AlisonDawn

Hey Chelsey, I was married there in February and we decided to hire a different photographer. It really is based on your own personal preference though. If you like the photos the resort photographers take, then you will save a whole slew of money!! If not though, and you decide to hire an external photographer, ask Jacki if there are any refunds for doing so. We did this, and she gave us $100 off another aspect of our wedding. I'd suggest Del Sol for your photos if you can afford it! They are all so talented and wonderful! I am still so in love with our photos, they truly captured the story of our wedding. And the best part is that you get ALL the photos (between 300-400) mailed to you on a disk, so you don't have to pick and choose which photos you need to part with. But maybe the resort photog. does this as well? I don't actually know..

You must be getting so excited Julie!!! Enjoy every moment, it goes by SO fast!!

We chose Del Sol for our trash the dress photos. The above photos by Breeburns are by them also, and hers are SO beautiful! But everything they do is beyond gorgeous! So I definitely recommend them! Plus Sol is just the sweetest, most awesome woman! And from what I have heard, Matt is pretty awesome too!

We had an underwater TTD shoot the day after our wedding (in a cenote) and we are SO glad we did it. The pictures turned out beautiful and we have such amazing memories of the day! It was SO fun! My dress was silk, and the bottom of it definitely got trashed, but that was because of walking in dirt and on sharp rocks! It was a little hard to swim at first, as my dress got very heavy, but so worth it! I say go for it! Especially in Bora Bora with all the fish surrounding you!

My best advice is to bring a good camera and make sure you bring enough memory cards for it! We were there for 2 weeks and took ALOT of pictures (I'm talking 3000 or more! Lol!) Of course a lot of them were taken just to get the perfect picture of something and experimenting with different camera settings, but it was nice not to have to worry about it and it was super fun taking tons of pics. There are lots of "must do's" there, but I'll share some of our best memories while we were there. Most people head to the main island on the water shuttles and then grab a taxi into the main village (Vaitape), but you can rent bikes once you get there and ride there yourself. We were a little nervous at first, since we thought we might overheat, so we went in the morning, and my husband brought a backpack which we filled with lots of water. It was probably one of the best days we had! It was fantastic to take in the scenery that way, and the people there are so friendly, always waving when we rode by. We could also stop whenever we wanted to take pictures! haha Oh and if you DO head to the village, no matter how you plan on getting there, bring a backpack and stock up on snacks because they are EXPENSIVE at the resorts. As is sunscreen... if you need extra, buy it in the village. I would also recommend doing some scuba diving while you are there. We took a beginners course as we had never done it before and it was so AMAZING. What resort are you staying at? We stayed at Le Meridien, and if you are at all close to that I'd recommend popping over there for a visit to see the turtle sanctuary. I spend a few hours there daily, and there is a glass window looking into the water for some awesome pictures. The best time to go is 30mins before they feed the turtles (10am I think). The turtles know feeding time is coming, so they are all in one spot waiting, and you can get lots of pictures in before everyone else shows up! If you are into tattoos, once of the best tattoo artists is in Bora Bora. You tell him what you want, where, and what size, and thats all you get to know. They are tribal, so just in black ink, but he freehands every single tattoo.. so he just makes it up as he goes. He is amazing and his tattoos are incredible! His tattoo shop is called Marama tattoo if you are interested. My husband and I both got tattoos there the day before we had to leave I could probably go on and on and on, but this post is long enough! hahaha

Oooh! Congratulations!!! My husband and I went to Bora Bora for our honeymoon just a few months ago! It is so beautiful! You guys are going to have such a wonderful wedding!!

Beautiful photos Sharon!! Congrats!! I hope your day was more than perfect!!

Hey Allie! You must be getting so excited!!! I was pretty unsure of tipping as well, but this is what we did: WC (Jackie): $100 Hair Stylist: $15 I think Calvin gave the waiters and bartender $10 each. Might have been $5 though, I'm not really sure We didn't tip the wedding judge, as there was a fee for her to do our wedding already. We also did not tip our photographer as they set their own fees and they are definitely not cheap! Honestly I wouldn't worry too much about it anyway! Just tip what you feel is comfortable for you. They are all so wonderful and don't expect a tip, so anything you give them is a bonus

Hey Katie, I added you back! Browse away! I have some other photos of the resort that family and friends took as well, but they are not on fb. If you want to see them just message me and I can email them to you!

My "add" apparently didn't work the first time!! You should be able to see me now!

Katoe, your BMs and GM are going to look fantastic!! Not as good as you will of course! As far as a photographer goes, it depends on how important it is to you. It was SO important to Calvin and I, so we hired out. We hired La Luna for the wedding and Del Sol for the Trash the Dress, but they are back to being the same company again. HIGHLY recommend them though if you can afford it. Amazing photos and they are such fun people! Again, decor depends on how important it is to you. We had the "dreams of love" package, so we got flowers put on the gazebo for us. Which Jacki then took off and used as our centerpieces since we did not want to pay extra. It worked great for what we wanted, but it depends on the look you are going for As for invitations, I just sent out online ones since we wanted fast responses, so I may not be much help here. Song requests is a neat idea though! But you may not have time to play them all. As for food, I thought about giving people the selections as well to see what the majority wanted, but then I knew I'd just feel bad for the people who didn't get what they wanted... so I decided ignorance was bliss and we just chose what we wanted . I just stayed away from seafood since there are always people who don't like it..(at least in my family) favors - the wedding guest guide is an awesome idea!! I know you're probably all stressed out about everything, but my advice: don't be!! Aside from picking out your dress and your photographers, Jacki takes care of everything for you. Are you doing a legal ceremony? I don't think many people do because of the extra steps and cost (and the blood test). But if you do, don't be nervous about that either. They do the blood the blood test while you go over your details with Jacki and its super quick and painless! lol

Thanks Marie!! I added you as a friend on fb!! Feel free to message me whenever you want, or even better, when I'm online!!

Ok ladies, I got some wedding photos sent to me a couple days ago! yay! I'll add some on here that show the resort etc. If you want to see all of them, you can add me on facebook! Just search "Alison Kirkwood", my network is "university of Lethbridge". Just leave me a message on there as well, so I know who you are.

Hey Julie! I'll try to be as helpful as I can with some of your questions! As for your wedding date, that's my dads bday so I'll definitely be thinking of you!! I'll cross my fingers that it doesn't rain! But if it does, my advice is get yourself a good photographer, because at least then you will have some BEAUTIFUL rain photos I orginally had my ceremony time set t 5pm, but my photographers told me to move it up to 4 so they had time for "sunset" photos of Calvin and I, and so it was still light for family photos right after the ceremony. Of course this was in February, so you miight want to double check what time the sun sets in August if you don't want to run out of light for your photos. Reception - we didnt choose our location until we got their either! Jacki told me that it was supposed to be nice all week, with no rain, so we chose the beach. She did have a backup plan though, so if it started raining, or LOOKED like it was about to rain before the reception, she would have moved everything indoors while guests were still enjoying the cocktail hour. So if you decide you would like the beach but are afraid of rain, just give it a shot anyway and Jacki will take care of you if the weather is miserable. I have been to Mexico in August in the past, and though it is a little hotter during the day, it still cools off quite a bit at night. El patio would be a nice indoor location though if you can get it! Center pieces - I didn't want to spend the extra money on center pieces, so Jacki took the gazebo decorative flowers and used them as center pieces. Not as nice as some of the other options out there, but it saved us money. They are still pretty, they just didnt completely match my colour scheme, not that big of a deal. I'll attach some photos after this post so you can see what they looked like. If you want your own centerpieces for cheap, my advice would be to make your own We didn't have a buffet dinner, but it would definitely save time!! After we ate and had speeches, we had almost no time to dance! Everyone moved over to the bar anyway and danced and mingled and drank there, but it is not with your chosen music so a buffet would definitely help you out there. Cake - we had 30 guests and went with the 20 person cake. I have no idea how this worked out in the end.. I think they just cut the pieces smaller? It was a pretty big cake, and I am pretty sure everyone got a piece. OOT bags - I didn't make any, but don't forget to put some Immodium in your bags!! lol Ruins - which ones are you planning on going to? The ruins in Chichen Itza should be done via tour company but keep in mind its a full day. And quite a long drive there, and it is so HOT!! And the ruins in Tulum are a quick taxi ride away I think.. Catamaran tour sounds nice, unfortunately I have no advice for you there Sky lanterns - if it was me I would want to ask first, but that's just because I'd be so nervous to do it in case I wasn't supposed to! lol You could browse around the forums and see if anyone else has done this. If it allowed on other resorts, I am sure it must be allowed at this one I would LOVE to see a pic of the wedding dress you are trying to get!!