AlisonDawn

Hey Chelsey, I was married there in February and we decided to hire a different photographer. It really is based on your own personal preference though. If you like the photos the resort photographers take, then you will save a whole slew of money!! If not though, and you decide to hire an external photographer, ask Jacki if there are any refunds for doing so. We did this, and she gave us $100 off another aspect of our wedding. I'd suggest Del Sol for your photos if you can afford it! They are all so talented and wonderful! I am still so in love with our photos, they truly captured the story of our wedding. And the best part is that you get ALL the photos (between 300-400) mailed to you on a disk, so you don't have to pick and choose which photos you need to part with. But maybe the resort photog. does this as well? I don't actually know..

You must be getting so excited Julie!!! Enjoy every moment, it goes by SO fast!!

We chose Del Sol for our trash the dress photos. The above photos by Breeburns are by them also, and hers are SO beautiful! But everything they do is beyond gorgeous! So I definitely recommend them! Plus Sol is just the sweetest, most awesome woman! And from what I have heard, Matt is pretty awesome too!

We had an underwater TTD shoot the day after our wedding (in a cenote) and we are SO glad we did it. The pictures turned out beautiful and we have such amazing memories of the day! It was SO fun! My dress was silk, and the bottom of it definitely got trashed, but that was because of walking in dirt and on sharp rocks! It was a little hard to swim at first, as my dress got very heavy, but so worth it! I say go for it! Especially in Bora Bora with all the fish surrounding you!

My best advice is to bring a good camera and make sure you bring enough memory cards for it! We were there for 2 weeks and took ALOT of pictures (I'm talking 3000 or more! Lol!) Of course a lot of them were taken just to get the perfect picture of something and experimenting with different camera settings, but it was nice not to have to worry about it and it was super fun taking tons of pics. There are lots of "must do's" there, but I'll share some of our best memories while we were there. Most people head to the main island on the water shuttles and then grab a taxi into the main village (Vaitape), but you can rent bikes once you get there and ride there yourself. We were a little nervous at first, since we thought we might overheat, so we went in the morning, and my husband brought a backpack which we filled with lots of water. It was probably one of the best days we had! It was fantastic to take in the scenery that way, and the people there are so friendly, always waving when we rode by. We could also stop whenever we wanted to take pictures! haha Oh and if you DO head to the village, no matter how you plan on getting there, bring a backpack and stock up on snacks because they are EXPENSIVE at the resorts. As is sunscreen... if you need extra, buy it in the village. I would also recommend doing some scuba diving while you are there. We took a beginners course as we had never done it before and it was so AMAZING. What resort are you staying at? We stayed at Le Meridien, and if you are at all close to that I'd recommend popping over there for a visit to see the turtle sanctuary. I spend a few hours there daily, and there is a glass window looking into the water for some awesome pictures. The best time to go is 30mins before they feed the turtles (10am I think). The turtles know feeding time is coming, so they are all in one spot waiting, and you can get lots of pictures in before everyone else shows up! If you are into tattoos, once of the best tattoo artists is in Bora Bora. You tell him what you want, where, and what size, and thats all you get to know. They are tribal, so just in black ink, but he freehands every single tattoo.. so he just makes it up as he goes. He is amazing and his tattoos are incredible! His tattoo shop is called Marama tattoo if you are interested. My husband and I both got tattoos there the day before we had to leave I could probably go on and on and on, but this post is long enough! hahaha

Oooh! Congratulations!!! My husband and I went to Bora Bora for our honeymoon just a few months ago! It is so beautiful! You guys are going to have such a wonderful wedding!!