RSL2010

I'm back and all I can say is WOW! Everything turned out better than I could have ever expected (and I have high expectations)! I am in the process of writing a detailed review of all of my vendors, but will tell you I wasn't disappointed by anyone.

Quickly, best money spent was on Blanca as coordinator, Bradley Fraser, The Twins, oops, how could I forget the fire dancers (also, Blanca only charged me $1225 for the $1500 group)

Biggest wastes of money, cigar roller, "lounge" set up from Fun & Motivation, having the Hive come and do my hair and makeup (it was so windy, I could have saved myself the $300 and done it myself, not that they did a bad job)

Bradley is amazing and actually posted some of my photos on his website because he heard my hubby and I talking about it. The link is http://www.cabophotography.com/brides/raina-henri

I have about 600 pictures, so I will go through and post some of the best ones!

You all will have a blast at the Pacifica. We all sat in the pool and had drinks and quesadilla/tacos, etc... all day long. Everyone was so great and friendly at the hotel and we loved them (even though I think we wore them out with our late night orders and requests). I think we ended up paying them to leave the fire pits on and also sat in the hot tub and ordered food/beers to all hours of the night every singe night. It was nice because we didn't need to go into Cabo and everyone, young and old was able to enjoy themselves and then just go up to their room at their leisure.

The Twins were a super bargain at $650 an hour with a 3 hour minimum. They were great, everyone had a fabulous time, even the non dancers were dancing! They had a full set up with stage and lights. Bradley actually just put up 70 of our photos, so I will post the link, I think there is at least one picture of The Twins (although my new brother and sister in law did take over the stage quite a bit).

I'm finally back! I don't think we've downloaded any of our pics from the Palmilla yet, but I will have the hubby get on that... He got a deal from his travel agent that does a lot of entertainment bookings there and at Las Ventanas so she was able to get us a $500 rate at either place. We ended up getting a double upgrade so we were in a beach front junior suite terrace room (which, if you look on the website is the 5th of the 10 levels of rooms). It looks like the rooms are more expensive on the weekends, so I think we probably got a better rate and the double upgrade because it was during the week. As we were leaving on Thursday we saw tons of people checking in and it looked like people were there for a wedding. I think you get all of the amenities no matter what type of room you are in (I have already been trying to plan a return trip), so I think any room would be fabulous. The spa was amazing and we had dinner the last night at Charlie Trotter's "C" and did the tasting menu - it was also fabulous. My hubby also joined the "Leading Hotels of the World" club, which was free, so I'm not sure if that also helped up get the upgrade.

Thank you!

I will give you a full review when I get back, but I will say the Pacifica was awesome, I can't say enough great things about it. The food was a little expensive for the reception, but it was totally worth it, we had a three course meal and then cake and the food was worth the money.

How many people are you having at your wedding? We had 50 and at that number, I would recommend The Twins. I know CaboMax isn't that much more because we were going to use them, but decided because we had a smaller group the Twins would be better and they were. Everyone loved them. I would say go with CaboMax if you have 100 or more otherwise it could be too overwhelming. The Twins are already on a stage and really blew all of us away, such a great deal for the money! I will send you pictures so you can get an idea as to how it all looks!

I will tell you, I wasn't disappointed with anything except the things I tried to do on my own without the wedding coordinator, just because it was too much and we didn't need it! I guess that will teach me to listen to the professionals!

No celebs yet, but we haven't really been on the lookout! I will try and do a better job tonight and keep you posted!

Ok, we are at at "minimoon" at the Palmilla and all I can say is WOW! We did get a deal on our original room, but they also gave us a double upgrade. We have our own butler on call 24 hours a day and they will pretty much cater to your every need. They have fruit for you everyday, had tequila and champagne waiting when we arrived, and do an aromatherapy turndown service. Check in is even amazing - you are greated at the front by your butler, you sit on a bench and someone brings you a tropical fruit popsicle and then shows you around the property on a golf cart. Their is no front desk, you just go to your room and they start unpacking your stuff for you and you just sign and give them your credit card. It is very relaxing and not a party scene; however, after being in Cabo for 6 days with all of our friends, we are ready for some relaxation. We are right on the ocean on the third floor and have a bed outside on the terrace where my husband is asleep right now! I don't ever want to go home! Can you tell I love this place? I can't believe I was ever doubting it!

I almost forgot, about the price.... We got a great deal on our room, so that isn't too bad. The food is expensive, but it has been amazing so far. We live in LA, so we are used to paying an arm and a leg for meals, so this is a little bit more, but worth it because we are laying on a secluded beach with people bringing us misters, drinks and looking after our every need!

I just got married on Saturday and we had the cigar roller. Because our band was so crazy and everyone was having such a great time, the cigar roller never got to do his show and was just kind of sitting there. I also thought we got 10 free cigars, which we did, but it was in a box for us, I had wanted the cigars to be for our guests.... I would say save your money on the cigar roller and get The Twins to play at your reception! I am going to post a full review soon, but I just saw this post, so I wanted to tell you all our experience with cigar roller. It was by far our biggest waste of money!

I have recently been working with Fatima and it is actually a new Fatima.... A little confusing, but anyway, here is her email, she is very responsive and will work with you.

[email protected]

The Hard Rock is my favorite place to stay - not to mention that I met my future husband in the pool over 4th of July weekend 3 years ago!

One of my good friends is a buyer for the store and the hotel was recently sold to the Kors group and they are giving the rooms a major facelift, so hopefully they will be nice again!

Glad to hear! We are actually planning on doing a "minimoon" there after our wedding for 3 days. I had wanted to stay at Las Ventanas, but my FI's travel agent talked up the Palmilla, so he is excited about it now, not to mention that is was much less expensive. If it's not that great, I would rather not waste the money there!

I am actually buying a big bag to put all my extra wedding stuff in - the over the limit fee for 51 - 70 pounds is only $25 on American. The fee for an extra bag is $80. I figure it is still cheaper than shipping and I know it will get there!

I love the mini cakes!

No problem!

Yes, $900 a minute. Blanca Casteneda is my coordinator.

My coordinator quoted me $900 an hour and I think we are actually going to just do 1 minute. I really wanted to do the fireworks and we are WAY over our budget - She knows I really wanted them and she said 1 minute will be fine. I think this is something else they are flexible with because she initially quoted me higher on the fireworks and has come down to $900 without much negotiation on my part.

Hi Karla -

I think the band we are using does merenge/mambo, Latino/salsa and then also mariachi type music in addition to swing jazz and pop. We are getting married in a month, so I can let you know how they are. My fiance and I just took a salsa lesson tonight and I think that is what we are going to try to do for our first dance! Their website is www.cabomax.com

There is another band Sexto Sentido that does bossa nova, etc... I think they are a little more expensive. Their website is www.6tosentido.com.

Hope this helps!

Raina

Thanks! I'll definitely upload all of my "goodies". I think my new passion has become researching wedding ideas - who knew there were so many websites dedicated to stationary, favors, napkins, matches, etc.... I've become a little crazy in my mission to have every single element tie into my theme/color scheme!

I have never posted on this site before!!!! I thought I would say "Hi" on the new forum. As my wedding is rapidly approaching (October 28, 2006), I'm sure I will be on a lot!

As I have been reading everyone's good ideas for quite some time, I thought it was about time I start contributing!

Starting to freakout about the rapidly approaching day. . . .

Raina