El Dorado Royale (EDR) Brides - POST HERE!

Did she tell you what the cost would be to bring an outside photographer, and do you have that in an email? Has she asked you yet about the name of your photographer or sent you the new policy? Best I can tell, they have notified almost all the brides who's weddings are scheduled through the end of the May. Has Monica sent you the excel spreadsheet of your expenses yet? I would ask for that to confirm the decisions you've made so far.

No - she hasn't said anything about a fee or sent a sheet with fees. I am still in the process of making decisions. I am REALLY behind. She has only listed in the emails where I asked what was left to decide, was Photography services, DVD. I guess she needs to know if I will need their services. I have never mentioned an outside photographer. I was considering using their videographer for the ceremony at least. But she will then ask about photography. I was going to say that family members would be taking pictures, because my uncle and father both have very large cameras with big lenses and will be taking pictures. However, they will notice Elizabeth taking pictures with her assistant. I have thought about booking her room under another name and dealing with it when I get there...

I too am dealing with the outrageous cost of hiring an outside photograpgher. My fiance and I hired Cancun Studios with the understanding that we would have to pay the $500 fee. Cancun Studios did give us a $250 discount to help with the fee. Now that we might have to pay the 3 nights (which is approximately $1100!!) we are well over our planned budget. This just makes me sick! Photograpghy was, and still is one the most important elements we wanted for our wedding. I don't know what to do. I guess we'll be working a lot of overtime to take care of this! Karisma Resorts has already posted this policy on their website, so I'm assuming they won't budge. Please let me know if any of you have made any progress with this issue. Here is the email my WC sent me:

Hello Kirsten,

The Mexican Government has implemented a new policy for foreigners working here in Mexico.

If your photographer is not a Mexican Citizen, and she's receiving payment for her services, she must have a Mexican Government permission to work in this Country. If they are professional photographers (With professional equipment, lenses, tripod's etc)

Please let me know the name of your photographer. In case you are brining someone from Canada /US, if your photographer is a Mexican Citizen, we will request for him / her to show the Hotel their working documents is called “RFCâ€(in order to declare taxes)

Outside photographers and videographers approved by the hotel will incur a $500 photo fee and a 3 night minimum stay at the hotel.

I apologize for the inconveniences this may cause you, unfortunately this are new Hotel & Mexican Government policies, the hotel has been sanctioned for permitting professional foreigner photographers working at the Hotel, with no working permission from the Government.

Have a nice evening!

Yours sincerely,

Sandra Ochoa.

I am not sure what we are going to do at this point. My next step is to ask Monica for our details spreadsheet (which at this point doesn't have much on it). However, from the beginning I told Monica that I wanted to use our "free" dinner at El Cocotal on the Thurs before our wedding, and this week she asked if we would be using our free dinner. She has done little things like this to "irk" me, but I do understand that she is in charge of a lot of weddings and many details. So I have decided to include all of my confirmed details in every email and ask her to confirm them EVERY time!

To add even more fuel to the fire....

Okay, so my girlfriend is going to take our pictures. She and her husband are staying at EDR for 7 days. Paying well over two grand for the both of them. Monica wanted to know what photography package we wanted, and I let her know that my friend who is a guest of the resort for 7 days will be taking our pictures. She said that if my friend has professional camera equipment they will still need to charge us the $500 fee (whether or not she is receiving payment for services - her words) because the resort could be inspected by the government.

My friend does have professional camera equipment. This is insane. Will she even be able to get into the country with her camera?!

I did not reply yet. What should I do?

Since I had an email confirming that we only had to pay for 3 nights for a photographer (who's also a guest), Valeria today said that would be enough and the additional $500 wasn't due.