JuliaR

Wow. VERY pretty. I'm a fellow pro photog (portraits). I got goosebumps.

dual post. my bad.

Quote: Originally Posted by Lady_Di Thanks so much for writing the review so quickly!!! How was the weather? HOTTT? Julia, that is an AMAZING picture by the beach! Did you guys rent a car and drive to Tulum? I can't believe you actually climbed over the fence. Haha. Was it closed or something? Thanks! We borrowed a car from friends who have a house in Tulum. We stayed with them for our honeymoon. It was on Soliman Bay and fantastic. It's really easy to rent a car and getting around is not hard. Driving IN TOWN is tricky because no one obeys the traffic laws! LOL We left PLaya at 4:30 am and drove 40 minutes to Tulum. That shot was taken just after sunrise. We totally trespassed onto government property to get there! That's why we climbed the fence! LOL. That's why we climbed the fence! (Photogs will do just about anything for a great shot...and with 3 of us there, we were determined to get amazing images!)

Ok here's the funny fence incident. We climbed this fence on government land to get to the spot where we were photographed the sunrise coast shot. I climbed that fence in a skirt and my photog shot it! LOL We left the Gran Porto at 4:30 am to get this shot on the coast! I love it. I'm going to print it HUGE on canvas for my living room wall. It was photographed about 1/2 mile south of the Tulum ruins. You have to drive a back road and climb through the jungle to get there. Totally worth it! We got the shot on the swings right after we were married. The swings are located on the Gran property.

Here's our first wedding pic! I'm still in Tulum, but I couldn't wait to post the first one! More to come later!

Quote: Originally Posted by Lady_Di Hi Julia, so glad you had an awesome wedding and everything went well for you! Question, did they did not let you and your photog in the area? We are planning to go to Tulum to do our TTD. Is the beach off limits as well? Thanks! There are plenty of beaches in Tulum to do a TTD. The beaches are beautiful. It's the ruins where you will run into opposition. They were very mean and literally kicked us off the property because I was in a wedding dress and had a "professional" photographer with me. If I changed my clothes they told me I could go inside the ruins. totally retarded. We tried to get to the beaches next to the ruins, but couldn't get there. Too rugged. We even scaled a chain link fence and stole onto government property at 6 am to do it! LOL. It was funny. My photog has a shot of me climbing over a chain link fence in a skirt. Thank god I didn't have my wedding dress on at the time! I"ll post the pics when we get back.

Quote: Originally Posted by candicemarie Congrats Julia!!! I'm so glad everything went well! Thanks so much for sharing! One question, how many people did you have? I'm in the GPR gazebo, too and really didn't want to put all the peeps inside. We're having 23 people. Do you think that many will fit outside? Thank you! I had 23 too and we all fit inside the gazebo. The Gran Porto Gazebo is really small and there is virtually very little room outside the gazebo unless you start putting chairs down the hallway. There is also a set of two steps you go down RIGHT before you get to the gazebo so putting people outside may not work. 23 fit inside very well though. Worked great for us!

My wedding on Thursday was perfect. We had it at the Gran Porto Gazebo with a reception on the beach right afterward at sunset. The set up is gorgeous, the breeze is fantastic. I HIGHLY recommend wearing your hair up because of the wind. It's our last day here before we head further south to Tulum for our honeymoon and it hasn't rained once while were have been here. There are lots of other weddings going on, but they all seem to be away from one another. It's really not a big deal. The resorts are so large that there's plenty of room. The Gran Porto Beach is much less windy than the Royal. I like it better. The Royals' gazebo is a lot nicer that the Gran, mainly do to the roominess around it and the ability to have your guests outside the gazebo. Do THAT if you can. The light inside the gazebos is HORRIBLE and makes for yucky pictures. Unfortunately, we HAD to be inside the Gran gazebo because there is just no space there. Zulma was fabulous as was the staff for the wedding. We ended up going with a DJ and is sooooo worth it. They have lights and fun music. Worth it completely. I canceled the video taping which I regret a little. The ceremony itself goes by SO INCREDIBLY FAST. I didn't have time to soak it all in enough. You are so emotional and overwhelmed, you can't focus. I don't even remember where people were sitting! LOL. I wish I had the video to watch it all over again. The biggest thing I remember is just how much I love Rob and how beautiful the setting was. That's the most important thing right! 5th avenue is just a block away and it is SOOOO cool! Hip, fun, upscale and charming. It has a very European al fresco feel. We did a photo shoot there last night and it was a blast. We tried to get into the Tulum ruins yesterday morning for pictures, but they were VERY rude and WILL NOT allow professional photographers or brides into the archeological site. I was sooo sad about that. Be forewarned. I'll give a better review when we get back. My pro photog is a colleague of mine, so he downloaded all the images onto my hard drive last night before he left. I'll proof and post some when I get back next week. PS. Lots of sand fleas on the beach. Wear bug repellent! Also, don't drink the water or eat dairy. A couple of family members got a little sick while we were here. The sun is very hot. For the brides who are concerned about the details of their wedding. Don't be. It'll make you crazy. They take care of EVERYTHING here for you. It truly makes the experience easy and unforgettable. Once you get here, the details don't really matter at all that much anymore......

Just met with Zulma. She is the BOMB. I feel so much better about my wedding and she is such a dear, sweet person. She's one of those people you meet and you instantly want to be her best friend. She is so ON TOP OF IT...and willing to do ANYTHING for you. I'm so totally and completely excited right now I can hardly stand it! BTW, we moved my wedding to 5 pm. At 4 pm it is VERY HOT here. The light is also a lot better from 5-7 pm (I'm a photographer. It's important to me). The beach receptions are just GORGEOUS! It's a magical place!

Ahhh! I'm sitting on the Lanai of my hotel room at the Gran Porto Real Resort. It's so lovely! Getting married on Thursday! PS> The alcohol flows like a river here! LOL

Oooooo!Pretty pic! So excited for you. You look AMAZING! I leave for Mexico on FRIDAY!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by duprk452 Nope. We are doing this and we have no vendor fee charge That makes me little peeved! I am being charged $350 for my photog even though we booked a Ocean View Junior Suite for my photogs for 4 nights!!! ARGH!

I got passed onto Zulma this week at the Gran. Oh sooo happy to be passed off from the Michigan gals. Phew.

Photographers ARE really expensive, but here's why. Consider how many hours of work goes into your wedding. 1. 2 hours of consultation Pre-Wedding 2. 4-6 hours Travel to get to Destination, plus the days they are away from their studio where they could be shooting portraits or working with other paying clients. Lots of lost income here. 3. 2-3 hours Scouting Location: looking for the best places to photograph your wedding 4. 6-8 hours coverage on your Wedding Day 5. 2 hours TTD Day After Wedding 6. 4-6 Hours: Travel getting home 7. 1-2 Hours: Downloading and backing up 4000-5000 images. 8. 40 + Hours: Editing and retouching your 500+ files to make you look gorgeous 9. 10 + hours Album Design 10. 1-2 Hours Consulting with You to Choose Images and narrow down to 200. 11. 1-2 Hour Prepping and uploading Files for the print lab, burning discs. 12. 1 hour to package and assemble your prints for delivery. And this is a conservative estimate. TOTAL HOURS: 74-85 And you are paying them less than $5000 for your coverage and album?? That album costs them about $500-700 to produce (hard cash). That means they get $4200 in their pocket. That's $55 an hour before taxes to do a job that requires constant education, incredible training, facility overhead, and not to mention the wear and tear/depreciation on their equipment, plus all their marketing costs, employee costs, taxes, legal fees, membership associations, cost of goods etc. The top wedding Photographers ($8-10,000 per wedding) make at the most about $20-30 per hour. Photogs at the lower end make less than minimum wage! So when you say it's expensive, make sure you really evaluate what your getting and what that photographer has to spend (time and money) to make your wedding the most beautiful event ever. Is it worth it to you? And when you take into account a photographer who is EXTREMELY talented and you KNOW you are going to get the images of a lifetime.....Food for thought. Most wedding photographer do the job because they LOVE it. It is their passion. Photographers will bend over BACKWARDS for brides who appreciate what they are doing for them and are willing to pay their worth. FYI: I know a lot of wedding photographers since I work in the photographic industry.

I am flying in a photographer from Texas who is listed as one of the 10 Best in the World by American Photo magazine and listed as a Kodak Photographer to Watch. Photography is THE single most important part of the wedding to me. All in all with travel and fees, their services are worth about $8000-10,000. Granted I am not paying their regular fee because they happen to be VERY good friends of ours, but I wanted to add my two cents here when it comes to the price of good photography. Consider how many hours of work goes into your wedding. 1. 2 hours of consultation Pre-Wedding 2. 4-6 hours Travel to get to Destination, plus the days they are away from their studio where they could be shooting portraits or working with other paying clients. Lots of lost income here. 3. 2-3 hours Scouting Location: looking for the best places to photograph your wedding 4. 6-8 hours coverage on your Wedding Day 5. 2 hours TTD Day After Wedding 6. 4-6 Hours: Travel getting home 7. 1-2 Hours: Downloading and backing up 4000-5000 images. 8. 40 + Hours: Editing and retouching your 500+ files to make you look gorgeous 9. 10 + hours Album Design 10. 1-2 Hours Consulting with You to Choose Images and narrow down to 200. 11. 1-2 Hour Prepping and uploading Files for the print lab, burning discs. 12. 1 hour to package and assemble your prints for delivery. And this is a conservative estimate. TOTAL HOURS: 74-85 And you are paying them $5000 for your coverage and album?? That album costs them about $500-700 to produce (hard cash). That means they get $4200 in their pocket. That's $55 an hour to do a job that requires constant education, incredible training, facility overhead, and not to mention the wear and tear/depreciation on their equipment, plus all their marketing costs, employee costs, taxes, legal fees, membership associations, cost of goods etc. The top wedding Photographers make at the most about $15-20 per hour. Photogs at the lower end make less than minimum wage! So when you call it expensive, make sure you really evaluate what your getting and what that photographer has to spend (time and money) to make your wedding the most beautiful event ever. Is it worth it to you? And when you take into account a photographer who is EXTREMELY talented and you KNOW you are going to get the images of a lifetime, wouldn't you WANT to pay them what they are worth? Most wedding photographer do this job because they LOVE it. It is their passion. Treat them that way and they will give you EVERYTHING they have. There is nothing to them quite like an appreciative client, and wedding photographers will bend over BACKWARDS for brides who appreciate what they are doing for them. Ok......back to regularly scheduled programming. :-)