Espejo2be

Hey ladies!! Congrats to all the new brides.... I've had a few brides message me about Merrick Cousley and using him as a photographer but for some reason the site won't let me private message back so I figured I'd just make a post. In my opinion, Merrick is a WONDERFUL person to work with! Such a sweet and kind person, very professional and I loved my pictures and have gotten MANY comments on how awesome they look so I highly recommend him! Between my wedding day and the trash the dress he took almost 1700 pictures!!! And his prices are amazing, compared to many other photographers!! I have about 500 of my pictures posted on Facebook so for anyone who wants a sneak peek of my pictures, feel free to add me.... Sarah Connors Espejo Otherwise, here's a slide show sneak peek that Merrick made for us.

Hey girl, It sounds like you're all a little stressed and things aren't going the easiest with the wedding coordinators right now. I remember being there and I remember SOOO many things going wrong on the day that we had already planned out and thought would be perfect.... In the end we ate married, we can look back and laugh at some of the things we stressed about because overall, it wasn't just the day that we had to look back on, it was the whole week we had to make memories with family and friends. We got a link to a sneak peek if our wedding photos last night, they were done by Merrick cousley ( who by the way is not only an amazing wedding photographer but he lifted my spirits when so many things went wring and on top of it all, our wedding was down poured on! I don't know what unwound have done without him!!) our trash the dress pictures are coming this weekend, I will be sure to post them. Hope this makes you girls feel a little better, looking ahead to your big day, because no matter how many things went wrong... That what made our wedding special and unique to us! Enjoy!

Hey Girls, I'm Back!! So i just wrote a big long message and some how exited out of the screen and lost it all. So i'm going to make this one short and sweet. Pros: Gorgeous Resort, and huge Friendly staff Spacious bedroom DELICIOUS FOOD Very Nice and sweet wedding coordinator (Chandlyn) #1 pool bartender = Henry Cons: Guests had to bring towels because of a consistent towel shortage No upgraded room (even though we were the bride and groom) Bartender for wedding reception = total waste of money DJ for ceremony and wedding reception = total dummy and total waste of money Donnalee = WORST wedding coordinator i've ever come across Wedding rehersal = total waste of your groups time because nothing goes as planned Outside the resort your bombarded with locals telling you stuff is free, giving it to you and then asking you for money for it?! Our wedding day. we met Chandlyn (who rushed us) in the lobby to get into the golf cart which brought us to the beach. After seeing her a couple days before to go over all the details and give her all of the decorations that we had brought with us and tell her how we wanted things laid out. We got down to the gazebo and none of the pre-ceremony music was playing, the guys were all hanging out at the steps on the top of the isle right where we had arrived and my FI almost seen me, when they were supposed to be standing at the gazebo by that point. The preist is awesome, he read the script we gave him because we wanted 2 reading incorperated as well as a sand cermeony. Donnalee was present during our ceremony not Chandlyn (which if i had my time back i would have requested). When it came to our sand ceremony, i noticed that our vases weren't set out. Donnalee came up in the middle of our sand ceremony and put the vases and sand in sandwich bags on our table and walked away!!!! Our wedding was being webcasted live so it was quite embarassing to be pouring sand from sandwich bags into the vases before we could pour it into the middle vase, all the while the DJ skipped a song and was playing the signing of the register song instead. It had been hot, humid and gorgeous weather the WHOLE time we were down there, just as we signed the register, it down poured, BAD!!! all of our guests huddled in the gazebo around us and the webcasting cut out, the gazebo floor was flooded! the DJ put on our precessional song during the signing of the register. it cleared up a little after about 10 minutes and the steel drum band started playing, only half of our guests were offered champagne after the ceremony. It stayed clear for a little bit and while we were taking group shots I looked over and seen the steel drum band packing up and leaving about 15 minutes after they started playing (they were already paid $400) and there was a half naked man whole none of us knew videotaping our whole wedding and Donnalee was standing right next to time letting it happen. I had to go over and ask him to leave myself!!!! We all got soaked in the showers and my hair went limp pretty fast. My spirits were lifted after Merrick Cousley (our photographer) showed me a couple seek peeks on his camera and was saying we had the best weather because colors pop just after the rain (he was my saving grace!!) I would recommend him to anyone because we was fantastic!!! We showed up to the Dolce Vita for our reception, it was decorated beautifully (better than i could have imagined). Our guests all showed up at 6:30pm or earlier and had to sit and wait almost a half hour before they were even served wine alone their meal!! The food was great, service was horrible! They brought out our cake without the cake topped and then didn't know how to put it on (hugging doves) so my FI had to go over and put it on himself in the middle of supper. We cut our cake and ate a peice (we added an extra layer = so worth it) and got white raspberry, chocolate raspberry and coconut. We served a couple of our guests some cake because nobody else was around to do it and then never saw the cake again, they didn't ask us what we wanted to do with it or if they should cut it up. We also found out afterwards from one of our guests that he went to the bathroom in the middle of supper and when he flushed the toilet a rat sprang up out of the toilet and started running around the bathroom and then out through the resturant. He reported this to the manager and he said "yeah, we've been trying to catch that one for a while now!" needless to say, not too impressed!! After supper we went to the gazebo where the bartender met us, he was nice and very friendly but he mixed the drinks pretty weak and wasn't really worth the $660 we paid for him. The DJ had our ipod for the dance and hit play and spent the rest of the night surfing the internet with his headphones in. He just let the music play and when someone requested the next song, he looked and them and handed them the ipod. If i had my time back I would have just got the speakers and done it ourselves and also had someone in charge of the music during our ceremony. We left the gazebo and went to the disco for a bit although some of our guests partied until early in the morning. We were told to meet with Chandlyn before we left the resort to get our things back and being sceptical I checked the bags right in front of them before leaving. 1/2 of our stuff was missing or broken and when we asked about the coupole specific things that we really wanted back, they said they were in the bag that they gave us and were not willing to do anything for us. So another recommendation, anything you want back, make sure someone is gathering it right after you finished with it! Our stay was amazing, our wedding was a complete mess but in the end we'll have gorgeous pictures and we're married to each other Oh, and on another note, we did a TTD session with Merrick (which was AMAZING!!!) and when we were in the ocean splashing around my husband (hehe) lost his wedding band... yes, the day after our wedding!! We snorkeled for hours but didn't find it... our luck! So we had to buy him a new band when we got back to Newfoundland. If you girls have any more questions, let me know, hope this helps a little!!

mekanabr, looking at your pictures makes me feel so much better!! We leave for Jamaica tomorrow night and one of our bridesmaids (my FI's only sister) just backed out of the wedding tonight!!! She's not going because her son caught a chest infection and he hasnt been feeling well the last 2 weeks but it got worse today so she decided to tell us 24 hours before we leave that her and her husband (who was also in the wedding) have decided that they aren't going to come. I"m mad and upset but yet I can't show it because it's my FI's nephew that's sick.... i'm so mixed up right now I'm down a bridesmaid and my FI's down a family member which is hard seeing he only has one sister and one brother.... so looking at your pictures makes me feel a bit better because then i somewhat focus on the fact that i'm getting married to the man of my dreams in less than a week and although this is not how i pictured my wedding going... in the end, i will be married!

Mekanabr, Congrats on your wedding!!! Thank you sooo much for all of the helpful information you gave! I leave 1am this Thursday morning and my wedding is one week from today, I got goosebumps reading your review because you have relieved so many of our fears and so much nervousness that now i'm actually excited!!!! You looked absolutely beautiful and I hope your day was everything you dreamed of. One question: Did you use Merrick Cousley?? if so, how did you find him? Thanks again!!!

My FI is a big built guy and he said they fit a little big, not sloppy big but comfortable. Happy looking!

I would try JCPenny, Their shipping isn't too bad and they carry a big range of sizes. I had the same problem in my wedding party and we ordered a suit for my FI and shirts and pants for the rest of the guys and the quality is excellent!!

Daphodil, you must be getting excited now with time flying by, can I ask when your wedding day is? Mine is august 8, 2011 so I was just wondering if we'll be there the same time!!! I have 6 sleeps until we leave and 11 til the wedding!! Ive been so cool and collected up to this point but now my nerves are starting to set in (I think mostly because of excitement!)... I'm packed and ready to go already and have been up 430am every morning the last few days thinking and wondering if there's anything I'm missing! At this point the reviews dont bother me because I think if everyone tries to make the most of their trip and doesn't sweat the small things, we'll all be happy!

I'm so sorry to hear for you girls and the big screw ups that have been made, i've had my share of screw ups by the wedding coordinators and my TA along the way so i really sympathize with you!! I really hope everything works out for you and that you get over this speed bump fast and on to planning the fun stuff with the relief of knowing everything is set for sure! I don't have much time left now, 32 days until the wedding and 28 until we leave for Jamaica... I'm excited and nervous at the same time... i think i'm stressing over nothing but it just feels like I need to stress about something seeing everything is still technically still up in the air until I arrive. We made OOT bags for our guests as our favors and I've put so much time and effort into making them to find out that now we're only allowed one piece of luggage each and it takes 2 months to ship anything to jamaica ... seeing we not only have to pack for jamaica but for Newfoundland too (as we're having another AHR when we leave Jamaica, it's going to be tough to get everything down there... but i guess whatever we bring we bring and everything else gets left behind... I contacted Chandlyn yesterday about possibly getting a sound system at the gazebo for our ipod and not paying for the DJ and she quoted me $100US per hour but yet the DJ for 2 hours is $250US ?! I don't get how this makes sense at all but then again i don't think any quote they make does... She also told me that we can't confirm any resturants or menus until 2 weeks before the wedding, which i found strange. Anyone else get different responses than these?

Hey Tris, I just wanted to say, your wedding pictures are absolutely AMAZING!!! I'm completely jealous of how photogenic you guys are You had an awesome photographer. I can only hope our pictures turn out half as good!! I do have a question for you thoughif you don't mind, where did you get Kai's suit? We are looking at ordering one for FI soon and cannot decide on what we both like but after sitting down together looking at your pictures we both agreed on the look of his suit. I love how you had the bright colored shirts on the guys and the bridesmaids dresses are gorgeous!!

Hi, I am interested in 15 Mini Lint Roller (from target) 15 Mini Sunscreen To Go (SPF 30) 15 Beach Bags if they are still available Thanks

No I don't think its a bad thought because I've been thinking the same thing!!! I think its ridiculous!! I did send Chandlyn our info form with our credit card number for the 25% deposit and said specified that i wanted to pay 25% of the $850 Unforgettable package in hopes that once she accepted it then she couldn't say anything about it. She did send back an email saying "Thank you for the information"... So i don't think that'll get me too far but i'm going to keep trying!!

If you're waiting to hear from Merrick, he was out of Jamaica shooting a wedding in the US i think and was supposed to get his flight back yesterday but with the snow was expecting his flight would be delayed. Give it another day or so, hes usually quite quick with his responses!

Thanks for the extra tip, I've been thinking about doing travel mugs but didn't really understand what all the hype about them was, now it makes sense! Seems like you wonderful time, now i'm even more excited!!!

Hi Girls, I joined WW yesterday and am determined to get 15-20 pounds gone before my wedding in August. I kept saying i was going to join since after christmas and kept putting it off and making excuses but I finally took the leap and joined. Hopefully I get the same reasults you are all seeing!!!