evonut

Quote: Originally Posted by starchild Yay!! Have a blast. I love how everything looks together - dress, shoes, bouquet, hair, etc. Where in Vegas are you doing this? Princess Chapel in the Greek Isles Hotel. I heard the Hotel is pretty seedy looking but the chapel is stunning.

Quote: Originally Posted by TammyB Have fun, are you wearing your dress for your legal wedding? Or do you have something else in mind for that? Congrats.. Yes, that dress is for the legal wedding. I have another wedding dress, chiffon, flowy one for the Mexico wedding.

Congrats!! That was such a cute story.

Future Hubby saw my dresses online, but not in person. He was also part of the buying process for one of them.

We started out with 5 on each side, scaled down to zero when I got a sense that noone can make it, and now we're back to: 1) one on each side for the Las Vegas Wedding (9 guests will be attending) 2) two on each side for the Riu Palace Wedding in Playa Del Carmen (14 will be attending). Since the wedding party is small for both weddings, we've planned for an intimate dinner reception. Then we: 1) go on a night out the next day to see Phantom of the Opera @ the Venetian, Las vegas 2) go on a day excursion the next day to see Chichen Itza, Mexico

How on earth did Aug 31st arrive so fast? Soon I'll be off to Vegas to be married in the first 'Legal' wedding. The second 'Symbolic' wedding will be in Mexico in November. Nine guests will join us from Canada and the US. I'm going to spoil them rotten. :-) I still have programs to print up and favors to do up, but everything is under control...except for my belly butterflies! Here's my dress: My shoes: Here's my bouquet: My hair will be pretty close to what I got now in the pic. Nothing fancy. I'll be back with my reviews and pictures in mid-September! Ciao!

What gets me fuming is the insensitive comments a few friends made: Girlfriend: "Oh, I won't be able to make it to your Maya Riviera wedding because I have renovations; we fired the contractor and now he put a lien on our house, etc." I was fine with that comment...until she said in the same breath, "I'm so stressed out...I need so need a vacation. Thank goodness me and so-and-so will be going to Hong Kong." Another girlfriend: "I can't afford it, have a mortgage to pay, our debts from our wedding, etc." Then when invited to my shower AND family rehearsal dinner, she couldn't make it because she's going on a two-week vacation to Fiji. (7 months before that, she was on another vacation to Cancun.) You can't afford to go to my wedding, but somehow can afford a two weeks vacation to Hong Kong/Fiji!!!---I was SO hurt.

Thanks everyone for the leads! :-)

Does anyone have any recommendation on how I can cover up my giant butterfly tattoo on my left shoulder? Looks icky in my wedding dress?

THANK YOU! I love your passport idea and will be doing the same for my wedding. Instead of an 'invite', it would be a 'program' in the OOTs. :-)

OMG! Thanks for the awesome response, gals!!! Here's the tally: 1) Classic A-line Satin: 4 votes 2) Chiffon destination dress: overwhelming 22 votes A couple of you asked who the designer was for #2 dress--I don't know! :-) It was a dress I ordered on eBay last fall for $140 USD, right from some factory in China. Based on their measurements, I ordered a size 6, and when it arrived it was too big. I'll have my mom alter it. I'm planning to wear my hair either down or half up, with a small white flower. No veil. So how did I end up with two dresses...heh, heh, heh. My fiance and I, we later found out, that we didn't meet the three-day residency requirement in order to get legally married in Mexico (RIU Palace Riviera Maya in Playa del Carmen). Apparently, they don't count the day you arrive! So anyways, for us to fly in a day earlier, it was going to cost an additional $1000+ for flight change and an extra night in accommodations. Instead of speading that money for one night, we decided to spend it on Las Vegas for 4 nights. So that means we will have TWO weddings: one 'legal-private' one in Las Vegas (fiance and I, no bridal or wedding party, no reception) and one 'public-symbolic' one in Mexico. We couldn't change the Mexico one because the other dates were not available AND our families have already booked their trips. DECISION: I'm going to wear #1) for Las Vegas and #2) for Mexico. :-) Thank you SO much for your opinions!!!

Help!--I can't decided which dress I like better. This one fits me perfectly but needs to be shortened at the hem. or This is two sizes too big (notice my hand holding it in).

Quote: Originally Posted by rob4ever Hi there. I'm getting married at the Riu Palace Riviera Maya so I'm not sure of the specifics at the Riu Palace, but below are my thoughts. We went on a site visit in April... :-) Thanks for the input! Knowing a little is better than knowing nothing. They got back to me and said my questions will be answered by the WC about two months before the wedding.

Quote: Originally Posted by scharke Let me add that the Gran Bahia Principe and the Gran Palladium are two AI resorts here that have never given us a problem. They welcome us (outside photo/video vendors) because they understand the true value of happy, satisfied clients. Paul, did you have any problems with RUI Palace Riviera Maya?

I just fired off an email to the WC for RPRM: 1) Reserved restaurant - Do the guests order their own food or is there a set menu for everyone? 2) Music & Entertainment - What is the charge for renting the resort's sound system (speakers, microphone, etc)? 3) Reserving Disco - The cost is $770 USD. The website is not clear about this but does this include the DJ? For how long? 4) Projector and Screen - We would like do do a slideshow for our guests. What is the cost for renting the resort's projector system and screen? Are we able to hook our laptop computer to the projector? I'm waiting on a response. In the meantime, any of you know the answer to my above inquiries?

Anyone gone into details about their reception planning yet? When my fiance and I got to planning the wedding program, few questions came up: 1) Reserved restaurant - Do the guests order their own food or is there a set menu for everyone? 2) Music & Entertainment - What is the charge for renting the resort's sound system (speakers, mic, etc)? 3) Reserving Disco - The cost is $770 USD. The website is not clear about this but does this include the DJ? For how long? 4) Projector and Screen - Anyone know how much it cost to renting the resort's projector system and screen? I know these questions are better answered by the WC but dang, it takes them forever to get back. If you know any information, holler back!

I'm booked with Riu Palace Maya Rivera, didn't put any deposit down but there is a $250 cancellation fee.

OMG, that's crazy! My fiance and I misunderstood the 3-day residency rule and thought it means 72 hrs. Anyways, to make to story short, we found out we can't legally get married in Mexico because we did not meet the residency requirement. Changing our flight and accommodations was cost-prohibitive so we decided to have a small (4-people) legal ceremony in Vancouver a few months before the big one in Mexico. In hindsight, it turns out this was much better for us. The legal requirements for marriage are much simpler in Canada. Two witnesses instead of four, no blood test, no language translation and authorization issues, etc. And I get to get married twice! :-) A good reason to have two different wedding dresses.

I ran across his work last year and immediately booked him for our Nov 2007 wedding--absolutely love his work! I'm so glad to hear from a satisfied client! I love your wedding and the colors of the fabric. Did the hotel put that together for you or did you bring your own decorations?

Quote: Originally Posted by mauriciom Here are few engagment pictures from Playa Del Carmen that our friend and Photo Journalist, Mat and Sol took of us in Mexico the weekend of Feb 4th. We had such a good time. Their work is amazing. Jenny and I never expected us to be in such awsome pictures. I can't wait for the wedding. (03-11-07) I highly recommend them. enjoy! MM Matt Adcock Photography Love it! You two are so photogenic.

Quote: Originally Posted by Ali0624 I have a question about deposits with the photographer specifically. How did you make your deposit: check, cash, other? Our photographer suggested making the deposit in cash, but I wanted to check if this is common. Thanks! I recommend paying by credit card (paypal)--that way, if there's any problems with the photographer and his services, you have a recourse. I'd be careful about paying by check or cash.

Quote: Originally Posted by Shelley Hi Margaret, I've booked at the Riu Palace Riviera Maya and I didn't really worry about picking the extras. My impression has been that when you meet with your WC when you get down there you can work all those details out. However, there isn't really any extras that I felt like I had to have or that needed to be booked beforehand, so that may have led to my lack of concern. Hope this has helped! Shelley Same impression here, booked at Riu Palace Riviera Maya. Shelley, I notice your wedding date is in Aug 2007--mine is Nov 2007. Be sure to drop us a line how your wedding went and what your review of the place is.

Quote: Originally Posted by VALERIE I would recommend asking the wedding coordinator at the hotel. We had to have 4 witnessess, all have to be in Mexico for the same length of time (3 days for our resort). However, I do know that different resorts have different rules. We only had 2 witnesses from our group that could make the trip in that timeframe. Then we "bought" the other 2 witnesses from the resort. They were $20 a piece, cash. It was funny in the end though. The two witnesses were (1) the wedding coordinator and (2) the staff member that repeated the ceremony in English. I'm not understanding why they need to be there three days PRIOR to the wedding--it's not like they have to get their blood test done or anything. I'll check with the coordinator--hopefully, this is not the case. Otherwise, it looks like we'll have to have 4 'bought' witnesses from the resort. :-(

Quote: Originally Posted by akh What bums me out even more, is that I said in my last email that she was my #1 pick, and that I just needed to talk to my fiance about it. I wish she would have asked me before allowing the other bride to reserve the date. I guess they can't manage everyone that asks them if they're available ... but still! (poor me) :-( I'm sorry to hear that you weren't able to book her.

Quote: Originally Posted by akh Also, if you're interested I thought I'd post a small list of Q&A in case you had any of the same questions - I don't even know what to ask a photographer! Since you're fiance is a photographer, he'd probably know better! 1) Have you ever been to/shot a wedding at Las Caletas? I am guessing not, since you're not from the area and it's a small place. No, I have not shot a wedding in Puerto Vallarta as of yet, but I am looking forward to it! 2) Is it possible to split up the 8 hours of coverage, possibly getting an hour or so either the day before or day after? I don't know yet if this is something we'll want to do, but I thought I'd ask to see if the option was there. Splitting up coverage: that is probably not a problem, especially if I am able to stay in a hotel close to the location where the photo session would be. 3) How many photographers/assistants will be there? I do all the photography and my assistant would most likely be either one of my daughters (aged 18 and 20), or my husband. The mostly help me with my equipment, although one of my daughters is starting to do some photography as well. 4) Typically how many pictures are you taking in the ~8 hours of coverage? In eight hours I usually take upwards of 1000 pictures and present you with around 500 that I feel best tell the story of your day. 5) (I think I asked her about her experience doing beach weddings - I can't find the actual question) Up until now I have not done a lot of beach weddings, That is because I had until recently been working primarily in my local area (Merida, Yucatan, which is about 4.5 hours from the Riviera Maya), and sadly my local brides do not favor beach weddings. Our beach is on the Gulf of Mexico side of the Yucatan Penninsula, and while we love it it is not the amazing beach of the Maya Riviera/ Cancun/ Cozumel. The weather can be much more windy as well. (I do have two local beach weddings the books for 2007 though, so maybe the trend is starting.) I do cover destination weddings locally in the wonderful restored haciendas here in Yucatan and I really enjoy them because they are so relaxed, intimate and fun compared to my local weddings (I have had several weddings with upwards of 700 guests in recent months!). I decided this year to cover weddings outside my local area and do have several beach destination weddings coming up, hopefully yours will be among them. This is helpful information. Thank you for posting it.