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Ok, I'm going to try to post some of our engagement pictures, so I hope this works! Overall, we're so happy with the way our photos turned out! We received about 250 photos on a CD, both in color and B&W (for a total of 500 images). We picked out about 60 that we liked the best and put them in an album on KodakPhotoShareGallery. If you want to see our entire album, we posted it to our website (Huong & Kris's Wedding Website and Registries on WeddingChannel.com - Welcome), under "Photo Albums". But you'll need to create an account to view it. Now I really can't wait to have Beth do our wedding photos too!

MarlaB, that is pretty funny. Don't be too embarrassed. I'm sure if you explain it to Beth (Lloyd), she will understand and not think you're crazy. :-) I must say that while I was reading your post, I was thinking that Beth didn't mention anything about going to school in Michigan. In fact, she said she's from NY, but went to an art school in LA, and lived here a few years and then moved back to NY before moving to PV. I thought maybe she just forgot to mention Michigan... haha... Anyway, to answer some of your previous questions... Beth told me she would take about 500 shots the whole day. She'd send them all to you on a CD. Then you can pick the ones that you really like and she will re-touch them for you. We didn't do a contract and I didn't make a deposit, but now I'm thinking we probably should. Oh yeah, I also told Beth about this forum and she said others have mentioned it too, but she's been too busy to post. Hopefully she can find time soon!

So we had our engagement photo session with Elizabeth Lloyd yesterday and it went great! Beth is really nice and easy to work with. We ended up doing the shoot at several locations in our neighborhood of Los Feliz and Griffith Park. We started off with some neighborhood shots of us sitting at a sidewalk restaurant, us against a wall with graffiti art, at a gelato shop. Then we drove around Griffith Park and stopped at Travel Town where they had replicas of trains (or maybe they were real), then we went to a park with a fountain, and a grassy area with some trees. Beth said she’d send me a CD with the pictures in a week or so. I’m so anxious and excited to see how they turned out! But the few that I saw from her camera looked good, so I’m not too worried. I feel a lot better about having her do my wedding now. I’ll post some pics when I get them (and after I learn how to post pics… haha…). PS... FI liked her too. In the end, he was okay with not going to downtown. I just made sure we got some city/restaurant/urban shots instead of all nature-y. What's more LA than a graffiti wall, right?

I think I'm on the exact same timeline as you, bethtamar! :-) I'm pretty much in the same boat. I haven't made any travel arrangements yet, but I will send out my STDs soon, and my website just has a blurb that says I'm still in the process of arranging travel and please check back for updates. $322 from LA sounds pretty good to me! I've seen the rates go up as high as $425. That when I checked on May 2007 rates back in Feb/March. But I've just been checking expedia and orbitz, not a TA.

Are these all restaurants at Dreams PV, or just regular old restaurants open to the public? I was thinking about doing a welcome dinner thing, but we're not staying at Dreams. We're most likely staying at the Fiesta Americana, so I hope at least some of these restaurants are nearby! :-)

We're probably going with Beth for our wedding too. We've emailed back and forth and she's been super nice and responsive to me as well. Can't wait to see your wedding pics! I'd love to see the samples she sent to you too. I'll PM you my email address. Thanks!

Definitely good to know, thanks! I like the idea of the thank you card and small gift.

Are you suppose to tip your wedding photographer? If so, how much? I'm also having engagement photos done and my photographer is charging a separate fee for this session. Do I need to give her a tip for this first? And then give her another tip after she does my wedding? Thanks in advance!

You're getting married the same weekend as me! I'm on the 24th. How exciting! Paulina's pictures seem really nice and prices seem reasonable, so I say go for it! We're leaning towards Elizabeth Lloyd whose prices are comparable, but it seems like she takes a lot more pictures, but no prints. So I guess it depends on what you're looking for. Good luck! I'm sure you'll love your pictures no matter who you go with!

Quote: Originally Posted by amyh well you must post pics! Have you thought of any locations yet? I told my photog I want some sort of hacienda/ mission, so we may drive down to san juan capistrano. I'll definitely post the pics once they're done! We're having such a hard time deciding on the location. I'm like, the least artistic person ever, so I have no idea what locations will look good on film. We definitely don't want to do the beach, since we figure we'll have enough beach pictures at the wedding. FI wanted a more urban feel, so he suggested some places in downtown LA (Walt Disney Concert Hall, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Central Library, MOCA). I'm not totally sold on the idea. I'd like to do it at a park somewhere (we live near Griffith Park), but FI thinks it'll be too "boring." He said, "It'll be nice to have buildings in our pictures... or maybe a cliff." Huh? I have no idea what to do at this point, but we'll have to come to a decision quick.

Quote: Originally Posted by bethtamar I am in LA too!!! I was wondering when Beth would be in town, I would like to meet her since I am trying to pick a P.V. photographer for my May 25, 2008 wedding! I'm sooo excited too! She'll be here Aug. 3-8, and we're scheduled to do our session on Aug. 5. Now I'm wondering what I should wear and where we should go to do the photos. Ahh... the stressing never ends!

Photog shopping is definitely the most stressful after venue and dress! I'm considering Beth Lloyd also. The price she quoted me was quite reasonable, I think. All day coverage at Las Caletas for $1800. 500+ pictures on a DVD, but no prints though. It's funny, originally, I didn't want to spend more than $800 on a photog, but after seeing everyone's gorgeous photos, I decided to splurge a little. Oh, and Beth will be in LA for a few days next month and I scheduled an engagement session with her. She's charging an extra $300 for this. Hopefully it all goes well!

I looked through Elizabeth Lloyd's photos on her website, and they seem really good. I emailed her asking about her packages and pricing. We'll see what she says. I also looked through Beth Fladung's website and she doesn't have any wedding portfolios. Not sure if she does any wedding photography. There's not much info there. Just wondering if anyone's had any experience with these photogs?

Quote: Originally Posted by nat4crim I received an email from Michelle Turner this morning on her photgraphy rates. I have a pdf. file I can email you if you send me a pm with your email address. I tried uploading it to the forum but the file is too big. haha... I did the same thing and got a pdf. Her cheapest package is $4500 which includes 500 online images and digital negatives and basic magazine album. Her most expensive package is $10,000 for complete weekend coverage. She said the prices on the pdf include all travel expenses to Las Caletas. But I don't know, I think it's still way too much for my budget. :-(

Quote: Originally Posted by sanchez0014 I did a lot of research on photographers in PV and it does seem like they are extremely limited... I actually went with Michelle Turner. She does amazing work and since she lives part of the year in PV, I didn't have to pay travel or accomidation costs. She is a bit pricey but I think it is well worth the money. I also found that other photographers were not as pricey but the number of photos really didn't match the price. In my opinion, photography is where I wanted the bulk of my expenses to go. Like someone on here said... at the end of the wedding the food will be eaten, the drinks will be drunk but your photos will last a lifetime... Michelle seems really nice and got back to me in a timely manner. I've told her about this forum but I think she is always a bit busy to actually join us. Give her a call and let her know I recommended her, maybe she'll join us on the forum and we can see eachothers pics like leigh and jonathan display of the other beautiful brides! Hi, hope you don't mind me asking, but... how much did you pay for Michelle Turner or can you give a ballpark figure? Her photos are gorgeous! I'm getting married at Las Caletas in May 2008 and am looking for a PV photographer. There seem to be a lot of great photogs around, but none of them in PV, and paying for their travel and lodging would be beyond my budget. It would be awesome if Michelle Turner happened to be in PV the same time as our wedding.

I still feel so torn about what to do. I have single friends who are part of a group, who I know won’t mind going stag, so I don’t want make them think they should be bringing dates by putting “and guest†on the invite. But I also have friends not in a group who might feel uncomfortable going solo. I think I’m going to go with not putting “and guest†on the invite but reassuring people that they can bring a guest if I think they’d be uncomfortable going alone. It is a lot to ask of someone to travel to a foreign country for a wedding if they didn’t know anyone at the wedding but me. I’m just getting started in this whole wedding planning process, but there seem to be so many of these minefields I have to go through! Fun stuff…

So I'm planning a Cabo wedding and I want to keep the guest list as small as I can to keep costs down. Do you gals know what's the proper etiquette for inviting single friends? Do I have to invite the friend "plus guest" or can I just invite the friend only? If a friend is married and I don't know the spouse that well, I would still feel obligated to invite both of them as a married couple (which is what I'm planning to do). Ditto for friends with long-time partners. But what about friends who are single or just casually dating someone? On the one hand, I don't want to discriminate against my single friends, but on the other hand, I don't want the guest list to get too big. What's the proper thing to do?

Amber, thanks for the review! Like everyone else wants to know, have you decided on a place?? Also, I'm glad to hear that you liked the Finisterra, especially since I am considering having my wedding there. Do you know how strict they are about having 75% of your guests stay there? I think a lot of my guests will try to find other, cheaper places to stay. Will the hotel charge you extra or make you pay for rooms for 75% of your guests, even if less than 75% of your guests stay there?

Hi everyone, this is my first post, but I've been reading the messages for a few days now and let me just say... I’m so glad I found this site!!! I was feeling so overwhelmed at the thought of planning a DW... but after reading these posts, I feel so much better. You ladies have awesome advice! As for me, we're planning a Cabo wedding for Spring 2008 (Feb-May), and that's all I know so far. I do have some questions, but I'll post them in the Cabo section. Looking forward to getting to know you guys! Elaine