chloe55

A few more...

More...

Here are some pictures they sent us for a sneak preview...

My husband and I feel like the luckiest people in the world, not just because we found each other, but also because we found the Wedrockers. That may be a little over the top, but we honestly feel like they're that good! Rafa,David and Fer did so much to make our wedding go smoothly and have given us some of the most beautiful wedding photos I've ever seen. OK, enough gushing, these are the details... Rafa, David and Fer were with us for 3 days, so they were able to capture so many of the events surrounding our wedding. They came with us on an excursion to the Mayan Ruins at Coba and Gran Cenote. This was a really great opportunity for our guests and us to get comfortable being photographed. Not to mention, we got some really great pictures. They also saved the day being spanish speakers as we had a van driver that didn't speak any english. That night, David and Rafa came up to my room to do a boudoir shoot while all my girlfriends and I were hanging out drinking champagne. I was a little uncomfortable at first, but they were really fun and joking around with everyone, so it ended up being great. I think it actually made our night, and I've seen a preview of some of the shots - I know I'm going to end up with a beautiful album. The morning of our wedding, Fer went along with all the guys deep sea fishing. It was great for me to be able to see what I missed, and we ended up with some absolutely priceless photos of my stepson. David (my husband) said that he actually didn't know what he would have done without Fer because the boat was late and he was able to call and get everything straightened out with the captain. People were starting to get pretty stressed out about all the confusion, and Fer's upbeat personality and positivity really helped calm everyone down. I never really thought I'd like a lot of getting ready shots, but those are some of my favorites. There are a few of my mother in law and stepson, that I absolutely love. And I treasure them especially because I didn't get to see those moments as they happened, I was just too busy. The session we did before the wedding actually flew by because we were having so much fun. We ended up getting to the ceremony area about 20 minutes before the ceremony was supposed to start, and the wedding coordinator was trying to get us to get started early ( I think she got to go home after our wedding or something). Anyways, i started to tell her we weren't ready, and would be starting at the scheduled time, but Fer took over and I was so grateful. The last thing I wanted to do 20 minutes before my wedding was get into an argument with our wedding coordinator. After our reception dinner, they had prepared a slide show of the pics taken so far. It was such a crazy moment when we got to see these. Everyone was crying and hugging. It kind of brought out more emotion than when we were actually living those moments. After that, pretty much every single one of our un-married guests told us they would be hiring them for their weddings! We did the TTD the next day in Puerto Morelos. It was a lot of fun, and the pics we ended up with are so great! Even more than that, the guys told us they wanted to challenge themselves by using only their iphones and toy cameras. I think it just really showcases their talent that you can't even tell the difference between those shots and ones taken with super fancy cameras. Anyways, this is getting really long. I just really want to do their work justice. We are absolutely in love with all the photos we've seen so far, they're so unique and beautiful! We've had about 20 people (and that's about how many have seen them - we're saving them as a surprise for our AHR) tell us that they are the best wedding pictures they've ever seen. I really think the key was having all three of these guys. Individually, they're super talented and have this eye for capturing those moments that bring back the same feeling as when you were living it every time you see the picture. But, I think together, all their different styles compliment each other and the end result is a super complete 'not a moment was missed' collection of photos. Not only that, but their personalities made it so easy for all of us to get comfortable and we really ended up having a lot of fun with them. Here is a collection that they put together for us, it's about 200 pics, so give it a minute to load... http://wedrockers.com/kellyanddavid/

Hi everyone, It's been forever since I've been on here, mostly because we're planning our reception in Mexico off-site now, so I've had to direct my attention elsewhere. I just wanted to say congrats to Lisa and best of luck to Josie! On a side note, since we're headed out of the resort right after our ceremony, I've been looking into slimming down the wedding package we're going to use. I came across a "free" wedding on the Riu main site. It looks like it's just for the Riu Palace Mexico though. Does anyone know anything about this? Thanks Ladies!

Josie - You could put the invites in boxes. I found these... Color Jewelry Boxes | www.boxandwrap.com , the 7x5.5x1 ones would fit a standard invitation and then you could wrap them in parcel paper to send them. I think it would be fun to get an invite in a box! It would be like opening a present.

Congratulations Desiree! You look beautiful in your pics, and thanks for the review. I'm happy to hear that everything went well!

Katie, I got the beach bags online through the Knot's wedding shop. They're the colorblock canvas ones. http://weddingshop.theknot.com/weddi...TypF=BO&org=BO The color selection isn't that great, but I think they came out pretty nice.

Aww, so cute. What about Pierre and Mishka? I like foreign sounding people names for pets.

Congratulations Desiree!

Josie, I think we won it back in April sometime. I couldn't be more thrilled about it! These guys are all so nice, I think they'll fit in wonderfully with our group. I spent a lot of time thinking about OOT bags, and just decided that the logistics of it would not work out for us. I couldn't figure out how to get everything down there, especially with all the airline's new baggage restrictions and fees. We are doing something though, because I love the idea of an unexpected little something when everyone arrives. We're doing a travel mug, with a welcome letter, and probably a photo share card. Most likely we will just put them in some cheapy gift bags that will collapse to be flat in our luggage. Josie, I can kinda see why your mom wants a big bag. It will be more practical for everyone to use the whole time they're there. I also can see why you think it will look silly. Thats a tough one. Katie, we're doing the same thing for our bridal party. We got them monogramed beach bags and filled it with travel nail files, gal pal deoderant remover, smashbox lip gloss, a Kenneth Jay Lane compact, sun screen, a travel size toner and moisturizer. My matron and maid of honor are also getting some Amrita Singh earings. The guys are getting a more simple version (insulated back packs, flip flops, ray bans, and crew travel kits). They will definately be getting them before we leave. Holy crap Desiree! I'm so excited for you! Did you do a planning thread or anything?

Welcome Jennae! We're using 3 outside photographers! We actually won their services through BDW just like Josie did. We got the Wedrockers (Rafa Ibanez, David Jouse, and Fer Juaristi). They do beautiful work, and usually work individually, but I think they wanted to have a collaboration in their portfolios or something. I've seen reviews and samples of Rafa and Fer's work on here, and some of David's through his facebook page. I have no idea what they would charge, but I think it's pretty reasonable. It wouldn't hurt to keep checking the vendor marketplace, there's usually a photographer offering their services for travel expenses in a contest. I'm really impressed with most of the photographers that are members of this forum. I had no idea you could have such interesting wedding photos until I found this place. Josie, what are you planning on doing for OOT bags?

Congrats Josie! I'm sorry to hear about your guests cancelling last minute Desiree. You'll have a fabulous time without them I'm sure. The less negativity, the better! As far as the bachelorette/bachelor party thing goes, we were just going to do a separate girls/guys night out in Mexico, but people who aren't coming to Mexico wanted to be involved. So, we'll probably do something here before we leave instead. David's friends want to go to Vegas for his bachelor party, but he thinks its too much with a destination wedding. We are doing an excursion as a gift to all our guests. It's super important to us that we do something to thank them for traveling and spending so much money just to see us get married. I don't think anyone is expecting that we do something, and I'm sure they're looking at this mostly as a vacation for themselves, but it will make us feel good to do something for everyone. We decided on a private sunset catamaran cruise. It was the one thing we could see everyone enjoying. It's 4 hours long, and there's and open bar, we still haven't decided if we're going to do a dinner. Samira, I think you asked how much it is, but we don't know exactly how much it will be. It depends entirely on how many people end up coming, and if we will do the dinner or not. But, to give you an idea, if we have 50 people, with no dinner, it will be $2000.

Maybe you should still do something traditional, like make him carry you in the door when you get home.

Oh Josie! Congrats! I must have missed that somewhere, I haven't been on as much lately.

Desiree, your wedding is so soon! Josie, what happens tomorrow? Did I miss something? Hi MissMarch! We aren't doing OOT bags. More people are supposedly coming than we originally expected, and we thought it would be a really big pain to get everything down there. We will do travel mugs with a welcome letter and make sure that we have extras of stuff like sunscreen and excedrin in case anyone needs some. We're planning an excursion for the day before the wedding that we'll pay for as a thank you to everyone.

For our BMs and GMs we are doing a beach bag filled with stuff they can use for their trip and giving it to them before we leave. The guys are getting a backpack with a pair of ray-ban aviators, reef dram sandals, and a crew product travel kit.

Yup, I don't like him. Sometimes when you respond to people as though you are angry, they will just write you off as a crazy person. Even though you have every right to be offended. It might be more effective to say something along the lines of "based on your email, I don't feel like your personality would mesh well with us, our family or friends. Thank you for your time and consideration..." That might get him thinking about his personality flaws at least.

I just searched for the tequila donkey and couldn't find it. Kimmy, if you remember where you saw it, can you please give me the link. I really want to see what this looks like. Erin! I'm getting married the day before you!

I read the tequila donkey post right before meeting friends on Saturday, and brought it up to them that night. Everyone agreed it would be totally unexpected and hilarious, but I'm not sure the Riu would allow it. I can't imagine them liking the idea of a donkey in one of their restaurants, they would probably say it corresponds with their outside vendor policy. Is it a real donkey that somebody leads around the room? Or does it just wander about on its own? They would probably have to sedate it or something to keep it from freaking out about the crowd and music and drunk people drinking tequila from its belt.

Congrats Josie and Desiree! You're both so deserving!

A trial! How did I forget? I think going to your local person and taking a bunch of pics is probably the best way to go. I think I've read some stuff about difficulty communicating with the hair people. Not from RPRM specifically, but in most reviews I've read from all the resorts.

The group rate thing was really tough for us too. We didn't know that once we got it, everyone had to put a deposit in right away. We ended up negoitiating a certain amount of deposits to hold an additional 10 rooms for us under our group rate, which needed to be booked by September 30th. Our TA did tell me that if we had more people interested than that, she would try to get extra rooms under that rate. It sounds weird to me that they would cut you off at 50. I would definately call her manager about the issues with her leaving and not explaining things to the person filling in for her. Hopefully the manager would be able to access her files and take care of your guests.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the hair thing. I'm super picky about my hair and makeup, and I'm a little nervous that I won't like what they do. But, I don't really trust myself to do it on that day. I'll probably be way too nervous. Have you girls seen pictures of people that had their hair done at Renova? Is it all cheesey updos?

I also loved Essense of Australia and found a trunk show happening in a town 5 hours away from me. The savings would have been worth the drive one time, but they told me I had to pick it up from their store once it came in. So, 20 hours of driving didn't end up being worth $175. The thing about it was that I loved an Essense dress that my local store didn't get in, and it was at that particular trunk show. I ended up paying $50 for their "loner" program. I guess the wind up is, you could save a good amount of money, and you'll be in town anyways. I would just make sure that they can send it to your house when it comes in.