Sammyhawk

We also changed resorts the day after the wedding so we ended up meeting with our photographer at 6am to get some sunrise shots. We were a little sleepy, and actually just went with bed tossled hair and make up that I had slept in, just touched up a bit, actually made for some romantic pictures!

I was able to find mine at one of David's Bridal's $99 gown sale. So if you have time to wait around for the next big sale, which they have so frequently, you might be able to find a great deal, I definitely did!

Quote: Originally Posted by meghan I still don't have programs made and I don't know what info I should put on them....what did you put on your programs or what are you planning on saying.... I bought a program kit from Michaels and followed the online directions, made it a little more beachy by adhering a starfish (that I had bought from oriental trading co.), and changed the ribbon and ink color to match our colors, then just followed their wording guidelines. For a thank you message and in memory of message I just used google for ideas. I'll post a pic when I have more time.

Quote: Originally Posted by chong Thanks ladies. I guess we have to make the reservations for us. I am not sure how we can coordinate that with our guests but they are only staying 3 nights... so my guests might not even make it there. Do you know if any other restaurants require reservations? Or just Le Chique? Chong I don't think any of the other restaurants require a reservation but we did make a couple of reservations because we knew we would have large groups. They actually kind of freaked out more when we called and told them 31 people wanted to dine there at the same time. We made reservations at Sienna, and ended up at three seperate tables close by one another with different servers. I think that is their biggest issue with large groups, they don't want the service to suffer by giving one waiter such a large group that is why you end up getting split among a few tables. I just ended up table hopping a lot, it was no big deal. The other restaurants we just showed up with 20 or so people and had no problem getting seated, the service is slower though the larger the group. Especially at Tapaz. I think we spent almost 3 hours there because we had two tables of 8, and the type of dining it was required more time, so this restaurant probably isn't the best idea to try to do in really large groups.

Quote: Originally Posted by chong About ceremony... Does the officiant has a typical ceremony script that they share before the wedding? I have found some awesome ceremony script and was wondering if anyone asked their officiant to read the ones they have written? Thanks! chong I asked my WC and she sent me the ceremony. It is actually very nice, thought it is religious, I know some preferred to leave the religion out. But I thought it was very nice, and I am not very religious. We just changed our vows and added a sand ceremony saying (we found on the internet and tweeked to our liking) and then added a hand blessing (also found on the internet). We also added a reading for my sister in law to read. It really was beautiful. Unfortunately since it rained on us, they weren't able to use the microphone, so people could hardly hear what was said, so I emailed all of our guests the ceremony and I plan on printing it out and putting it on display at our AHR. As for a rehearsal, we didn't think this was necessary. The WC gives everyone the run down before the ceremony begins and there was no confusion.

Quote: Originally Posted by thefuturemrslutz THIS IS AN AMAZING IDEA!!!!! Love it!!!! I heart your pictures soooo much!!!! I know I have told u 100 times, but I needed to tell u on here too!! Amy and Wendy!!! These stories are soooo sweet!!! I was literally in tears reading about your fi's reactions!!!!!!! I was telling my FI about your books and he seemed so confused...so now I am worried he won't even like mine You seem like you are on top everything! YAY!!!! Hey what about making a video slideshow online of your wedding pictures? VIMEO is a great site, and I don't think it takes long at all. I think you just upload your videos and music and it creates the show for you. I know how you feel about the weight, but do not worry! And you know how to drop 5 lbs in a week...I am sure you look fabulously happy and in love and complete!!!! UGH this is sooooo sad!!! I am SO sorry!!! I was having a bad day about the wedding bawling my eyes out...then I felt guilty. So I know how you feel, but it is STILL you wedding and STILL important. It's all relative... Now in regards to invites...I can help you. I did passport invites AND pocketfold invites all by myself...They were not expensive at all. I have a fabulous paper store online (Card Stock, Vellum Paper, Envelopes, Metallic Cardstock, Invitation Cards Specialty Wedding Stationery - Paperandmore.com) that is VERY reasonable. Let me know how I can help you!!! You can email me if you like: [email protected] AHHHHHHHHH!!!!! SO excited for you!!!! AND PROUD that you lost allllll that weight!!! I can't wait to hear all about it when you return!! xoxoxoxoxoxo hahaha DEAR HUSBAND...that makes complete sense. I was thinking it was dedicated husband! SAMMYHAWK!! COngrats MRS! and welcome back!! Can't wait to see pictures! Just wondering more about this VIMEO since I now have an AHR to plan. Can you upload your wedding pictures to this and it will make a slideshow/video out of them?

Quote: Originally Posted by rpingree001 I am going to EDR for my wedding and honeymoon - 11 days total. Do those of you who have been there think that this is too long at one resort? Will we get bored or tired of the same restaurants? We are thinking of switching to casitas for the honeymoon to change it up. Thoughts? We were at Azul Sensatori for 4 nights then switched to El Dorado for 3 nights. We think if we could do it all over we would have just stayed at azul, because it was kind of a pain to pack everything up transfer to the other resort and unpack, it wasted a whole day. The thought behind changing resorts was, we wanted a seperate honeymoon, we weren't sure how long our family and friends would stay. They knew we were only there until Thursday so all of our family left and a few of our close friends that live abroad, who we don't see often stayed. So it was a bummer to leave them. We had a great time together but if we could do it all over again we would have stayed. Just would have still told everyone after the wedding would be our honeymoon (so we wouldn't feel obligated to hang out). I think you will be fine staying the whole week at El Dorado though, it is so large I think you will have plenty of variety of restaurants. In fact we saw people there who chose to dine at certain restaurants more than once. We would have loved another opportunity to dine at D'italia or atleast just crab dessert there, it was awesome! If we were to stay at El Dorado again we would stay in a casita, just because it seemed closer to the action and their portion of the beach was catered to by waters, the end we were on (the southern end) was not.

Hey El Dorado girls! I just got back from my wedding at Azul Sensatori, we moved to El Dorado for our honeymoon. I just have to say the beach locations are stunning! I don't know much about the other locations. The chapel looked smaller in person than I remembered it looking in photos. I don't know if they charge different prices for the different beach locations, but the furthest southern location is by far the most stunning location I saw. It's right at the southern most edge of resort and over looks the ocean and shoreline, absolutely gorgeous! The resort is quite large. This was one thing we weren't as crazy about. We had to walk quite a ways to get to one place or another, they have little golf cart like shuttles but we decided to just walk. We found it difficult to keep track of our guests at Azul, it would be 10x as difficult at El Dorado. I would advise doing a block of rooms, or make sure your group is in the same vicinity, otherwise it would be difficult to keep track of them. They have attempted to make the beach more usuable by placing large sand bags that look kind of like beached whales, but I'm sure those who wanted to enjoy the water without all the rock and seaweed (that you'll find at Azul Sensatori) appreciated it. The food was absolutely fantastic. We asked our concierge what the best restaurants were since we had limited time at the resort and he told us Kampai and D'Italia, both were fabulous. We also ate at JoJo's and did the candlelit dinner on the beach, both were also awesome! I'm exciting for you girls, it's an awesome resort, with great service!

Quote: Originally Posted by taylorwd YEA Sammy!!!!! back!!! I'm so glad you had a positive attitude about the rain. It's true, once you're there and it's your day it doesn't matter in the slightest. There's so much emotion and excitement going on that rain seems inconsequential. Thankfully the rain held off for our ceremony but it did rain on us for our pictures afterward. It just made for some great, stormy shots!! I'm soooo excited to hear about your review and see pictures! The siggy you posted looks amazing!!! And take your time. It took me like 3 weeks to get my reviews up. There's just so much to do when you get back and I too am in the midst of doing my AHR. Thanks! I just kept saying "I am not going to Mexico to get married in a ballroom". I found out after I made the decision to continue on the beach that the backup was actualy the open air area next to the Mojito lounge, not sure what it is called, so that isn't bad if anyone else happens to encounter rain on their wedding day. The saddest part is that we didn't have the opportunity to do any pictures together in my original wedding dress. I had acrylics placed in the solon and a pedicure the morning of the wedding. I would definitely advise to get this done at home first. I was just thinking the french tips on my toes and polish on my nails wouldn't hold up if I was end the pool several days before the wedding. The girls in the solon were very very nice, but very slow. My appts were for 8&9 and I didn't get out of the solon until 12. I still had to shower and get our music to the wedding coordinator and then arrange to do my own hair and makeup with the photographer to photograph. So that ran late, I was literally getting into my dress just minutes before we were suppose to meet at the ceremony site. So that is definitely the sadest part. We got some great morning after the wedding shots in my second dress, but I'm sad I didn't get more use out of my original dress. I am looking forward to wearing it in June at our AHR, but no fantastic photographer at that event . Anyway, I will try to get on that planning thread. We actually found out yesterday that we are getting relocated. So I have a lot of new planning stress..here I thought I would have a little bit of a break after the wedding. We just relocated here (St. Louis) from Iowa last May, and just built a beautiful home and thought we would for sure be hear atleast 3-5 years. Well my hubby found out yesterday he is getting promoted (yay) but that means moving to Little Rock, AR. I have so many mixed feelings. I cannot believe we are moving again and so soon and so far from our families. We cannot tell anyone until next week, after it is announced with the company, but I am freaking out a little bit. It was totally stressful last year relocating and we have to do it all over again! House hunt and job hunt, the second time in a year! I still have unpacking to do, but ever since I found out about the relo I have done nothing but internet research. I went from wedding planning to planning another major move. Wish me luck girls, and in my down time- when I want to not think about the move anymore I will post some of my planning stuff.

OMG girls, so I know I haven't been the biggest contributer to this forum, mostly used it for major questions and to vent! I have to say that I am so thankful that I found you girls in February, this forum has been a life saver. I just got home from our wedding at Azul Sensatori, and it was fabulous! I have to say the weather wasn't the best, the worst day was of course our wedding day, but it was still a blast. We still got married on the beach rain and wind in all! So much for buying a TTD my first one got soaked! It is actually fine, I ended up getting more use out of my TTD though (since it was dry to put on for the reception). I will try to put together a planning thread now that I am done with wedding planning, though I am still working on the AHR planning, so be patient. That and a lot of my details got drenched (my fan favors, which who needed them in the rain and wind? And my programs were totally saturated) which was totally sad but they did turn out great. I will post pre-rain pictures . What an amazing week it was! I am so excited for you girls!

Quote: Originally Posted by cjb0arder13 I totally understand you freaking out about this (I would be too!) BUT I've heard that even if the weather says 90% or 100% of anything, it could mean it does that for, like, 10 minutes during the day. It's kind of like Florida...you'll have beautiful sunshine allll day, and then for 20 minutes in the afternoon it rains like the dickens, and then is beautiful sunshine again for the rest of the day. Just enough to break up the crazy heat and make everything smell fresh and rainy, and then sunshine again! Either way, I'm sure your trip and wedding will be amazing! Think positive! Thank you for the reassuring words. I have been telling myself it will be like florida, thought I have had some trips to Florida where it has been a monsoon. As long as our wedding isn't rained out. I don't really want to travel all the way to Mexico to have an indoor wedding...Sigh...I will just keep my fingers crossed. I don't mind a quick storm, actually makes for some neat pictures, just no monsoons please....

Quote: Originally Posted by cjb0arder13 Yeah, some of the photogs in the area are ridiculously expensive. Our budget for photography is $2k, max, and that's even pushing it...it just doesn't seem like with a $500 plane ticket, plus $500 hotel cost (and honestly, I'm estimating there...it could very well be more with the rates out now) that only leaves $1k for the photography package, and I don't think I'd be able to get a very good package for that. Sigh. I know I'm kind of being a baby about this. I think the thing that galls me the most is that I feel rail-roaded into using their photographers, who really aren't that great. Plus I just got done reading the "Boycott El Dorado" thread which got me fired up all over again. I really don't want to switch resorts. I love Azul Beach and it sounds like everything else is exceptional, it's just this one rule that's totally bumming me out. I'll start looking around for US photogs who may be willing to fly there and work with me on the package options...wish me luck! Interview photographers in your home town, look at their work and shoot them a note, you will be surprised what you will find. By staying local you can meet them and get a contract sign and feel more assured with what you will be paying for. Also, I didn't think you could bring in a photographer from Mexico anymore? I think they changed their rules, otherwise I probably would have looked at doing a photographer from Mexico and just paying the 500 vendor fee. I was told you can only bring in outside photographers if they are not from Mexico. Why? I dunno? But, it worked out in my favor.

Quote: Originally Posted by rkf1046 Thanks for the info on the kids! YOu may have said this before, but where are you having the cocktail reception and where are you having the dinner reception? Kiara just sent me my options and I am trying to get a sense of what the best places are - we are doing the Donkey cocktail hour and the surf and turf dinner. I did hear that Zavas Plaza was good to block the wind for the chillier nights and since we our wedding is in December that may be the way to go but we will have around 25-30 people and I am not sure if that area is too big? Is it better to have them in two different spots? Thanks! I know one thing for sure, if all of your guests are staying at the resort, do not mention this to your WC, I had it all set up to have our reception at plaza zavas and made the mistake of telling her our guests were all hotel guests (I was inquiring about what they could do between the wedding and reception, i.e. where they could have "all-inclusive" cocktails without me paying for a coctail hour) and suddenly that location is off limits for a wedding party of all hotel guests. Does this make any sense? So, with the help of my TA we got set up in the Zocallo al Fresco terrace which is suppose to be for groups over 50 only, we have 30 people. But we put our foot down and made them honor one of the two places. I am just nervous about using the terrace cuz I heard they have a mariachi band that plays in the restaurant at nights and am worried that might interfere with our music. I just thought I would address this concern with the onsite team when we get there. I hear they are VERY accomodating onsite. As they should be all the business us brides give them!

You do need to be careful, I wouldn't recommend just picking anyone from anywhere off of the internet, this is why I researched the photographers in my home town and met with them in person and had a full written contract about the agreement beforehand. Better be safe than sorry, I even had our photographer pay for travel insurance, that way if there is any reason he cannot go, I am not out the price of his trip. Quote: Originally Posted by GroomsArePeopleToo Valid points and that may be the case sometimes, but with anything buyer beware. Be careful with someone who is willing to do it on the cheap for a "free vacation". It will likely be fine, but you never know. Not trying to hate on anyone or scare anyone. I am one of those photographers trying to break into the specific area around Puerto Morelos. I am a full time photographer for the past 6 years and shoot 25+ weddings a year. I have a handful of DWs and hope to do more soon. While I am "working with" my first few clients on pricing, I am also sensitive to my peers in the area and those coming down to do the same work. There is no point in undercutting the locals and having them not happy with us. With that in mind I have taken the time to meet with one local team while down on vacation. I think communication among peers is important. I want to have someone I can possibly turn to in the event of an emergency. We are guests on their turf and should act accordingly. While I enjoy coming down to paradise to do what I love to do, I am also a full time photographer and traveling for weddings is still work. I also think it is important to be legit with the authorities and the resorts. I have heard of plenty of photographers that fly under the radar as another "guest". That may work almost every time, but I'd hate to see what happens if something goes wrong. I listened to my peers and took the time to get my FM3, it was very easy and worth the peace of mind for me and my clients. My intention is to book in Mexico where my family has a home, during the slow season here in Cleveland, November to April. Speaking of breaking into the area, I want to thank Wendy for giving me my first MX DW and I am looking forward to photographing Merideth's wedding in November. Please excuse any perceived harsh tone or negativity, it is not intended at all. I LOVE what I get to do! I am just laying out my personal opinions. Sometimes tone can not come across in writing. Congratulations and Best Wishes! I hope to get to work with more of you soon.

Quote: Originally Posted by thefuturemrslutz Hey some photographers will not charge you for the actual "package" if you fly them down and put them up at the resort. It may cost you $2000 to pay for their travel but they won't charge for anything else. Also, I remember Kittenheart's photographer had a special going on at one point (he may still have it). He didn't charge you to travel. He said as long as you purchased a package, he would not charge for travel. ALSO, email every photographer you like. A lot of photographers are trying to get into the destination wedding market, so they may give you a good deal, just to get some exposure. Just do your research! The whole photographer thing freaked me out for awhile too. I was also frustrated with the rules of the resort and thought their photographers weren't worth their price. So, I just started emailing photographers in my home town, all of the ones who I thought did awesome work. I said I was interested in flying them and an assistant down for an all inclusive three night stay (which is what the resort requires), in exchange for all day wedding coverage and a TTD shoot. And I had several get back to me that they would be willing to do all that in exchange for the cost of their trip. So, I was actually able to be kind of choosy and pick which potographer's work I liked best. I then negotiated in an engagement shoot in my home town and he wants to do another engagement shoot on the beach! So, needless to say I ended up spending under 2,000, and am getting a ton more coverage. Our wedding will be his first destination wedding, even though he has been shooting weddings for over 10 years, so he was excited about the prospect. He has also been looking at some of the work done by his favorite photographers who have done destination weddings and TTD shoots and is getting some great ideas! Will let you know how it all turns out, we leave for Mexico on Sunday!