artistique

Here is Kathy & AJ's album from their wedding at the Azul Sensatori! They had 1700+ images from their rehearsal, wedding and day after shoot, but here is a slideshow of some of our favorites. http://artistique.co/galleries/destination-weddings/kathy-ajs-wedding-azul-sensatori-riviera-maya-mexico/

Schmieding - I am pretty sure you are right about Barcelo and how she gets paid. I read a while ago that Barcelo stopped giving kickbacks to travel agents. Here's one industry article about that: http://www.travelagentcentral.com/trends-research/hotels-turning-their-backs-agents We have shot weddings at both and honestly, I would recommend Barcelo hands down. I love Sensatori (rooms, photo ops, spa, pool), it is beaufiful but so much smaller and they do SO many weddings. One wedding we shot there there were four other couples at the same time! Barcelo is so much bigger and you don't feel like "one of the many". Plus the beach is waaaaaaaaaaaay nicer! Michelle

That could be true, but it sounds like from MaggieandJay's post that they had him booked already with their food and drink package, then they just took him away. I will see what I can find out while we are there.

Hello Ladies! We are heading down to the resort on Friday to shoot Kathy & AJ's rehearsal, wedding, and TTD session next weekend, then the same for Sarah & Aaron the weekend after. We will be posting photos when we get back, but if anyone would like any specific shot of any location at the resort for planning purposes, just message me and I will take them for you. I chatted with Kathy yesterday and she said she is having the donkey, so I will keep you all posted as to whether that happens. We will have photographic evidence too! Michelle

I would recommend Brasserie, the French restaurant, which is the most elegant. The food is amazing! Rodizio, the Brazilian is really nice, not quite so elegant but really beautiful. The Brazilian serves the meat courses on swords. I am including some photos here too, of the Brazilian restaurant (during rehearsal dinner) and the French where we shot some of the bride and groom photos. What is your daughters name? We are shooting three weddings there in April and was curious if she was one of them! Let me know if you have any other questions. Michelle

Hello ladies! We are heading down to the Riviera Maya to shoot a couple of weddings at Azul Sensatori next week (Nov 12th through the 22nd). We are spending out vacation part of our trip at the Valentin though, so if any of you would like us to take some pictures of any particular part of the property, restaurants/bars, beach, etc, just let me know and we would be more than happy to take some for you. Anything that you need to see the layout and and for planning purposes. I will post again before we go in case anyone misses this. It will be our first time at the Valentin and we are super excited!! Michelle

Some updates! We just booked Susan and Jeff's wedding at Barcelo Maya Palace for April 14th, 2011!! That makes four in April during our trip, three at Barcelo and one at Dreams Tulum. We are still able to do one or two more in between the dates of April 12th through the 29th. We offer super deals for our first couple in the winter/early spring (January-April) and fall each year. We haven't yet booked our fall 2011 so please contact us for our special deal. We are heading to the Riviera Maya next Friday, November 12th to shoot Kathy and AJ's wedding at Azul Sensatori on the 14th, and Sarah & Aaron's wedding (also at Azul Sensatori) on November 20th. We will be vacationing at the Valentin Imperial Maya in between, so if anyone would like any particular photos of either of those resorts just let us know and we will be happy to snap some for you! Also, we will be posted both weddings in early December. Can't wait!! We are shooting Kathy & AJ's TTD session on Cozumel, some with a motorcycle, which we are super excited about. Michelle

Congratualtions! We were there in January of this year and it was so nice, not too hot!!

We have always booked with either Expedia or Orbiz as they usually give a great discount for booking hotel and airfare together. If you are in the US, you may be able to negotiate a room rate with Barcelo and hold a block of rooms. It may be easier to get a travel agent to negotiate with them for that. We are going to be booking our next trip for April 2011 and have been watching rates on both Expedia and Orbiz. Orbiz has had the better discount. FYI, if you have an Entertainment book, Expedia has a coupon in there. Michelle

We've used USA Transfers also and will continue to use them. They have been great to work and their rates are very reasonable. We LOVE to have the private transfer, rather than having multiple people at different hotels on the same transport. Michelle

Welcome to the forum! We haven't had any problem at all shooting at Barcelo, in fact it is our FAVORITE Riveria Maya resort. The photographer just needs to stay two night so it is no problem at all. It is SO beautiful there! I would read all through the Barcelo post as I know girls have posted all the menu and package info on their. Be prepared for "Mexico time" getting back to you. All of our bride's complain about the length of time it take coordinators to get back to you. Good luck with all of your plans!! Michelle

We are super excited to be shooting Sarah and Aaron's wedding at Azul Sensatori in November as well as Kathy and AJ! Also, we haven't finalized our trip yet for April and are still offering a super amazing deal with no travel fees! Currently we are going to be in the Riviera Maya from April 13th to the 28th, staying at Barcelo Maya Palace, shooting there and at Dreams Tulum. If you don't need everything in the whole package, we are happy to quote hourly too. Michelle

Hey Ashley  Mariachi usually come during cocktail/dinner which is really cool! I am almost positive Jaguars opens at 11:00pm. It could be 10:00 but not earlier than that. Sunset is at 7:05 that day so the reception at 7:00 would be great as we will have the beautiful light in the hour before to get great stuff of you guys on the beach. SO excited.  Michelle

to the forum!! I love that huge waterfall thing that comes out of the rock cave and the way the pools are all interconnected. We are shooting a wedding at Barcelo on April 15th and can't wait! Good luck with all of your plans! Â Michelle

and congrats on your engagement! The Moon Palace is gorgeous and the weather then should be awesome. We are down to shoot a couple of weddings in April and can't wait! Sounds like you have lots of fun events planned. Â For the AHR, a couple of ideas for keeping costs low is to do a champagne & cake reception, rather than trying to feed everyone. You can either do an afternoon type thing or like a Friday night starting at 8:00/8:30 or so (so no one expects dinner), then get a band or dj and have a party. Just a couple of thoughts! Â Michelle

Here are some pics of one of the beach reception area. Michelle

:Welcome3: Katie! We are going to be down there then too for a couple of weddings and can't wait! You will LOVE the Royal!! There are so many beautiful places to get some amazing photos and the gazebo is gorgeous! Good luck with all of your planning! Michelle

Barcelo is GORGEOUS!! We have two weddings there in mid-April and can't wait! Have fun with all your planning... Michelle

Stacy! There is so much great info on the forum! We'll be in the Riviera Maya in April and can't wait!! We'll be at Barcelo Maya Palace which is one of our favorite resorts. They are all gorgeous and you will find tons of info on all the resorts here! Michelle

We had a question about shooting night shots, so I thought I would post a couple of our night shot photos here! We use off camera lighting, which creates the fashion look and use backlighting too for the rim lighting effect. We shoot with the Nikon D3 which is the most amazing camera for rendering great quality in low light situations. Michelle

Quote: Originally Posted by Lisa DSO Oh and random question... For those of you using catamaran cruises like catamaya, do they give you all free T-shirts? I recall seeing group pic where everyone wheres the same T-shirt (and I'm a sucker for a free T-shirt lol) Hi Lisa, Sorry for the delayed response but that was our pic of Alison & Kevin's Catamaya cruise with the matching shirts. They had the t-shirts made here and gave them to everyone in their bags. I am not sure where Alison had them done but I can ask her if you would like. Zazzle does a great job with t's. Michelle

Leanne!! Congratulations on booking your wedding. You will LOVVVVVE Barcelo! It is our favorite property in the Riviera Maya! We are actually going to be staying down there then at the Palace as we are shooting Ashley's (ashfry) wedding on the 15th and Vanessa's (Nessa682) on the 25th. You will have such an amazing wedding there. It is just so beautiful and the food is fabulous! Have fun with all your planning... Michelle

Thank you Teneshia!! I just responded to your email. Teneshia asked me a question which I hadn't thought to answer here, but we are available for destination weddings anywhere in the world, not just Mexico! The only place we can't shoot is Cuba because of the travel restriction of US citizens there. Other than that, we are available wherever you would like to go! Michelle