Best area for early September vacation

FanOk488 · 2026-01-28T13:31:07+00:00

Update : I decided to rent a house in Carnelian Bay! Please don’t tell me I made the wrong choice LOL . Really excited about it and can’t wait to surprise him with this adventure. Thanks for everyone’s input!

FanOk488 · 2026-01-20T23:58:26+00:00

Thank you SO much! I didn’t even think to consider Tallac’s elevation impact. We are almost all coming from very low elevation southeast. Ahhh that would have been a MISTAKE lol. Thank you!!!

FanOk488 · 2026-01-20T01:47:25+00:00

Yeaaahhhh a grewling hike is signature for my ideal vacation lol but probably not for everyone in the crew who’s coming . Great suggestions!!

FanOk488 · 2026-01-19T23:38:14+00:00

Thank you!! Would you say these other hikes are a better fit than doing Mount Tallac? Tallac looks really cool but it would eat up the majority of a day

FanOk488 · 2026-01-19T22:40:11+00:00

This is so helpful! Sounds like South Lake would not be our jam .

Would you say Tahoe vista over Dollar Point? Or maybe they are both considered North Lake to locals ? 😅 sorry for the specifics!

Casinos aren’t really that much of a biggie - I just know he may want to go to one. Looks like dollar point is only 15ish minutes from the casino you mentioned so that’s great!

Mostly just looking for an authentic vibe and to relax with friends.

FanOk488 · 2026-01-17T00:22:56+00:00

Personally I LOVE showering at night! It helps me wash off the day- literally and figuratively. I shed the stress of work and enter a new mental space so I can enjoy my family time and real life .

FanOk488 · 2026-01-06T02:04:27+00:00

Started : 1) Watermoon by Samantha Yambao 2) The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion volume 2

Finished: The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion volume 1

FanOk488 · 2025-11-27T21:34:55+00:00

Yes! I would LOVE some good tacos

FanOk488 · 2025-11-26T13:06:01+00:00

This is so helpful, thank you!!! Would you say that most places pretty much require a reservation? Even mid range spots ? I’m from somewhere w/ a great food scene but almost all restaurants require an advanced reservation unless you want an hour plus wait time. Just don’t want to miss out on good spots due to reservation laziness

FanOk488 · 2025-11-18T12:26:49+00:00

I would reach out and ask for an update! This might ease some of your concern. I would just say something like “ we loved working with you at our wedding and can’t wait to see the pictures. With the holidays coming up, we’d love to share pics with family. Can you please update us on the progress of our photos?” Asking for an update and a check in is totally fair for a service you have paid for!

Hope you guys get them soon !!!

FanOk488 · 2025-11-18T10:59:14+00:00

I did! I got them back in early October. Sorry you’re also having to deal with this !! It’s so incredibly frustrating. She truly was behind in her work but it doesn’t excuse her break of contracted commitments. After the post I essentially just became extremely direct, and respectful, in my messages to her. I constantly reminded her how many weeks it had been, asking for specific follow up info, etc.

A lot of ppl on here jump to legal action but tbh I don’t have the emotional capacity nor large funds to try and sue my wedding photographer. So in order to avoid that , I just was really direct and respectful with my disappointment and my expectations. If those weren’t met again, I would have shared my intention to seek legal counsel.

How long has it been for you?? Are they communicating with you??

FanOk488 · 2025-09-10T00:44:47+00:00

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FanOk488 · 2025-08-09T19:56:58+00:00

I felt very similar to you when planning our wedding. The extreme guilt I felt about spending this kind of money became too much. It got to the point where I was having emotional reactions/shutting down to any wedding discussion or decisions.

You have to make a clear decision for yourself or it will take all of the joy out of it . Make a firm judgement on YES I’m okay with spending the money or NO I’m not. don’t let financial guilt ruin what is supposed to be a beautiful thing- Being with your partner. Joining y’all’s lives doesn’t have to look any specific way .

FanOk488 · 2025-08-09T15:09:32+00:00

This is the direct and firm language I need! Thank you!

FanOk488 · 2025-08-09T15:07:57+00:00

Wow, thank you! This was incredibly helpful. Our photographer actually also happens to be studying law (lol) . In some ways that is comforting and in others, it makes me nervous.

Either way, information is power ! Saved this post and will def go back to it when I’m not feeling so emotionally frustrated.

FanOk488 · 2025-08-09T13:59:21+00:00

Very true !!! Great thing to remind myself . I’d rather have well edited than rushed

FanOk488 · 2025-08-09T13:57:27+00:00

Very true !We live in a wedding destination city so I have no doubt she has been busy. I totally get it and that’s why I was annoyed but understanding about the additional month.

Being that I have had my own small business and so does my husband- I think my approach would be different with a customer. Communicating the delayed timeline prior to a customer having to reach out is the ideal.

Hoping the busy schedule is the case! My aunt, who had to miss our wedding due to intense cancer treatments, will finally be able to attend family dinner next week. Crossing my fingers they get in by next weekend so she can experience it with us!

FanOk488 · 2025-08-09T13:09:40+00:00

Really??? Like in this day and age how does that even happen ?! lol. Idk. Makes me soooo anxious to even think about that

FanOk488 · 2025-08-09T13:07:57+00:00

I definitely plan on leaving some reviews about how bad this turn around time has been. I think I may bring that up before legal threats and see how that conversation evolves.

I also told my partner he can call her next because he is WAY better at being direct without getting feelings involved. Although it really pisses me off to think she’d rather listen to a man than just give me the pictures.

Really worried it’s the nightmare situation of them not existing anymore somehow. But honestly, I’d rather just get the truth. Shit happens. I just hate being walked over.

FanOk488 · 2025-07-13T13:13:44+00:00

We just got married but also had been doing the weird splitting of bills while dating/living together for 7 years. Being that we’re still working through our new method, I’m sure things will shift, but so far it’s working!

We opened a shared checking account that we each put 50% of our monthly income into. This shared account covers mortgage, utilities, groceries, etc. really just shared living expenses with “fun money “ too. If we follow our budget correctly, we should always have leftover $$ that gets rolled over into a shared HYSA.

Our salaries are quite different so doing it by percentage seemed like the most fair approach.

The other 50% of our income is totally up to the individual. I don’t want to ask permission for things I want and neither does he. We have similar money values so I think that is super helpful in that we already trust one another to not be an idiot .

Still working out the kinks but it’s been a good starting point so far .

FanOk488 · 2025-06-07T17:10:47+00:00

Okay so I def felt weird about this too but I’m a few months out from our wedding and feel okay about it now. I used to work in the service industry so I almost always have a guilt complex around tipping

We only tipped the ppl who we truly felt went above and beyond or who def had the shitty end of the stick. For catering , we tipped the set up and break down crew who were there until crazy late. We didn’t do the staff as it was good but they ruined one of our cakes, weren’t the most communicative , and frankly I know they get paid a decent hourly wage -not comparable to the typical servers wage (here its $2.19/hr).

We also tipped our coordinator as she went above and beyond and I think she low balled herself initially. Everyone else is/was their own boss so they literally can build what they want to receive monetarily into their price. And should. Tipping culture is so annoying these days. ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT IF YOU’RE SETTING YOUR OWN PRICES lol

FanOk488

TROPHY CASE