Kits55

tguerre, your picture are awesome! Your FI is bound to love your BD book The Vikings jersey one is HOT! Quote: Originally Posted by adurrell Okay, first off, I had no clue what a BD photoshoot was. But now I really want to do one. Can someone explain how I'd go about doing this? Does any photographer do it? I think it's a great idea! I actually searched for boudoir photographers in my area as well as fashion/commercial photographers. I love the look of more fashion/stylistic photos than straight up boudoir photos. I wanted someone with some creativity so I wanted to find someone who's style I liked first. I figured that way if i liked the style for sure then they could tell me whether they could reproduce what I wanted. If you're really nervous or not sure how to go about things then you're probably better off using a photographer that has done boudoir sessions before so that he or she can direct you and give you additional ideas.

My favorites are #s 4 and 7. They are look so awesome! Great job! I also used my wedding photog and he is a guy.

I used My Publisher for our guestbook. They estimated the turn around time on their website (you can check before ordering) as 3 days out. Luckily they started on it the next day so I had it within a few days. I think it turned out pretty well, although I tend to like the process of putting the together better with Mpix. I did have problems twice while making my book with My Publisher. I called their hotline and both times I got through within minutes. They were able to help me solve my problems immediately. The second customer service rep that I spoke with even gave me his name and told me to call him if I had any further problems. I love their customer service! Here are some pics of how my guestbook turned out: here is the dust jacket cover (it turned out better than I hoped it would!) inside page...i used a horizontal layout for this picture. I had problems because they don't do a full bleed. I had problems too because I made all of these pictures faded in Photoshop and put the text on in Photoshop as well. I don't have Photoshop so when I had problems with the entire picture and text fitting on a page I had to move the photo around, thus cutting off certain parts. I don't recommend doing everything in Photoshop first unless you have quick access to it and plenty of time to create your book. I'm obviously not a good photographer as seen by the following pictures Here's how the vertical pictures turn out. I wanted pages with no white but since vertical ones obviously don't fill up the page I have some of each in my book. In person the pages are the perfect amount of glossy for me.

wow! Her website looks amazing...I can't wait to hear how it goes in May 20th and see the pictures! Do you already have your outfits picked out?

Quote: Originally Posted by SgtPepperette This past weekend my FI and I worked on our wedding website. Im sooooo happy with the outcome, it is better than I ever imagined!!! My FI is a web designer, so he did the design work, while I helped with ideas and content. I have to say we make a pretty good team Let me know what you think! Melissa & Grant OMG girl! Your website is AMAZING! I love the colors, and the graphics. The counter at the top right corner is so cute too. You guys are the website Dream Team!

those look fabulous. I love the colors you chose, the maracas and the font. Is that a shimmer paper that you used? If I was your guest I'd love receiving an invitation like this.

that sunset is amazing and you look so beautiful!

I was a major procrastinator and did things WAY too late. I have seen on here that other girls actually did powerpoint presentations every couple of months or so as an update. They then emailed the presentations with all of the current info to their guests. I wish I would have done that because I never updated our website. I found it easier and faster to send emails especially since I'm someone who forgets to read my friend's blogs all the time. Sending something in the mail your STDs I think is a great idea and maybe you can have your website for general info on the resort's amenities, etc?

I harassed my photographer enough and he sent me some teaser pics from our wedding and the TTD session the next day. We cut a trade with our photog and his assistant so that they had to work for our Friday night welcome dinner, all wedding preparations on Saturday, and then a TTD session on Sunday morning. So far I like our pictures but I'm secretly hoping that I see some that I like even more. I have already ordered some free postcards from Vistaprint to use as our thank yous...we used the picture of us holding the parasol that says "Gracias". I don't like how the white of the parasol looks like a halo but I told my photog to send the best picture of the parasol and that is what he sent. I'm not very happy about that. He didn't seem to take very many of us with the parasol so I guess I should have pushed harder to make him take more of them. Anyway, here are the pics

Quote: Originally Posted by beach2009 Hey Kits55, thanks for sharing your pics. I love the decor, your colors go beautifully with it. Which restaurant was your reception at? Where did you have the ceremony? I'd love to see those pics if you have them. Your bouquet is gorgeous, is that a standard one from the package or did you upgrade? Hi Beach2009! I didn't actually mean for the decor to go with our colors...it only happened that way because it was so windy that I couldn't bear the thought of everything blowing around during our dinner. We were in the Red Room at World Cafe. Usually you have to pay extra to reserve a room at a restaurant but you could ask Cecilia if you could have your dinner in the room. I love the lamps; I think they are gorgeous! We had the ceremony on the beach. There was another girl that got married the day before us and she had them build a smaller gazebo on the beach than the permanent massage one (it's the one they typically use). We got to use it without paying for it and it was great because it was even further away from the lounge chairs and palapas...although that didn't stop randoms from stopping, staring, and taking pictures of our ceremony! I actually got my bouquet from Roberta Wands at PlumeriasWeddingFlowerBoutique. I was really specific about the bouquet that I wanted so I spent months and months searching online. I don't have any good bouquet shots yet. PM me your email address and I'll send you some pictures our ceremony site. We don't have our pro pics back yet but there are plenty of pictures from my guests

I also purchased my parasols from OTC but I had a similar experience as a lot of the reviewers on OTC's website. Our of the original 12 parasols we received we had 5 that were perfect with no tears or big stains. We only needed 5 for our purposes so we got lucky. We did end up with 3 more parasols that would have been usable in a pinch and probably would have done the job if we were painting them all one color. We had 3 that were not usable in any way and that we would have returned if we had needed all twelve of them. Our last parasol was a total joke and had a giant tear that was about 1/4 of the entire size of the parasol. When we opened that one just to play with it we had problems with the handle. All of the handles were pretty rough but not so much that they were unusable. I'm happy with our parasols overall.

Quote: Originally Posted by Jacilynda Thanks Katrina! The other night I was looking for a thread. Although, i have to admit that it wasn't much help. I am wanting the larger parasols that i'll buy myself and then paint them. We're doing a couple different things on them, and not painting them one color. I guess I will have to be the guinea pig for the girls! In the thread that Katrina posted I posted pics of my DIY parasols. We used our own wordings and design layout, we didn't just paint them one color. I'm not sure how large of parasols you are looking for?

Quote: Originally Posted by iwantadreamswedding ^I agree, that he did too many of those black and white/splash of color pics. but other than that, the pics are better than I expected. You look so pretty, by the way. I was also pretty pleasantly surprised by his work...I believe Simistar on here also used him in her package at the same resort as me. He shot for her dance I think. Thank you for the nice compliment.

i'm sorry, i don't know why the pictures turned out so giant. Maybe it's the setting I had my camera on? I thought Photobucket was supposed to upload all of them smaller?

We went to Azul Cenote because for some reason I drove around looking for Choc Mool but couldn't find it. El Eden (Ponderosa), Cristalino, and Azul Cenotes all are very close together a little bit further south of Playa del Carmen than Choc Mool is. From Secrets Maroma Beach resort driving the speed limit in fairly light traffic it still took us close to an hour to get to Azul Cenote. Below are some pictures that I took of it far away...I will post more pics once I get our TTD pics from our photog. The light areas are actually the rocks in the cenote...it looks so gorgeous. The day we went for our TTD it was fairly early and the guys working at the cenote were scrubbing the rocks with brushes to get the algae off. The cost per person to get into the cenote was 50 pasos.

post #9 has some pictures that he did for our reception...he was included in our package for an hour...one of his associates did our reception and it was just mediocre work. I'm not sure if Juan's work is similar or different. I also wrote a short review, more just my thoughts on his work. http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t32681

I posted some pics of our reception that one of Juan's associates did. It's hard to rate him/his associates because everyone likes different things. i saw Juan himself doing some photographs for a bride with some really nice looking boulders at SMB last week when we were there. His associate took some OK pictures but nothing special. We had him shooting our event inside and he used a flash for every single picture. Our hired photo did not do that so I think he's pretty new and doesn't really have either the ability or knowledge on how to shoot successfully in low lighting. He did a lot of black and whites with a little bit of color and DH and i really don't like those kinds of pictures. I would say that if awesome pictures are a top priority for anyone to hire an outside photog. I will say that because he was our package photog we had our wedding on Saturday and had our 50 picture album by Monday night. That was nice because we got to share them with our guests that were still there. We also received a CD with the pictures in our album in very large format so we can size them down if we need to. Here is a link to some of the pictures he did for us. My post is #9 http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t32681

Quote: Originally Posted by montegobay09 This was the most helpful thread for packing!!!! I had made a packing list but this thread just helped with those last minute details. I was soooo happy that I brought like 5 pairs of flip flops..I would also recommend bringing a pair or two that aren't thong because many of us on the trip got blisters between our toes from the humidity. Scissors were a huge help! Totally used the ipod docking station every day! Nail polish remover was a must! Bring at least two bottles of sunscreen! One is never enough. I remembered this from my last trip down south and we still needed to buy an expensive bottle from the gift shop on the resort! pens and/or sharpies are a great idea too. You spend all this time planning and organizing before you leave...you want to stay organized while you're there! If I think of anything else I'll add...again, this was such a great thread to read the night before I left! Nail polish remover is DEFINITELY a must! I forgot that and i really needed it. I also remembered to bring two kinds of combs, one a rat tail comb for making parts and lifting sections of hair. I remembered plenty of cotton rounds for taking off make-up, etc. Thanks to this thread and others like it I think I remembered pretty much everything that I needed!

I also think his pictures are OK but chose to hire an outside photog. We had one of Juan's associates shoot an hour of reception because it was included in our package and I did not want to waste it. We are definitely glad that we chose to go with an outside photog. Here are some of the pictures from our wedding last Saturday. For what it's worth DH and I aren't really big fans of the black and white with a little bit of color and we think he did too much of that. We had to shoot inside because of wind and sprinkles but he used a flash on every single picture that we got back from him. Our hired photog was able to shoot in the low lighting and still have some pretty awesome shots. I added so many pics so future brides can get an idea of what their overall work is like. I will say it totally rocked that we got our pictures on Monday night and our wedding had been the previous Saturday.

Sorry I can't help you on either count but please make sure that you do NOT use Luxe Destination Weddings. We have had nothing but problems from them since the day we hired them. Other girls are also having issues with them so if you are thinking of hiring them please make sure you do your homework first. I just got back from SMB for our wedding and we did not get group a discount except on our room categories. Our guests only saved about $100 per person for their entire stay. There are occasionally really good deals through travel websites for booking air and hotel together. Sorry I can't be more helpful.

we had our wedding last Saturday and I did NOT cry! I almost started bawling when I was walking down the aisle with my dad and I heard Canon in D. Instead I made a super ugly weird face and stopped myself. I also almost started crying during the ceremony but I stopped myself then too. I'm not sure why but I think I thought if I started crying I wouldn't be able to stop. I started this post thinking I was going to cry like a baby but I guess I saved myself from myself.

I am staying at Secrets Maroma right now and my guests have all left. No one was freaking out but my sister's fiance's mom did call here about an hour ago and she was kind of freaked out. As of earlier tonight there have been no reported cases in Quintana Roo, the RM region of Mexico. My photographer left yesterday and said that all customs and immigration workers in the US are wearing masks as are all of the flight attendants. I received an email relating to how Zoetry, Secrets, and Dreams resorts are handling the situation. [Dear Travel Partner, Zoëtry Wellness & Spa Resorts, Secrets and Dreams Resorts & Spas continue to remain open and welcome guests at this time. In light of the current threat of influenza in Mexico, our primary focus continues to be on the health and safety of our guests and employees. As a result, we are taking and will continue to take heightened measures to ensure a high level of sanitation at all times. As we understand some travelers may not want to travel at this time, we have implemented two alternative options for direct reservations: 1) Reservations made at a Zoëtry Wellness & Spa Resort, Secrets or Dreams Resorts & Spas in Mexico for travel through May 16, 2009 can be changed to a Dreams Resort & Spa in the Dominican Republic in the same room category or higher for the originally scheduled dates, based on availability. 2) Reservations made at a Zoëtry Wellness & Spa Resort, Secrets or Dreams Resorts & Spas in Mexico for travel through May 16, 2009 can be postponed at the same property for future travel dates through December 15, 2009 in the same room category or above, based on availability. For guests still wishing to cancel their reservation, our standard cancellation policy continues to apply. For additional information and/or questions, please contact [email protected] ,[email protected] or [email protected]. Sincerely, Guest Services Zoëtry Wellness & Spa Resorts, Secrets and Dreams Resorts & Spas]

You all have been amazing and if wasn't the worst prepared bride in the world I would have gotten everything translated and sent to Mexico just in case. I guess I just got really really lucky!

We're having our honeymoon at the same resort that we are getting married at. We're only staying 4 days longer after we get married. I was set on having a legal ceremony and the area we're getting married in Mexico we had to arrive at least 3 full business days early. We're supposed to move to South Africa for my FI's job in 4 weeks so that'll be our real honeymooon.

Quote: Originally Posted by jkcz0702 I wore my wedding dress for our TTD and we did it in a cenote and it came out much cleaner then it was prior to "trashing" it. I then just put it in the shower and it came out clean. which cenote did you guys use? Were there a lot of other people around? What time did you do the TTD shoot? I spoke with a photog that has done many TTD sessions and she said that the only thing that really truly ruins a dress is burning or tearing it...neither of which I'm probably willing to do!