raisinblur

Yup, we had Beth and Nate as our photogs. They were really nice and we loved working with them. But I think Nate got a little bored on the boat ride home since we were a pretty tame bunch. I can't wait to get the pics though.

I don't mind you asking about my hair at all. I paid 500 pesos for the trial and 2,200 pesos for the actual wedding day. This is for both hair and make-up. It translates into roughly $50 USD and $220 USD. It was a lot of money, and at first, I wasn't willing to spend that much and was considering doing my own hair and makeup. But in the end, I'm really glad I hired someone because he did a much better job than I could have possibly done, and it was just one less thing for me to worry about on that day. (There's so much going through your mind, that you just don't want to worry about doing your own hair and make-up, especially for someone like me, who wears no make-up ever and just pulls my hair back in a ponytail most days.)

One of DH's friends has a really nice camera and he kind of shadowed Beth the whole time she was taking pictures. I'm sure she was annoyed with him, because he would tell us to "Look over here" while Beth was taking pictures, and she rolled her eyes a bit was like, "uh, ok". We told him to cool it at the end, but we did get some awesome non-pro pics because of it. I'm still dying to see the pro ones though.

Thanks for the nice comments. I was going to wait till the weekend to write a review, but I'll try to finish one up tonight. (Since I got so excited after reading Mel's review, I wanted to write my own!)

 

The guy who did my hair was recommended to me by Kelley at LC. His name is Fernando and his salon is called Stylo Estetica in Bucerias (in NV). His salon is tiny and he's pretty much a one man shop, but I think he did a great job. I was a little worried after the trial run, because I wasn't thrilled with the result, but he didn't let me down the day of. He did my make-up also, and I also thought it turned out really nice.

Congrats! I loved reading the review and also seeing the pictures. Seems like you guys had an awesome time despite the few bumps in the road.

 

We got married at LC a few days before you, and I have to agree that the waters were really rough while we were there. All our guests were pretty seasick. And a lot were scared to get too drunk because they didn't want to throw up on the way back. But all in all, we also had a fabulous time and I'll post a review soon.

Hello everyone! We're back from our amazing wedding at LC. I haven't posted on the boards too much in the past, but wanted to share some of our non-pro pictures from the day. I plan to post a more detailed review later this week.

 

Kodakgallery.com*Join now and receive beautiful photographic prints from your camera

 

Also, I wanted to thank everyone on this board who have been sooooo helpful and amazing. I would never have found LC in the first place without your help!

So I emailed Kelley (at LC) about this and she told me not to stress about the time zones. She said that anywhere in NV that deals with tourists will go by PV time, so in every communication, she uses PV time. Phew.

 

From all the maps that I look at, PV and NV are pretty much at the same latitude (or is it longitude? I always get those mixed up), so why would they be in different time zones? Weird!!

I just learned that PV and NV are in different time zones! This seems like the strangest thing to me, especially since they are pretty close to each other. And I imagine tourists travel between the 2 regions quite frequently.

 

Puerto Vallarta Mexico: Time, time zones, and Mexican Time

Vallarta Mexico

 

We'll be staying in NV, but plan to get married at LC and to go to PV to site-see. For those who have been to PV and/or NV before, has this ever posed any problems? Like if you stay in NV and book tours in PV, or vice versa. It seems like a hassle to always have to verify which time you're referring to... and also you're never sure which time others are referring to!

Finally! The pictures are here... and they're great. You looked gorgeous and everyone seemed to have a ball. Congrats!!

I'm 5'1" and I ordered my dress hollow to hem, so didn't need to get it hemmed. I told them I would be wearing 1" heels, even though I'm planning to wear flats (or barefoot), and the length came out perfectly.

I would love to be a guest at your wedding... LOL. I'm sure your guests will love them!

So... I've decided to just go with travel mugs and fill them with stuff. I got 53 travel mugs from discountmugs.com for about $180. We didn't get them imprinted, since that would have added significantly to the cost. They seem semi-stackable, so that will help with the baggage. We will probably spend another $50-$100 filling them with first-aid items, tissues, and whatever else we can stuff in there, and a little welcome note. I think our guests will find the mugs really handy because I've read that our AI uses the small disposable cups, and all the reviews on tripadvisor say to bring your own cup.

 

I feel soooo much better about this decision now because I saved some money by not buying tote bags. And I know I would have ended up spending waaaay more trying to fill the whole bag. At least now, I know my costs are capped at about $300 (hopefully, it'll be less).

 

Thanks again to everyone for the advice.

I had the same problem too! What's up with people who think they can invite themselves to someone's wedding?? I just don't get it. Luckily for us, it turned out to be just few extra people (friend of a friend type thing; they were more like an acquaintance for us), so we just sucked it up, and ended up "officially" inviting them as well. I don't know what we would have done if there were more though.

 

It's tough, but at the end the day, it's your wedding so it's your call. If you tell people that you want it to be small and intimate, will they get a clue?

Thanks for all the comments, ladies! It's been really helpful. I guess I was stressing about it because I've been looking at totes, and they're all so big and I was like, "omg, how am I going to fill it up with stuff and how much is this going to cost us?!" But now I'm liking the idea of just giving out a mug (or stackable cups - solves the shipping problem), and maybe filling them with some first-aid items (tylenol, immodium), cause I think those will be the most useful stuff. I think it'll be a good balance of giving something nice/useful for the guests, but also being more budget-friendly.

 

Morgan, I'm going to look through your OOT links now. Seems like a lot of useful info!! Thanks so much. I especially like the way you made the individual pill packs, without having to buy them in individual packs. That will definitely save some $$. I'm amazed you only spent $10 each. They look great!

 

PS, Heidi, your pro-pics look amazing! Congrats!!

I’m kind of agonizing over my OOT bags (or lack thereof). I’m still trying to decide whether to give out OOT bags or not, and wanted some input.

 

I love making lists, so here’s my pro/con list:

 

OOT bag PROS:

1. It’d be a really nice gesture, since our guests are traveling so far to be with us.

2. It would really impress them (shallow for me to think that, but it’s true).

3. I think some stuff will come in handy, like travel mugs and sunblock, etc.

 

OOT bag CONS:

1. Added expense. We have about 55 guests, and if we do 1 bag per couple and 1 bag per single, we’d need about 35 bags. With a low estimate of $10/bag, that’s $350. But this could easily balloon into $15/bag, making it $525.

2. For all the money we’d be spending, I’m not sure how useful people will find it. I’d hate to spend all that money, just to have them bury their mug and bag in the back of their closet forever.

3. I don’t want to pay extra for shipping, so I have no idea how we’re going to bring everything with us. (I can just picture my suitcase filled with 55 travel mugs… ha!)

 

I’m leaning towards no OOT bags to avoid the cost and the headache, but I feel kind of cheap for doing that. On the other hand, I don’t want to feel like I’m “wasting†money on things that people don’t want or care about anyway. (eg., If I just emailed all my guests to tell them to bring their own travel mug because the resort is AI, no one would think anything of it. No one’s been to a DW before, so don’t know any better… which is good for me. LOL…)

 

So… what should I do? Did anyone NOT do an OOT bag, and did your guests talk smack about it?

I remember Paula's welcome booklet looked awesome. Maura, hope you don't mind but I will PM you for the template also.

This probably sounds weird, but I've been stalking her site for your photos too! You did a better job than I did though, since you found these pics before I did.

 

The pictures are gorgeous. Definitely can't wait to see yours!!

 

One question though. Did you guys have time to do some nice "couple" pictures while at LC? I noticed the couple on the website seemed to have theirs done on a different day/place/time and none at LC. Now I'm worried I'll only have group shots and not couple shots.

Rachel, love the pictures!! I couldn't stop laughing! :-)

Great pictures and even better commentary!! Thanks for sharing, and can't wait to see your pro pics. Congrats!

Now I'm definitely sold on this! We've already picked out dresses for the BMs, but I think I'll get one of these for myself. :-)

This dress is super-cute! I love it. One question though, is the length adjustable at all? I'm really petite (5'1"), so everything always runs long on me. And VS doesn't offer petite sizing.

I don't email her often, but when I do, she has responded within 2 weeks. This is the busy season for weddings in PV, so she might just be extra busy now.

I know a few of us have used or will be using Elizabeth Lloyd as their wedding photog (including me), so I wanted to share this. Beth has updated her website (ELIZABETH LLOYD - Photographer) with new pictures and has also added a blog (Elizabeth Lloyd - Photographer). I was really surprised (and honored) when I first clicked on her blog, and saw a picture of me and FI staring right back at me! We’re the weirdo couple jumping in mid-air and kicking each other in front of the fountain. It was really exciting… my little 15-minutes (or more like 2-seconds) of fame… haha.

 

Anyway, I think there are a few brides here who will be using Beth in the upcoming months, so hopefully we’ll see you all on her blog!

wow!! great pictures... everything looked gorgeous. Congrats!

Yes, we're staying there from May 21 to May 28. We want to have the WD on Friday, May 23. I'll try contacting Karla to see what she says. What do you mean by not being able to set aside rooms until closer to the date? Do you mean booking guest rooms, or the room for the wedding reception? That would really suck if they couldn't guarantee a room for the wedding itself!!

 

For the WD, we're approaching it as an "extra". If it happens, it happens (and hopefully it won't cost us too much extra); but if we can't get it organized, then no biggie.

 

I'm glad to have another Royal Decameron bride on the board! (Even though technically I'm getting married at Las Caletas...)

Yay!! Congrats on booking the trip and also the dress! Can't wait to see pics of it.

Hey, can I ask who is your contact person for your wedding at the Royal Decameron? I've been trying to reach someone (anyone!) at the hotel to plan a welcome dinner, but no luck. I don't know what's the deal with them! Hopefully your planning has gone more smoothly.