Newbie, seeking modern mexican wedding setting

Thanks for the warm welcome from you all!

Maura, your right the Westin is a gorgeous modern hotel. I discovered it about three weeks ago and even contacted the resort, thinking it was the one. After, Karina Jajan sent a preliminary quote for the room block and random expensive vendor rates. I contacted her because I had a lot of questions about planning a wedding there and concerns about the budget.
The initial rate sheet that Karina sent me was outrageous. My FMIL is paying for our wedding and so she called Karina and accused her of trying to rip us off (FI's family is from Mexico, they live in Mx City) and threatened to take our business elsewhere. Karina dropped the prices and nixed a bunch of other fees that we complained about too -- like a fee to bring our photographer.

You, see my FI and I like many modern couples, must pay for our wedding and the welcome/rehersal event. We wish we had a $30,000 budget, but we need to be as careful as we can to not overspend so we can buy a house some day. When I talked to Karina I told her that the quote she sent had room rates more expensive than what we could find on the westin website. She admitted to some error on her part (hmmm?). Her english isnt fantastic, and she often does this. As soon as we call to say WTF, she backs down. Thankfully, with my inlaws covering the costs I dont have to worry too much because they literally told us whatever we wanted they would pay for, which is so amazing, but i still feel sometimes like i should be doing whatever i can to cut costs.

Then we talked about the budget issue and she made me feel more comfortable by saying that our wedding planner would be able to negotiate with the recommended vendors for lower prices on their services, and said they could even work with us on the food and bar pricing to meet our budget goals. OK you dont have to use ANY of the vendors Karina sent you, they make it seem like you do but you dont. you can absolutely bring all your own vendors except for food.

So, I told her to send us a contract and bar & food pricing. I was so excited to get a contract signed and be over with deciding on the destination when I started reading the food and bar pricing. We might have been able to work with them on the food, as you know entry level chicken entrees part of a 3-course dinner start at around $55 / person plus 28% tax. That was over our budget, but again we thought we might be able to negotiate down to a more reasonable rate, and then possible not serve food at our welcome barbeque - instead have a welcome bonfire. But then it was the bar pricing that really blew my mind. The most ridiculous was the price of $9 per beer + 28% tax. we must have sent our contract back to her to amend it like 4-5 times because my FMIL wasnt signing anything that was designed to screw us over. the $9/beer is only if you pay for the bar via consumption. it ends up being much cheaper to do open bar and not worry about how much people are drinking! and yeah, the food prices are high, but again we got an adjusted price menuMy fiance and I realized we were going to have to negotiate every single aspect of our wedding if we went with the Westin. Although I know that's kind of how it goes in mexico, I really hate the idea they would send out a price sheet that in my opinion was a bit of a slap in the face. We just figured the whole thing was going to be way to pricey there. Sad part is I really loved that hotel. Maura, you are father along in the planning process then us though, how are your budgeting issues working out at the Westin? i cant tell you specifics because i dont know since im not paying for the wedding but i do know our budget looks like its sitting around 25K right now for an anticipated 80-85 guests.

This could be totally off, but what about just finding a chic hotel (not in Cabo) and seeing if they can accommodate a wedding.

Google led me to this, for instance: :: Kimbe - Hotel :: (Hotel Kinbe: Playa del Carmen hotels, Riviera Maya, Mexico)

or this idea: Playa del Carmen, Mexico: Hotel Básico - New York Times

I'm sure there are other boutique hotels thoughout Mexico that might fit what you're looking for?

if you want to talk more about the westin feel free to PM me! also theres a thread i started here for westin brides so you can see what other peoples' experiences are. good luck!