Pucca

Actually more money doesn't necessarily equate with better quality. Just because I didn't "splurge" on photography did not mean that I got lower quality photos. Almost two years later we still love our photos and can't wait to go back and use the same photographer for an anniversary shoot. I just don't believe that you have to pay what everyone pays because that's the standard. Sometimes the photographers take advantage of the fact that brides from abroad are willing to overpay because that's the "norm". Of course if you pay a lot you'd better get your money's worth so the photos had better be incredible. But I believe in supporting the "little guy" so to speak who has just as great an eye but isn't overcharging for his art because he doesn't need to. But of course, if you believe you need to splurge then go ahead. But we shouldn't think that a person who doesn't splurge doesn't value good photography. That's highly presumptuous. At the end of the day it's really an individual decision according to everyone's budget and philosophy. And there will always be people who splurge and people who don't.

Those are just darling!

We got married in November at 4:30 pm. Hubby wore a black suit with faint grey pinstripes. I thought he might be hot but he wanted to wear it and actually kept his suit jacket on until the dancing. I don't remember it being that hot. So I guess it all depends on when you're getting married and the time of day. My husband was like this. But then realistically he realized that he couldn't keep it a total secret because he needed me to help shop for his clothes since he was busy with work. Plus my mom bought his suit. But I let him keep his tie choice a secret although I had some idea. Haha. But he resented the fact that he couldn't keep everything a secret when my dress was a secret. Haha.

I have posted about our photographer somewhere before but I forget which thread. I have also shared about him on my planning thread, but I will share my experience again through this thread as I just came upon it today. We love our photos and we can't say enough good things about our photographer. Although it has been almost a year and a half since our special day, my husband and I still like to look at our photos. We chose to use Gonzalo from Art' n Colors Photography & Video rather than go with the popular photographers that appear on this forum for similar reasons as quoted above. We did our fair share of contacting photographers but were never satisfied with any responses. And my husband and I also preferred to look for vendors who were more local, less "big name" and less everyone-else-is-using-them. Gonzalo's prices were in line with our budget and he was just fabulous to work with. Whenever I get a chance to recommend him I do, like now. I keep up with his wedding pictures and other photography on his Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ArtNColors) and as usual love his work. So I'd encourage people to check him out.

Thank you so much! It was definitely easy going doing it through Mama Mia! I am going to check to see if I still have anything from Mama Mia and I will PM you. It was a buffet so the prices depended upon what you wanted to be served. They also ordered the cake for us from a bakery that we had originally tried to contact on our own, so you can imagine we were quite thrilled. Basically the wedding took place on the public portion of the beach. Mama Mia is on a resort/timeshare property so the reception is held on the part of the beach that belongs to the property. We just requested the chuppah from the florist, and then the wedding coordinator from the restaurant set up the chairs, according to what we asked. Then the florist communicated with the wedding coordinator, and everything was arranged. The wedding coordinator from Mama Mia was absolutely wonderful to work with. So I don't think I was stressed at all the day of the wedding, even after a few little hiccups which was to be expected.

Congratulations! I think it's totally possible to get married for that budget depending upon what sort of wedding you want and how many guests you are having. I got married in Los Cabos almost a year and a half ago, closer to the San Jose del Cabo area but on the beach. I cannot think of any cons for having both ceremony and reception on the beach. We didn't have much wind and the weather was absolutely perfect in November. The pros? I can't even list them. My husband and I still talk about how we loved our wedding. My reception was on the beach as well, set up outside a restaurant that catered the food and helped with the set-up of everything (the restaurant was called Mama Mia). Their wedding coordinator was really great and easy to work with. Everything was reasonably priced and our budget was not that much more than yours. We had 25 guests and I kept my set-up pretty simple. Our photographer was absolutely fabulous to work with as was our florist. Our photographer was Gonzalo from ArtnColors and we had our flowers done through Floreria Rayen. I highly recommend both. Here is the link to some pictures. I can send you more set-up pictures if you want. Just PM me. I also have a planning thread if you want to check that out as well. http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/77209/puccas-wedding-and-ttd-photos Congratulations again! Good luck and happy planning!

I like that song! So we thought we were going to dance to something slow, or something Beatles, but we ended choosing a Spanish song -- El Amor by Tito El Bambino. It was perfect.

Come Away With Me is a beautiful song. I never thought of it despite liking Norah Jones. Will have to make a note for my friend's wedding. Thanks!

Hello everyone! I agree with Taryn - hard to believe it has been a year; time does fly. We are currently not at home thanks to Hurricane Sandy. We have had no power for almost a week now so we have been spending our days at family and friends' homes. But we have to return tomorrow since we need to go and vote on Tuesday. Hopefully we will have electricity back by then. But on a more positive note, we leave for our anniversary trip to Puerto Rico this Thursday. It'll be great to be somewhere not cold for a few days! :-) Happy anniversary everyone!! Hope all is well.

Congratulations! I got married on the beach in Los Cabos, Mexico, and had the dinner set up a few steps away, also on the beach but within the property of a restaurant that was on the beach. Here's my planning thread: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/76794/puccas-post-wedding-planning-thread-with-pics And here's a link to some of my photos so you can see how it all came together: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/77209/puccas-wedding-and-ttd-photos Our reception set-up seems minimal but it looked beautiful in the evening because of all the candles and lighting we had, which is what I wanted more than any flowers and such. It might not look as fancy as some other weddings but it turned out to be just perfect for us. Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck and happy planning!

Both dresses are beautiful. I'm one of those brides that wanted to be beautiful but also wanted to be comfortable. Comfort was very important to me because I would be wearing the dress for at least 6 hours. If you're really uncomfortable in the second dress I'd say don't get it. I tried on a beautiful dress that was absolutely gorgeous but in the end I knew I would be so tired from being uncomfortable that I wouldn't have thoroughly enjoyed my own wedding despite making me feel like a bride and all; and that was not an option for me! So I looked for something more comfortable and found the "this is it" dress. You can have them alter the first dress into a sweetheart neckline which I think would make it more beautiful and hence a little bit more "different" than what you usually wear. Plus if you're wearing a veil it will make the look different than usual. Having said that, if you're not too thrilled about either of those choices, I'd say keep looking. Maggie Sottero has so many more dresses that have some similarities but might give you that "I love it" feeling. If you keep coming back to either of the two above, then get the dress that keeps popping up in your head. Good luck.

We had Gonzalo from ArtnColors as our photographer. He's awesome to work with, reasonably priced, and we loved his captures of our wedding and TTD. I would highly recommend him.

I can't believe that people would be so flat out rude! The bride should be the judge of what is too heavy and what is not. Thank goodness you found a better bridal salon! Happy planning!

Really?? What do they mean by that? I hope you found another bridal salon.

Amelia is so cute! What lovely photos!! Congratulations again and enjoy your precious angel! We were thinking about going back to where we got married but we decided to put that off and explore somewhere new. So we're going to Puerto Rico and going around the entire island - as much as we can anyway. I can't wait!! Have a great Labor Day weekend everyone!

Congratulations!! What a lovely 9-month anniversary gift!! Would love to see some pictures! She must be so precious! I can't believe 9 months have already gone by. We are doing well and looking forward to our one-year anniversary trip. Hope everyone else is well!

Yes, I did both legal and symbolic because we didn't want to run around trying to get things legalized in Mexico. But we also weren't doing our wedding at an all-inclusive resort and already had arranged for my pastor to fly in to marry us, so to spare us any complications of trying to legalize the Cabo wedding we decided to do a civil ceremony at home. But if you're going to have your wedding in Mexico be legal, you might ask your coordinator at Dreams how to pull that off; they should be able to tell you what you need to bring and all the requirements. Plus your ceremony at Dreams doesn't have to be in Spanish in order to make it legal. So check with your wedding coordinator. Good luck!

Our anniversary date is the day we got married in Cabo, and that's the day we'll always remember. Our civil ceremony was 5 minutes long and for us just a formality.

Thank you very much!!

I see how you might want to legalize your marriage after your ceremony in Mexico. However, we did it prior to going because we wanted to be legally married for our trip abroad in the event something happened. Not only that but we didn't want to come back and have to deal with the paperwork; it was better for us to get it out of the way prior to heading to Mexico. Also, it felt weird to us if we came back from all the wedding stuff and had to go and legalize it like the wedding in Mexico didn't really count. We wrote our own vows for the wedding in Mexico while the legal ceremony was a five-minute deal where we just repeated after the judge; so the legal ceremony didn't really feel like the real thing anyway because there was no bouquet, no wedding dress, no audience (just two witnesses), no personal vows, and no music. And it truly didn't lessen the significance of the actual wedding in Mexico which will be forever remembered as one of the best days of my life. Some people do the legal ceremony as close as they can to the real wedding but we did ours a month in advance. But whatever you decide, it is a personal decision and you should choose what is appropriate for you and your situation.

If you've got a small party and you're close to San Jose del Cabo, we went to La Panga just off of the square in the center of town. We went during lunch time though and prix fixe was under $30 (we didn't have an official welcome/rehearsal dinner; had welcome happy hour instead). The food was great and the restaurant was really pretty with a local vibe. If you're closer to Cabo San Lucas, sorry I can't help you there! Maybe you can do a search for some other discussions for restaurants on this forum. I think there are several threads that discuss places to eat. Good luck!

Beautiful!!

Thank you very much!!

I love the Plain White T's 1,2,3,4. We had a beach wedding and we used it for the groom's procession. Maybe you can use it there. Or use it during the guest seating. If your brother can play it on the guitar I think it would be beautiful for your procession. Here's another version with just violin and I think it's beautiful: So this is tough. I love both versions. However, I will have to vote for the actual song. Of course, if you use instrumentals throughout the ceremony then you should use the piano version; but if you're using songs with lyrics for everything, I prefer the actual song. And personally I don't think the lyrics are going to be distracting. I don't even remember hearing the song after the cue for me to begin my procession; all I remember is holding on to my parents so I wouldn't trip and fall while being so happy to see the man that I love waiting for me. So, even though I chose my song (It is You I Have Loved - Dana Glover) for the lyrics, I didn't hear them on the day.

Thank you very much!! Thank you so much!! Congratulations on your engagement and starting the planning process!! Good luck and happy planning!! And feel free to ask me any questions you might have. I'd be happy to help if I can.