Kits55

If talking to your FI doesn't do the trick then tell him that for every person he says can come along HIS parents will have to pay for. Maybe that will get him to stop letting people invite themselves to your wedding. We went through this same thing but I was FIRM, borderline rude probably. I had a number in my head and no one was going over and above the line! lol We did NOT have the money, I wasn't going to put even MORE money on our credit card, and it was MY day. The best way I found to deal with people inviting themselves or making references to coming was just to tell them that we were having a very small, family only affair and they would definitely be receiving invites to our AHR. The tricky part is telling people where you'll be and saying they can come to the same resort but then trying to tell them they are NOT invited. That might seem somewhat like a bait and switch to people. I think you should either go all the way by inviting to them to all wedding festivities OR just a flat out no, sorry, you can't come is best. I thought it would be a great compromise to have people at the resort but not at the wedding and now I realize it's maybe not the greatest idea. Good luck on NYE!! I love your Wedding Crasher T-shirt idea...LOLed at that one!

I bet your guests will love getting these luggage tags! What are you using for the attachment part, the plastic straps or ribbon??

it might be kind of lame but what about frisbees? When we got married the guys would have liked to have a football or frisbee to toss around. Otherwise I think cups are a good idea (for beer).

It sounds like your experience was a complete nightmare; I'm sorry to hear it. I will be looking forward to reading your review.

These look great! I really love the monogram too. Nice touch with the back of the card

wooo! Awesome book! Great job with the layouts and I LOVE how you did the front and back cover...very clever

We flew American Airlines for our wedding in Mexico. They let me bring my bouquet in a small roller board carry-on. I felt safe putting them in the roller board because the sides are harder. My bouquet was giant so it took up most of the suitcase but I put soft things are the rest of it. I was afraid we would be stopped because of the metal inside the stems but the metal detector did not go off. That didn't matter because we still got searched but it was NOT because of the metal in the bouquet.

Quote: Originally Posted by Outdoor_girl1010 My question is How long did it take you dress to dry out. I can make up my mind when I want to do the TTD. We dont really want to get up the morning after the wedding, so Monday would be the next best day, but then thats where my problem comes in we would leave to come back to the states on Wed. Do yall think my dress would be dry by then? Jennifer We did our TTD on Sunday morning after the wedding and I soaked it. We left on Wednesday and the very bottom hem of my dress was still a tiny bit wet. I hung it up the entire time inside, but not outside. If you hang it up outside where it's warmer and breezy it may dry faster. My dress was some type of silk and only a single layer. There was no taffeta or anything else on it. I think it will depend on what type of material your dress is made of and how many layers your dress has on whether it would dry if you do your TTD on Monday.

Quote: Originally Posted by lolo Hi ladies does anyone have any ideas for TTD locations besides the beach, pool and cenote? I have seen some photographers do really awesome pics (not sure if they were TTD) at old, abandoned buildings, anyplace colorful and traditionally Mexican (villages, the street, etc). How do you want to "trash the dress"? I've seen New York brides jump in fountains, have the bride and groom squirting ketchup and mustard at each other, etc. If you really want to trash your dress to the point of no return you can could always "burn" it or rip it somehow.

In regards to make-up for my TTD I was bad and I went to bed with all of it still on! We went to bed pretty late and woke up around 5 am so we could have time to get ours situated at the cenote before the sun was too high in the sky. I only slept with my make-up on for about 5 hours. I also had my fake eyelashes on and they stayed on until the very last shots in the water. If my make-up had come off overnight I would just reapplied lightly in the morning.

Quote: Originally Posted by Mandiland I know I want my reception indoors because it will be hot in July, but I don't know which restaurant. I didn't like the pics of the ballroom but maybe it looks better in person I see a lot of the girls used the World Cafe and it looks beautiful. We are having 50+ people so I guess we will need the whole restaurant if we use that one...is the rest as pretty as the red room? What would be the 2nd best indoor spot? I think the rest of World Cafe is as pretty as the red room pictures you have seen. There is another room, called the blue room which is mostly blue decorations. I'm not sure I actually have any pics of the room, sorry! The rest of World Cafe consists of the buffet areas and there is some seating but it's mostly smaller tables they use for the breakfast buffet. They could maybe do some larger tables for your reception and replace the smaller ones. I never ate at Bordeaux so I'm not sure what it looks like inside but I think it might be dark wood with a cool "wine cellar" looking area. El Patio, the gourmet Mexican restaurant is pretty inside. It even has a tree in the middle and a small water feature. I never did get to eat at Portofino, the Italian restaurant in the back so I only know what the entrance looks like. I liked the food a lot at Portofino but I'm sorry I can't tell you what the decor really looks like! Quote: Originally Posted by mlynnea So after all your comments about all the people around in their not so flattering attire, I'm thinking about maybe bringing some kind of stakes and tie some ribbon to them....making an implied "fence" around the ceremony area..? Do you think that would be too much? If Cecilia would let me do it, it might help make it more obvious that people need to not pass the ribbon. Obviously they could just walk around it if they were really nosy, but it might at least send the beach go-ers the message that it's a "private" space. Thoughts? I agree with Simistar, if you're going to do the stake idea just TELL Cecilia that's what's going to happen. It will probably help keep people away but not entirely out of your pictures. The ceremony is set fairly far away from the water but people can still walk along the water's edge and they will be in your pictures. They will appear small so your photog could Photoshop them out if he/she knows how to do it. I'm not trying to freak you out in any way. If the resort and surrounding ones are less crowded than when we were there in April you'll be great. People were very respectful of our group pictures by the water so I don't think we have a single uninvited guest in our group pictures.

Quote: Originally Posted by Simistar Are you serious?? What is WRONG with people??! We actually didn't have any problems with this... People were looking for sure, but no one came into our "area"... We did have LOTS of people the next day ask if we were the couple that got married, that they watched and thought it looked lovely, etc :-) I think Kits has the right idea...get some guests to move the chairs away 20-30 mins before the ceremony and stand guard so people don't move them back:-) Cecilia does try...but again, she's just one person and forgets things, so if this is important to you, appoint some friends to be "gatekeepers", lol:-) Yes, we did have some intruders but I didn't pay much attention to them. I will say that I was somewhat prepared to have people in the background of our pics but not as prepared as I should have been! lol There were definitely some people who took liberties they should not have with their beach attire...and they're in our pictures! There's a really awesome picture of us during the ceremony and right between us in the background is an old fat guy wearing a speedo! Maybe future brides should appoint some friends to be gatekeepers for proper beach attire during the ceremony! lol

Quote: Originally Posted by Simistar Anyway, we got the vanilla...and it was kind of gross... really mushy and not much flavour... I'm thinking that by now, this kink in the service has been worked out:-) However, it does sound like they're still making the cakes look kind of cheesey:-) I second Simistar's review of the cake. We also got vanilla and had some of the same flowers from my bouquet put on the cake. It was small which was fine because we only had 20 people including our two photogs. The cake was mushy, tasteless, and boring! If cake is a top priority go with an outside vendor. I wish I would have b/c I love cake so much! haha I was married at SMB this past April and we had so much wind the sand was blowing EVERYWHERE. It felt like we were being sandblasted so it was a little bit uncomfortable on the beach. We had to switch our reception to be in the World Cafe red room like NewYork's. In our case they were not able to close all of World Cafe because it was a last minute switch (about 4 hours before the reception started). In April we did not experience many mosquitoes, except in the woods in the cenote we went to for our TTD. They were HORRENDOUS in the woods but not at the resort. Unfortunately we had some people who were NOT very respectful of our ceremony. We constantly had people edging ever closer and taking pictures like mad!! One lady even started taking pictures from all sides!! Cecilia tried her best to chase people away. We had our ceremony at a set-up even further to the south than the regular one. I'm not sure of the extra cost because we were able to piggy back on another ceremony that another bride paid to have. If Cecilia doesn't move the chairs further away maybe some of your guests would be willing to move them away 30 minutes before the ceremony starts?

sorry for the double post!

Quote: Originally Posted by echo2_62 Kits55 - so I'm curious then what kind of engagement band you have, because I'd thought that the tungsten would be so much harder than gold would be (either white or yellow) so it might not be the best combination? Do you have a gold band on your e-ring? My thinking is that if having even a 10k gold ring next to an 18k gold ring, one will wear the other down more... so why wouldn't it be the same case with gold next to tungsten. Does that make any sense at all?? I actually have a platinum engagement and wedding band. I had to get a different band (Tungsten) when we moved to Africa. The Tungsten is extremely hard. So hard in fact that it is very difficult to etch, engrave, or put diamonds/other stones into. Your questions do make sense, and yes, I wouldn't mix metals because one may wear faster than the other. I'm sorry if I confused everyone! I wear the Tungsten Carbide band in Africa but my platinum one in the US.

I'll second the positive review about Tungsten World. My husband was dead set on a Tungsten Carbide ring and that's what he got. The shipping was extremely quick and secure (Fed-ex wouldn't leave it at our door so I had to go after work to get it). I had a few questions ahead of time and the service was always quick and friendly. For our move to Africa we thought a plain band would be best for me. Amazingly enough they have the same ring as DH's in a women's size and that's what I got. It's a perfect ring. It fits great, feels great, and always looks great. I will say in order to get a ring sized down so much it cost us extra money but I really love the band.

congratulations...welcome to the forum. BDW (best destination wedding.com) was my wedding saver and I'm not kidding! I was deciding between Costa Rica and Mexico (didn't even know which coast!) when I first joined. I did A LOT of googling to narrow places down. Think of what is the most important to you. There will be many factors that may come into play, for instance: What is your budget? Can all of your guests afford HI (usually much more expensive than Mexico) Do you want kids to allowed? Do you want all inclusive? Do you want a lot of activities (Cabo may not be the best bet if you want to get out and do a lot of things)? Do you want really white sand? Do you want to swim (most places in Cabo you can't swim in the ocean)? etc. Once you figure it all out head into different sections of BDW to help find your answer! Good luck!

Quote: Originally Posted by michellepicksbrent WOW! Your DIY stuff looks amazing!! I especially love your invites, so classy! Quote: Originally Posted by dawnkyeknod THANKS!!! love all of your little touches. Thank you! I will be waiting to see your planning threads!

Quote: Originally Posted by Sheeoni Sorry to hear the final outcome of this. Mostly, we all think that it seems a bit foolish to assume a bride would want a bunch of IR shots on her wedding day, and like others pointed out, odd that his assistant wouldn't have been right there with him shooting some "regular" photos but I digress. =( I think the majority of us agree that it is truly lamentable. So if you can't get color photos, i guess the next best thing would be to see if he can adjust the coloration to something you like more. Unfortunately because what is done can't be undone, you will have to settle on something that was different than you truly wanted-- but that doesn't necessarily have to be all negative! Maybe there's a way for him to tweak the really good shots that were in IR and who knows, you could be showcased as the trend-setting bride with pictures that are different from the standard! Trends do get set in the strangest ways You just got married to the man of your dreams and despite the photo coloration you were still beautiful lol.. some of us don't have it that lucky Awww, Sheeoni, thank you so much for the sweet post! If the trend started forming of IR photos I'd hate to see it go that way! lol You do a great job at cheering people up; I am feeling better about it already! Thank you!

Quote: Originally Posted by Dmitri_Markine It was not my intention to offend you and I apologize if something I said here sounded bad. You've posted a few times on this board about your problems with this particular free photographer and even PM'ed me for an advice. I made my comments only based on that. I appreciate your previous help regarding what I thought of as a lack of photos and wondering why I had not received more from him. According to the previous emails between myself and him he had mentioned that if he took as many pictures as he thought they would I would receive multiple CDs and in reality ended up with only one. Unless he advertised that I'm not sure how I was supposed to have known that from his website. I have complained about the lack of photographs received, receiving a CD with low res files (he told me I can print 8 x 10s so that issue is cleared up because we'll go back to him for anything larger than an 8 x10), and the feeling that he shot more for his artistic purposes than for our wedding. This is something that cannot be demonstrated by his website or by the pictures we saw of his. He wasn't "free" given that we paid thousands of dollars for his service and his assistant but no money exchanged hands if that is what you mean. I didn't know to ask of him if I would receive unedited photos and how many I would end up with. That is my fault but how do I know what I don't know? The trade was looked upon as a win-win situation and I still see it that way. There are many things that brides unknowingly overlook when booking photographers. I did not know exactly which shots would be the most important to me. I did not believe that a few thousand pictures into his consultation would produce so many IR photos. He only has two color IR photos on his website out of 85 photos total. That's only about 2.3% which to me is not indicative of someone's overall work. That would not cause me to believe he would bring an entire IR camera to shoot wedding and resort pictures. Had he told me ahead of time he was bringing an IR camera I would have investigated what that means and told him not to take any ceremony and group photos using IR. Had I known what they would end up looking like I would have told him just leave the camera at home unless you want personal pictures with it. Of the pictures at his studio roughly 50% were B&W with the other 45% were color. The other 5% was washed out, muted colors like ones that are in our album. We have a fairly high percentage of the muted color pictures. The bottom line about having B&W or full color pictures (which we wanted) is they can be manipulated in Photoshop, IR cannot. Yes, I can turn IR color to IR B&W but I'll still never see what the pictures actually look like.

Quote: Originally Posted by Morgan I think the B&W infrared images he tooked look cool. Do you not like those? I haven't seen them large to really judge, but the little versions look nice. The B&W IR are fine. The underlying issue is now there are a limited number of choices to modify these in PS. I wanted images that I could play with. I wanted images all in full color so they could be modified numerous ways. I prefer having choices and the ability to switch from B&W to full color I think is invaluable.

Quote: Originally Posted by Dmitri_Markine It's not a trend I was aware of. I certainly don't know anyone who ever used it for weddings. It's quite easy to replicate it in photoshop too(well at least for me) However, I did just visited his website to see the big photos and I think he does indeed uses an IR camera. A lot of pictures there seems to be done that way. It is his style and there's nothing wrong about it as he's clearly showing it to his clients. So in this case, I think he just did what he always does and it's too bad Kits55 hired him before looking at his work. If you read the entire thread you would have seen that I don't mind the B&W IR but rather it's the color IR I hate. You will also see examples of the color IR. I spent months and months looking for a photographer and am insulted and offended that you would insinuate I would randomly pick a photographer. If you read the rest of the thread you would also see that I went to his studio to look at the thousands of pictures he has that are not on his website. On his website there are only 2 IR photos out of 6 pages. That to me is not representative of his work.

Lady Di-those centerpiece holders are gorgeous! I wish I had found those in time for my wedding.

Quote: Originally Posted by Morgan Also, I'm wondering if anyone has had success with my current template. I've only seen a few finished ones. Morgan, I think I used your original templates, with the water washing on the sand. Have you seen them? If you want me to post them on this thread let me know and I'll gladly do so!

I'm thankful he gave me a response but so incredibly disappointed to find out it was his camera. Here is what he wrote: "To answer your question, one of my cameras was modified to be sensitive only to the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is blind to light as we know it. I brought it with me to Cancun because the bright sun is very IR rich and produced a nice alternative to the look of the other photos. Between that, my "normal" camera and the underwater camera, I covered a lot of ground! It was the reason I nearly got in trouble with Customs in Cancun. You can learn a bit more about IR photography here, if you're interested: Infrared photography - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia That article isn't entirely accurate, but it give a good general background. "