that she was taking her work so seriously" "In general Jodi got along wonderfully with my family (very important when your photographer is there for a full week)" "But I think this is just because she takes her job so seriously and wants so so much to do a great job" "if this is what it takes to get such an enormous amount of amazing photos it’s fine by me!!!" "would be crazy to complain about it because I got an insane amount of wonderful photos" "I don’t think any other photographer could have done a better job at getting the shots I wanted" How the hell are we suppose to be giving honest reviews when shit like this happens? She's very upset that she can't respond because of rules about vendor participation (not sure about this forum, but also posted the review on 2 canadian forums I used a lot and vendors are not allowed to post at all). I told her I know it sucks but it's part of the business she's in and not all reviews will be 100% positive. Anyways, the emails she's sending me are really awful. I wish I could post them here but I don't want to put myself down to that level. I thought she might be a little upset to raed the review, but I never thought it would be anything like this. I guess I should have known she would freak out based on how I've gotten to know her (i.e. the anxiety, stressing me out and being negative experiences should all have pointed to the fact that she was going to freak out). Since I'm sure everyone will want to run out and read my review to see what I'm talking about, it's in the MR forum.

Man, it's funny that I'm on this forum way more since the wedding than I was before. I guess now that my turn is over I enjoy living vicariously through you guys. I can't wait for the next DT reviews to come in!

I just checked some of my pics from the rooms and they are all 3 pronged plugs so you'll be okay

well for the ceremony I think you'd be better off with the seaside grill as a ceremony location, it's all open with the beach right behind so it would be almost as good as doing it on the beach.

No, I bought it pink from asianideas.com, same place I bought my white ones. The colored ones are only like 3,50$! (shipping to Canada is expensive but luckily my parents were in arizona for a month!)

You have to upload them to photobucket (a web album site) and then under the photos there will be 4 links, you copy the 4th one and post it here. Well ladies, before I left there was lots of discussion on the dinner policies and the new convention center and I promised to try to take some pics of it, like I mentioned earlier I didn't make it inside (it's locked when not in use), but here is the pic my photographer took. try emailing the coordinators if you want pictures of the indoor set-up.

okay so I'm browing around and just realized that I was suppose to post my review here, so I just thought I would put a link in case anybody who doesn't frequent the mayan riviera forum (I know I never go in any of the other location forums) wants to read my review and see my picks http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t18711 http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t19708 http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t19097

This is what I use for re-sizing my photos. You install this, and then when you are looking at your pictures in your "my pictures" folder on your computer, you can right click on the photo and now resize image will be one of the options. You can also select your entire folder and re-size it. Very quick and easy. Of course you can always re-size it in photobucket too, but this little tool is good for resizing the ones saved on your hard drive Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP on the column on the right, scroll down to find the one called " image resizer" and download it.

Our photographer was Jodi Laundry from Daydreamphotography.com. I put lots of info about her and the experience under the picture links (in the first post of this thread) Yes I made the starfish boutonniers, I spray painted sugar starfish white and then put pins in the back. If you look at my wedding review I posted pictures on I think page 7 because somebody else asked about them. Oh what the heck I'll just link that too http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t18711-7 (page 7) Just a warning about the amaryllis, they are really big. My aunt is the one who put the flowers together and she had to pull apart the amaryllis petals and re-create a new flower (she like pinched the middle of the flower together to make it a bit smaller). I'm really glad she did this becuase it was still very big afterwards, would definitely have been to big for me otherwise. This is also why in my bouquet my aunt kept the amaryllis kinda closed rather than open like in pictures (in my bouquet the amaryllis is way less prominent than in my inspiration picture), I guess she thought it would be too big with the petals all open and spread out on top of everything. Oh yeah, I also cut off the poky things in the middle of the hair flower, because it's impossible to move them and place them like you want (i.e. they are not wired, just plastic) so we just cut them off because they were sticking out too much).

I can't believe I didn't post this sooner... shortly before leaving I managed to get a copy of the civil ceremony text. I wanted to know how it went for the purpose of adding our own vows. We didn't really write them ourselves, I searched online for vows and found a few lines I liked and put them together and made a few changes. We each said them after our respective "I do". MEXICAN CIVIL MARRIAGE ADVICES ( TAKEN FROM OCAMPO’S LETTER ) Ladies and gentlemen, according to the laws of this country we are gathered here to join the bonds of Matrimony which is an honorable status: ________________________________ and _________________________________ Seeing it is a very important act, I would kindly ask everybody to remain in silence. As witnesses of this important act, there are present here: 1. - _________________________________ 2. - _________________________________ 3. - _________________________________ 4. - ________________________________ Who will sign the marriage document. A great Mexican philosopher of the ninetheen century, Mr. Melchor Ocampo, wrote in his legendary letter, the following words that until today are always read in our wedding ceremonies “ marriage “, it says is the only legal and moral way to found a Family, to preserve mankind and avoid imperfections of the human being who are only able to obtain the perfection of the human race, through matrimony in a conjugal duality. Men and Women have the same rights, but it is important to observe their respective obligations. Both of you should have respect, fidelity, trust and assistance to one another and also tenderness and love, much love. Do not fight with one another, use your heads and your hearts to correct something wrong. Both of you should be aware of the great responsibility of being parents, because you should provide your children with attention, good example to follow during the rest of their lives. I now ask two questions to your witnesses. 1.-Are _________________________ and _______________________ ¿Persons you know well? 2. - ¿ And are there any objections for them to be joined in legal marriage in Mexico? ___________ do you accept___________ as your beloved and wedded wife? (Groom says "I do") ___________ do you accept ___________ as your beloved and wedded husband? (Bride says "I do") _________________________ and _____________________in the name of the law and the society and with the authority from the Solidaridad Municipal here in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mèxico, I now declare you husband and wife. You may Kiss the bride. ¡ CONGRATULATIONS!

Okay ladies, my photos are ready: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t19708

TTD

Dinner

After the ceremony :

Ceremony :

Getting ready : Before ceremony :

Okay, well to go along with my insanely long review, here is my insane amount of professional photos (over 2500!!!) and in case you haven't seen it yet (I know most of you have, adding it more for future reference) here is my review which will probably answer a lot of questions about my photos: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t18711 I got my dvds (6 of them!) Friday night and have been doing pretty much nothing all weekend except organizing them. They were already organized by part of the day, but I was basically trying to delete a few and also create some favorite folders that I can now use for printing my albums, making photo books, and showing to people (since almost nobody will want to see 2500 pictures). So I'm posting some of my favorites below right in the thread (yes, there are lots). Go to the following links for more For those of you who aren't crazy enough to want to see them all, choose from one of the following albums depending on how many you want to see: My Top 125 Favorites My Top 250 Favorites My top 750 favorites - Part 1 My top 750 favorites - Part 2 (2 albums because max 500 allowed per album) Alternatively, you can see photos in slideshow format on Jodi's website (she chose the photos so they aren't the same as my favorites) Daydream photography - Destination weddings (slideshows) Or to see all my photos (well I received 2800 but happily managed to deleted 500 because either I didn't like them or they were very repetitious, so there are about 2300 below) Getting ready Details Before Ceremony Ceremony After the ceremony Dinner The next day / TTD Creative Editing - Part 1 Creative Editing - Part 2 (2 albums because max 500 allowed per album) Our photographer was Jodi Laundry, daydreamphotography.com. She traveled with us for the whole week. Here is my review of her: AS A RESULT OF RECENT EVENTS I HAVE DECIDED TO DELETE MY REVIEW. PLEASE CONTACT ME VIA PM IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS. And now for some photos: details

I think you can get a DJ but I really can't remember, I didn't pay attention since I wasn't interested. But check the wedding guide book, I think it's in there. Thanks for asking about the veil because I have a good pointer. Check which way the wind is blowing, and stand so that your veil will blow behind you. I saw a wedding 2 days before ours and the bride was on the left (traditional position) and her veil was flying into her face and the groom's too so her and the groom were holding it down the whole time. My photographer noticed and told me to stand on the other side (assuming the wind was the same). I did stand on the right and so it didn't bother me at all, although it was a little less windy on my wedding day than that other wedding, but still, as long as your veil is blowing behind you I think it's fine. I made sure to tell our families to sit on the right side (my husband's on left and mine on right). The judge tried to get my husband to change to the other side, and you hear him telling her no and explaining why in our video as I walk down the aisle! My problem with the veil is that it wasn't staying in because it was hard to attach well under my hairdo. My photographer mentioned that the metal combs never stay well, I'm assuming she means plastic works better. Anyways, it didn't fall during the ceremony, but it kept falling afterwards, you have to tell people (especially your husband) when they put their arm around you to put it under the veil, otherwise when they move their arm they pull the veil off. As for the pictures, well I really can't describe how happy I am. But it's been an insanely huge job to sort through them to pick my favorites. I've done nothing else so far this weekend (worse than when I got back and spent most of the weekend writing my review!)

Ladies, just a warning that I got my professional pictures on Friday, all 2800 of them!!!! I've been sorting through them all weekend, deleting a few I don't like to try to get the numbers down a bit, then also sorting them into groupings like top 500, top 200, top 100, for different purposes, and since I know that nobody (except maybe a few crazy people on these forums and our immediate family) has any interest in having to sit through over 2000 photos. Anyways, I'll probably be ready to post the links to my online albums tonight (I hope!) so stay tuned.

Quote: Originally Posted by neen Hi there...I just want to clarify something. Gratuity actually IS included, but since the resort staff go above and beyond in so many ways, its always nice to throw a couple dollars their way if they provide great service. It also helps to tip early if you're looking for great poolisde/beach service all day long. That said, by no means are you required to tip waiters, maids, etc. At nightly rates of $200+ per person in January I don't want my guests thinking they HAVE to shell out more cash on top of that. That's a good point, but my opinion has always been that although the resort says "gratuities included" in the all inclusive plan, I don't believe them, the people who work there get paid so little you can't actually tell me that they actually get paid extras in gratuities. Maybe they do but I don't believe it, which is why I've always tipped. But you are right to not make your guests feel like they have to. And yes, bring ones. The one time I tried to get some at the front desk they didn't have any, and I read on trip advisor that people got some from the bell boy so I asked the head guy there and he said he didn't have any. It wasn't a big deal because I had more in my room, I brought 100$ in ones, and then got some change here and there along the way when I bought stuff.

the song is "everything" by Micheal Buble

Maybe they will buy some more tulle and starfish in order to be able to provide these options. Because it would be weird for them to provide pictures of the chair, but then require people to bring their own starfish to do the same thing.

It's not just that resort, it's like that for all resorts. There are so so many complainers who write reviews, it's crazy. Many people will make such a big deal about the smallest little thing. I still read all the reviews but I barely listen to what the negative ones say anymore because I find them to be so inaccurate.