EmilyT

DOMINIQUE, CONGRATS GIRL LOOKED AWESOME IM GLAD YOU LOVED IT !!!!!!!!!!! )

also my dress is : Casablanca 2066. looks totally different on the model than it does on me.

that ENZOANI HEATHER dress posted a few pages back is gorgeous. reminds me of mine.. i love it. i was between mine & enzoani fernanda or something like that.... enzoani makes gorgeous dresses

hey ladies, i was on here so often in the past that i felt like i should share my slideshow with you for full view of my dress that i kept posting pictures of LOL

also a few brides asked about my hair so this will let you see it clearer

Originally Posted by loripanori 

 

In case it will help anyone with anything...  here is the video of our legal ceremony from April 18, 2013.  This is from the videographer included with the ultimate package.  It's still fairly low quality, but I think it's improved a lot from some of the earlier videos I've seen from the resort videographer.  No cheesy hearts exploding, etc.  If nothing else it will give you an appreciation for how windy it was on our day!  lol

 

For the footage of us doing pictures at the end on the beach, we were closing our eyes for a few seconds and then opening them in hopes of getting less pictures with eyes squinting at the sun.  Photographer was Santiago, who was FANTASTIC.    

 

Lori your video shows that the quality has REALLY improved. I was too scared to use them because of some I seen so I went with Mike Cantarell but my video is not THAT much better than yours. I had one video man from Mike Cantarell and my video is slighly shaky. If I have one regret its that I didnt do the 8hr video because otherwise it wasnt so much different than what yours looks like.

Also for other brides just an idea... since you cant get a refund for the video included in the ultimate package if u decide not to use it on ur wedding day...  I had them come and film the day before the wedding my "welcome cocktails" in the lobby bar and they went around and had my guests say things. I was not overly impressed with this either because sometimes my guests are speaking and they are playing music over it which totally defeats the purpose!! LOL can you imagine? But had I of been more verbal from the start and state exactly what i wanted it may have been better. It is still a cute thing to have. I have my guests just drinking and mingling & its a cute memory & better than just not using the video that you are given with your package.

Originally Posted by LindseyM 

 

His website is just www.mikecantarellfilms.com  

Hey thank you!! im not seeing the package prices and what they include on that site ..

Originally Posted by kellynnrose 

 

hi megan,

me and my fiance are traveling to cancun this may to and i would love to see the resort before the wedding and get a tour.  i have been trying to contact the wedding coordinators for weeks! how did you go about scheduling your visit?!

I get the impression that if you walk into the wedding department and say you are interested and ask for a tour someone will glady take you around whether you planned it or not. I seen Jorge taking people around showing them everything. So I wouldnt even worry!

Hey! My ceremony started at 4:30 and I had my hair appointment at 12:30 Also I paid $30 for the lights under the table so tell them that you know thats what a lot of other brides paid ! Only lighting I had was the lanterns going across the front of the deck and the lights under the tables and it was perfectly lit. ( also had the light up dance floor ) & i think it was perfect...

I also highly recommend the white flags. I had 3 i think or four going acorss the deck along the poolside behind where the head table was and they really looked beautiful blowing in the wing... added a really nice element! I cant remember the price but they werent too much & def. worth it for the backdrop.

Originally Posted by loripanori 

 

Hey ladies,

Our wedding last Thursday was fantasic. We're still in Mexico (at Secrets Maroma this week - amazing), so I will write more when we get back. Just wanted to say that we LOVED Santiago as our photographer, he was so much fun to work with. I only have one preview image so far, but we really had such a blast shooting with him, and he took a ton of different photos that I can't wait to see. We also love love loved our reception on the beach. So glad we moved it there from the pool terrace. We had the light up dance floor but did not pay for any other extra lighting, and it was perfect. There were a few things I wasn't 100% happy with, but I almost feel bad complaining because my overall feeling at the end of the day was that the whole day was perfect. Anyway, more to come!!

 

ps. Not sure if it's always so windy at DRC, but it was super windy almost the whole week we were there. Which is definitely nice to help with the heat, but a bit harder to work with if you have your hair down or wear a veil etc. I had a long veil and it was pretty much out of control in the wind, to the point where we had to hang on to it a bit so it wouldn't be pulled off my head. When we were signing our papers the minister told us to tuck it into the back of my dress cause it was blowing like crazy and getting in the way, but now I'm a bit bummed because for the picures from the second half of the ceremony (first kiss etc) my veil is tucked in! Lol, oh well, what can you do! Made for some great pics with the photographer later on the beach though.

I am very happy for u and everything looked beautiful! I feel the same way.... the overall opinion of my wedding was that it was AMAZING, but then when i sit and think about little things here and there i have complaints and i actually feel guilty admitting them because of how awesome the whole thing was LOL

Originally Posted by LindseyM 

 

Emily, here is hers with just one videographer:

 

 

and here is ours:  

 

I wonder if he used a different type of camera on hers, it looks different.  I know she booked him very last minute when she found out I had.  We communicated on Facebook and she asked for help so I am wondering if it'a an availability thing.  

Hey Lindsey, i lost some of my emails can you post the link to their website for me so i can go back and look over the package info. they said only the 8 hr package comes with the highlight video and im sort of mad at myself because it was probably worth it for a few different reasons. i dont remember the different in cost but id like to see it. i advise brides now if you are doing it to just do the 8 hour. the one video man compared with 3 is a big difference.

Originally Posted by LindseyM 

 

I didn't get my cake cutting either.    I just asked Mike for my highlight a zillion times and he sent it.    Was there a highlight on your final copy?  Ask if they can just upload it for you!  I'm sad we can't see it!

Hey Eduardo emailed me back and said since I did the 5 hour video I do not receive a highlight video! that stinks i was under the assumption its just a short version of the whole thing and we all get one :*( i can pay for one now for like $350 but i think i am done with my wedding expenses as I am now waiting for my album and CD to get my pictures developed and that is going to be another expense. oh well =/

my final copy came in 2 CD's ... it was broken down to me getting ready ( not the guys which i also think was a little wierd he didnt go to them ), the ceremony, the photo shoot on the beach, the cocktail hour, the reception ( speaches and set up ) and the party aspect.

Just an idea for future brides... i cannot stress how happy i am to have had the saxaphone player. now that i watched my video and can actually appreciate him, it was really awesome. he played as the guests were being seated and during the walks down the aisle and after and i think it was one of the nicest touches of my wedding. when he started playing "here comes the bride" i remember getting chills that day and when i watched the video i got chills again lol i do not think it would have been as awesome if it were just playing on an ipod. i also think it gave such a nice ambience as the guest were arriving. just my opinion for those who are interested!

Originally Posted by elsa s 

 

Hi Emily....

your pics are amazing!!!! this just got me more excited... I have santiago as well for my wedding... and i hired mike cantarell... did you send him your songs for your video in advance? 

also... how was your hair and makeup? I'm so nervous for this part... and did u pay a fee for mike  to the hotel? and howmuch did u tip mike?... sorry im just trying to figure it all out 

I did not send the songs for the video in advance. I actually sent them when I got home. I am happy overall with the video but like for instance the cocktail hour is the mariachi music... im not a fan of it. i would have rather he scan the scene and show everyone and have a song i picked in the backround but i wouldnt have thought to tell him that before hand.

i absolutely loved my hair and make up. i went in there with a picture of a girl with her hair up in a lose fitting bun and mine didnt look identical but she did a good job. i knew i wanetd my hair up because my hair tends to fluctuate with the weather and it was a cloudy day. one drop of rain or humidity and i would have frizz all over the place lol so i decided to be safe. i asked for a braid going back which i sort of had but overall i really liked my hiar. i think maybe a little tighter would have been better because from some angles it looks a little wierd but from the direct front and back i loved it. also by the end of the night i needed help with some bobby pins because it was coming out, but it was no biggie. i also brought a veil with me and forgot to take it down to the hair appointment ( was super stressed going back and forth making the back up plans incase it rained), but lorena came in with 2 flowers for me instead of one and once the heair dresser put them in my hair i loved it so much i didnt bother with the veil. i semi-regret this since i dont have any pics with the beutiful veil i bought but just seemed the flowers went with the beach and i went with the "less is more" decision, plus after my hair was done the veil would have been a lot higher up than i had orginally wanted it & i was nervous to mess up my hair after getting back to my room ;(

As far as make up. i loved this also. i purcahsed fake eyelashed for $15 from the spa and they looked so natural and beautiful. i do remember telling her at first my eye make up was a little too dark and she easily just made it a little lighter. i also purchased a $6 lip gloss that she had put on my lips so i could re-apply it but im pretty sure i never did since i was having so much fun i wasnt even concerned lol

Originally Posted by bgarcia1026 

 

 

You looked beautiful and so happy!  

 

Santiago took some great photos.  I especially love the one of the little boy (your son?) holding the maraca with you and your husband in the background!

 

Looking at your pictures got me super excited for my wedding.  I can't wait.  

 

Quick question, did you send the DJ a full list (songs and artists) or just artists that you wanted him to play?

About a week before we left for Mexico I decided to just sit and google music that we like and make a list of songs and artists. I also just gave a small list of artists we like so that he could have an idea of what we like. for instance, i put some freestyle songs on there from like the 90's that he may not have thought to play and every one of my guests was dancing and singing all of the words. i asked for mainly house/dance music and added a few older hip hop songs and honestly my guests said it was one of the best music at a wedding even compared to a regular wedding in NY. I paid for the ecxtra hour so my party went until 11 and I think it was great because from about 9:30 to 11 all my guests did was dance. i dont have professional pictures of everyone on the dance floor but i have ones that friends took where we are all holding balloons and so forth and it really was awesome. I would send him SOMETHING!

Hey girls, sorry I never came back to write a review ( was married at DRC on march 1st and loved everything about it ), but I am an RN who works 5 days a week and a FULL TIME student and mom on top of it so whenever I get a chance to be on the computer I am typing something for school! I will write a review soon though I promise!!!

ANyway I just received my wedding video from Mike Cantarell and I would say i am about 85% happy lol I am very picky.. some of the sound quality was a little poor ( just for a few minutes during the reception ) and my cocktail hour was him basically filming the mariachi trio which was not what i pictured.. i thoiught it would be more of my guests mingling and the cocktail hour was beautiful ( on desires terrace ) and i dont think he really captured that aspect at all. it was like a mariachi concert lol i thought maybe he would get my guests to speak and so forth but that part was just dissapointing. also he didnt use most of the songs i sent him ( he asked for about 7 songs ) and used like maybe 4 total. I would still recommend that company however ( my video man was Eduardo )

I did not receive a highlight video from them that I thought I would receive. I know girls on here had posted their videos and I wanted to post mine but he never sent me anything except the final copy via mail. Does anyone know why this might be? does it come later on? Also I wish I would have paid for one extra hour because I had 5 hours of coverage and it did not get my cake cutting ;(

Overall though I think my wedding was amazing- I loved the pool deck and my beach ceremony. I think it is the perfect location. My gurests are still talking about. Also the resorts DJ played great music ( we sent a list ) and i dont see any reason to use an outside DJ. The food was excellent was well.

Here is my slideshow for anyone who didnt see it.. photographer was Santiago

Originally Posted by loripanori 

 

How did you guys find the time/length of your reception?  We are scheduled to get married at 4, and have the reception from 6:30 - 9:30...  but 9:30 seems so early to be done!  I don't really want to add an extra hour, because I've already gone outside my budget in a few other places.  And I'm not sure I should extend the time between the ceremony and the reception to any longer, because I'm thinking we're already going to have a bit of time to kill there (we're not doing the official cocktail hour, but will have the mariachi trio and drinks at the beach bar I think).  Did you guys find that everything was finished too early?  What kind of timing did you all have between ceremony and dinner/reception?

Hey! I did my ceremony at 4:30.. cocktail 5:30 to 6:30 and reception 7-11. I cut back in other areas to extend the reception for one hour and IF you can find a way to do this i highly recommend it because it does go fast.. I remember not paying any  attention to time and then checking it and realizing we still had an hour left of just dancing and I was SO happy i made that decision or the party would have ended right then and everyone was having a good time. Anyway 9:30 is early BUT u can all go to the lobby bar afterwards and then desires which is where we went to continue hanging out and dancing.

Originally Posted by ChocoTaco7568 

 

Okay, you Ladies have been so helpful and responsive that I need to ask a final alterations question beofre my appt tomorrow... I always wanted a sweet heart neckline, and it's the only characteristic of my wedding dress list of requirement that my dress doesn't meet. However, I love the scalloped lace edge detailing on my dresses original design and thought is was a nice trade-off.  I've been contemplating altering the neckline to a sweetheart and in a perfect world I would keep the scalloped detailing, but this is an unlikely option based on the feedback from my seamstress after send a pic.  So what to do...keep the neckline as is or sacrafice the scalloped lace and get a sweetheart?

im a bigger fan of sweetheart in general.. i think it adds a little sexiness.. i felt very square in dresses that went straight across.. im also smaller in the bust area but i added cups in my sweetheart neckline and wore a nude colored stick on bra... still didnt look busty lol but it def. had a little sexiness to it.. so depends on what you like.. for me personally its the sweetheart

Originally Posted by brownskingirl 

 

lowert waist looks better!!

THE LOWER IS BETTER!!

Originally Posted by emmyss 

 

Hello!

 

Does anyone know if the wedding coordinator would be open to swapping the marichi trio (that comes with the ultimate wedding package) with the dance floor for 30 people? Although, I am sure we would enjoy the mariachi trio, I would swap them for the dance floor ;-)

 

Thanks,

 

Emmy

I really doubt it, they are not flexible with things like this, BUT I would not pass up the mariachi trio.... just my advice. I had them at my cocktail hour and it added such a cool vibe and my guests were suprised by them and loved it and thats a bunch of loud new yorkers. I am very happy I kept them, i think it really completes the Mexico wedding and its different and fun.

Originally Posted by ckl22 

 

Hi Emily! I love your photos! where did you have your reception at? did you get a DJ or just use an iPod for music?!

Hi thank you!  I had my reception at the pool deck.. its the wooden deck infront of the infinity pool right on the sand.... I personally think its the most awesome location for the reception, it looks gorgeous at night. I had the DJ that the resort provides...Mauricio, I sent him a song list about a week before and he played all songs I requested & a few similar ones. I was a little annoyed because after we all walked in to the songs we chose he kind of disappeared ( I noticed later on & didn't realize it was strange until the next day LOL ) but there were two other guys playing the music... no biggie but I had booked him so it was a little strange. Anyway to be honest the music was great and I don't think it would have been half as much fun without the DJ... my guests danced all night. I paid for the extra hour which I also recommend because it leaves more time for dancing and fun. We also had the light up dance floor which makes people want to dance lol and looking back I didn't have much decorations but the dance floor served as like one big decoration in the middle of the deck. I highly recommend he DJ and dancefloor, I think it makes the party.

Originally Posted by Savs1027 

 

i HIGHLY recommend Shutterfly for your albums!!! I made both of our parents one and all of our grand parents one on there. They loved them! And they are so much better than the one we got from the resort! 

 

We paid $500 for 50 extra pictures. The original price I think was somewhere closer to $800. I said I'll give you $400 and he came back at $500. I was so sick of being in there looking at pictures, I was like fine! haha! My husband was so mad at me for that! He thought we could have gotten them for cheaper. 

$500 for 50 extra photos ?? WHOA thats a little ridiculous and I cant believe they tried to get 800 from you... i mean they are not actually printing the photos for us they are just burning them onto a CD.. GRRRR. its like when we pay for a photo package from drc we have to actually also factor in what it will cost to get our prints made. i mean we arent even getting 4 by 6 photos and they already put them onto the computer for us to choose from... do u know how simple it is to burn them onto a cd? takes about 5 minutes.

Thank you for your advice and im so dissapointed that the only thing we actually do get is one photo book and its not that nice... that really gets me.

Originally Posted by Dominique 161 

 

16 days till i fly to sunny Mexico!

 

How did you travel with your wedding dress. Bag or Wedding Dress Travel Box?

I kept mine in the dress bag and got lucky because the plane was pretty empty and they laid it flat for me in an overhead bin.. i think it was easier to carry in the bag since most of the time I had it draped over my sons stroller or just over my arm. it was a little bit of a pain but i think a box would be even harder. i also heard u can ask them to hang it up for you if theres no room in the over head. good luck you are going to have a blast <3

hey girls.. so I made my photo selections and I want about 20 extra pictures... I remember hearing they charge a fortune for this is that true?

also I am thinking of making my parents a small album and they told me the charge is 79$ which I don't mind but I remember savs telling us she was disappointed in the album... any advice on this.... should I save my money and go elsewhere ???

I am thinking maybe I can work out a deal with them where I buy a smaller photo book and they don't charge me a fortune for the extra photos on the cd.. for my parents album I want them to have more of the family photos than I put in my own album so I need to choose some extra ones that I did not personally choose for myself... but the extra photos plus the extra photo book could get pricey I am assuming...

any advice ??? im still disappointed that I have to pay for my pictures to actually get printed now and blown up etc. . and stil ldont understand why we even have to choose them when they are already on the computer  ( I know its a copyright thing but STILL LOL)

http://010313guiffredo.dreamsriveriacancun.adventurephotos.com.mx/

heres my slideshow for anyone who didn't get a chance to see it photographer was Santiago

this is a random shot from my wedding but i wanted to find a picture that my guests took ( i dont have the professional ones yet ) that shows the color of my dress that is a light ivory and his shirt is white.... he was supposed to get an off white shirt but he went shopping with the guys and got white... i was worried but since my dress is light ivory and his suit is khaki i dont think it matters at all so dont stress it

Originally Posted by TIGERLILYODP 

 

im in a dillema im not sure what to do.im meant to be getting married in sep with my family flying out with us.Last wk my mum got news that she has advanced lung cancer.its incurable but she will have chemo.she may not have long....im devestated.my mums wish was to see me get married.she wont be able to fly.so she wont be coming to mexico.i cant believe this is happening.I thought about getting married in the uk then going as planned to mexico but not telling all the guests we are already married.my fiance isnt too happy with this as i appreciate its all not what we wanted he and myself would be fibbing to everyone,we would be having our hen and stag party after we were married.i just want my mum to be with me.i look at pictures of where im meant to get married and cry because i think my mum will never be there.....i dont know what to do .i even thought of postponing it but then mum will never see me marryDoes anyone have any suggestions ? thanks so much kara xxxxxxx

hey Kara,

I am so sorry to hear about your mom. I just feel like I should tell you that a lot of people get legally married before they go to mexico... it is not like you are telling a lie i mean in mexico you are not getting legally married anyway so i dont see an issue with this. we chose to do it afterwards, but a lot of people do it before. If I were you I would get married where I live, with my mom there. Maybe you can wear a simple white dress and then go to dinner or something special afterwards. You can tell your guests, or not tell them its really up to you and it shouldnt matter at all to anyone. If you want to postpone the wedding thats understandable too, but I would not miss the chance to get married with my mom and yes you can still have your wedding in mexico like you want and i bet your mom would still want you to have your dream wedding. my thoughts & prayers are with you <3

So when should I expect my highlite video from Mike Cantarell ????? I cant wait

thanx for the helpful info about the photographs and how they come on a CD. I dont know why I didnt realize this. I sort of still dont understand it because if Adventure photos isnt actually printing the pics why dont they just burn all of the pictures they took onto a CD for us? Why even make us choose which photos when they are just going onto a CD? They already put them on the computer for us to choose from, so it actually would cost them NOTHING to put them all on a CD. lol i dont know this is just a silly thing to me... then from there we could choose what to get printed and so forth.