We booked Matt from del Sol to shoot our wedding on June 16, 2012 at Le Reve in Playa del Carmen. We booked them through the wonderful del Sol/Le Reve promotion on BDW. Booking this pair was one of the best decisions we made. We originally wanted to have our wedding at Esencia, another lovely boutique hotel in the Riviera Maya, but the promotional value in the free hour of photography and reduced room rates at Le Reve made it a no-brainer. Thank you for the promotion!!!

Here is the link to our slideshow: http://delsolphotography.com/blog/content/galleries/?gal=755

I am really sad that I can't give del Sol a perfect review like so many other members have on here. We were SO excited to be working with them and spent a good portion of our wedding budget to book them. Once we made the decision to book del Sol, we quickly decided we would invest in the best of the best and picked Matt. Our package was for six hours.

What we loved about del Sol

- They really are the best photographers in the area, maybe even the world, and their work is simply incredible. When we got our slideshow we literally started crying. Their pictures are perfect; they captured the essence and emotion of every part of our day beautifully. We have a handful of photos that I know will decorate our home for the rest of our lives. Here are some of my favorites:

- We value and appreciate the enthusiasm they bring to the art of wedding photography. It is clear by looking at any picture that they are very serious about what they do, they love what they do, and they work very hard to produce the results they achieve. They don't get amazing pictures by luck!

- Communication from the office staff was always quick and consistent throughout the whole process, from booking through delivery of our photographs.

What left a little bit to be desired

- I never had direct contact with Matt about our photos before the wedding. (In fairness, we did exchange a few comments on facebook and posts on this form, but never anything specific about our photos.) At one point shortly after we booked, Melissa the studio manager told me that Matt was going to call me. That never happened and we never got the opportunity to talk about our day. Yes, we sent in our photo requests via an online form, but I think we could have benefited from consulting with him on everything from our schedule, number of hours, exactly what portraits we wanted, etc. I think not having any personal connection with our photographer before the day negatively affected our photos.

- That being said, we really just felt like a number to them. While all correspondence was rapid fast, every email read pretty much like a form letter. In fact, when I followed up on status of our photos after the wedding, they even referenced the huge number of other events they were currently working on, and on our wedding day Matt mentioned the number of other weddings they were shooting that day (5, which I believe is a lot). On a person's wedding day, they like to think even for just a few hours that their love is all that matters in the world, so that was pretty disappointing to have to hear. I know with such a big and successful business it's hard to give personal attention to every client, but when someone is making such a big and important investment, I think it's necessary. 

- This is very minor, but Matt stressed me out on a few occasions throughout the day. He yelled at his assistant/second shooter Melissa (studio manager) a few times which was really uncomfortable. He is also just so energetic and constantly moving, which made me feel rushed and anxious. I later realized that all of this was really in our best interest as he is just that way to make sure he gets the best and most perfect photos possible. But still, I was already stressed out enough on that day.

- This is going to sound picky, but I just don't feel that many of our pictures were as good as many of the others I've seen from del Sol. Specifically our portraits - but I will take most of the credit for that for not being more specific about what we wanted. I thought they would do more to pose us, tell us what to do and where to go, take us around to different locations at the resort, etc. I think that depends on who you book because I've read other reviews saying they were great at that. But also in our detail shots, I was disappointed with pictures of our rings, jewelry, shoes, etc. For example:

Our rings:

Someone else's rings, photo by Sol:

My Shoes:

Someone else's shoes, photo by Sol:

You get the picture...

Advice I have for future brides booking del Sol

- Realize that all of the slideshows you see are the "photographers favorites" - the best of the best that they want to showcase. There will be other pictures of your wedding that don't WOW you. Make sure you are okay with this when you are writing checks.

- Do your research. Know all of the pictures you want and TELL your photographer. Know how many hours of photography you need to get all of the pictures you want. Realize that even though del Sol is amazing, even though they are the BEST... they are NOT magicians or mind readers! :)

- Try to get a personal phone call or two arranged with your photographer and form a connection.

Overall, we are very happy with del Sol's work. I would DEFINITELY recommend them to anyone getting married in the Riviera Maya and beyond. I hope my comments above from my experience are helpful as you plan your dream wedding and photos!

Update 5/24/13: 

OK, so it's been almost a year since our wedding and I've thought long and hard about just taking this review down. It's the least positive review of del Sol on this site which really isn't fair to them since they are such great photographers. BUT... there's always a but.... 

My husband and I are going back to Le Reve for our anniversary next month and I thought it would be special to have my bouquet remade while we're there to remember our wedding day. I scoured through all of our images and I realized that I do not have ONE good close-up shot of my bouquet to show the florist. That is such a standard shot, you know, the one with the bride holding her bouquet with it filling up almost the whole frame. It just reminded me of how so many of these little details of our day didn't get captured how I wanted. (Yes, they were captured, but not how I was expecting after looking at all of their other work and deciding to hire them).

I still would recommend del Sol BUT - future brides, I am begging you to be as specific as possible with them about ALL of the pictures that are important to you. It makes me so sad that I don't have all of these pictures and would not wish this feeling on any other bride as they celebrate one of the most special days of their life.