jaccat15

Hi Saza - yes, you can use a CC for the deposit. Cecilia will send you a CC authorization form for the $500 deposit along with your contract. Remember, that the contract she sends is only preliminary based on the package you choose. Any upgrades you make you can ask her to send a revised one - it's a basic work in progress

Quote: Originally Posted by saza175 I'll try to email her. She just sent my contract, which is for the ultimate package for 30 people. thats just an estimate though. we may have more people attend. i'm trying to get this done for $8,000 including travel and accomadations.... am i out of my mind? lol haha ur not out of your mind - just make sure you stick to the package when is your wedding? Make sure you book your air fare early and see what kind of deals your TA can get you for you and your guests.

Quote: Originally Posted by jlerv Thanks for your post! Have you guys planned any activities for your guests? If so, do you have any recommendations? Thanks again! hii! the only activities other than the wedding are the welcome party the night before which we are going a beach bonfire but AFTER dinner - since the restuarants are all so amazing, we want everyone to experience the resort and have some time to themselves. We are going to have drinks and desserts though. The day after the wedding we are reserving a section of the World Cafe for the good-bye breakfast and Cecilia said there wouldn't be an additional charge for this. I think it's important to allow your guests to experience the resort on their own and let them have a mini-vacation without pushing them around to all sorts of activities.

Hii! I'm not sure what the situation is with meals and replacing them and all that but Cecilia seems very open to ideas. I would actually like to offer my guests 3 options for the sit down dinner so that's a question I will have to work out with her later on. Also, depending on how many people you have, you can have your reception in one of the restaurants. Bordeaux, Portofino and El Patio are so nice but not really "reception" friendly - would be hard to have a dance floor in there. P.S. the shrimp cocktail in the seaside grill is the best i have ever had! I def want to add that to my reception or cocktail hour somehow.

I'm looking into photographers and have already researched a few but I was wondering if anyone can recommend one that isn't so into "posed" pics and more into photo-journalism. any help is appreciated!

the swim-outs aren't heated but I dont think they needed to be, the sun warms them and when we stuck our feet in at night, they were pretty warm, not freezing at all. A lot of my guests started to book and most are excited about the swim-outs so I would recommend everyone offer them to their guests if you are working on a package with a TA. We aren't sure if they are going to give my fiance' and I a special room but we will see what my TA comes up with

Hi everyone! I JUST got back from SMB for my site visit I am so excited to have our wedding here on 10/30/10!!! The resort is AMAZING - from the lobby to the beach and everything and everyone in between. We are going to do a welcome bonfire after dinner on Friday night for everyone - but after dinner since the restuarants are amazing and we want our guests to enjoy the resort. Cecilia said we can do cocktails and desserts (s'mores to be exact) and we will bring our own i-pod speakers to play music. For the day of we are getting married under the gazebo at sunset and going to do the cocktail hour on the lawn behind it. We are thinking of doing the reception in the ballroom since we have some older family members and the humidity and heat may be too much. This all depends though on how many people end up coming too. We are Jewish so we have to work on finding a Rabbi to come and do our ceremony from the states since there really isn't one in the area. The morning after the wedding, we are going to have a farewell breakfast in the World Cafe and will have our section for our group. I also met with Mannia and Juan Navvaro (the photog) while I was there. We are definitely using Mannia but not sure about the photographer yet. I wasn't that impressed by their work and the book they give you is a regular photo album with sleeves of pics so we are going to look more into this. Cecilia is so nice. We have a lot to still work out but since we have so much time, we can work on it all gradually. She said they have a lot of weddings in April and May (almost one everyday) so she is getting 2 other people to help her which will be great. She wrote down all of the things we spoke about - but I am keeping fairly simple since I like the white table cloths and place settings and we are going to use Tiffany chairs instead of the white ones. Boo - I know you want to know dimensions of tables and the gazebo but she was unable to give them to me as she didn't have the specs on her. BUT - If you really want to bring your own stuff, I would try and make a site visit before hand so you can take your time to check EVERYTHING out. I went on this trip with my mom and will be back in the area Memorial Day weekend (we have another wedding at the Paradisus - which is gross btw compared to SMB, too bad we booked our rooms for that!) and I'm going to show the resort to my fiance' and plan a few things with Cecilia if we can. I didn't want to make this too long but if you have any other questions, let me know p.s. We got upgraded to a swim out room and it was really nice - except the mosquitos! I guess this time of year they are bad so bring bug spray. The hotel also gives you little repellent towelettes in the bathroom but bring your own too.

Quote: Originally Posted by Boo Actually I do have one question that Cecilia has been unable to answer repeatedly - I am getting linen here for the large wedding gazeebo on the sand (the larger one of the two), would love to know the dimensions so I know how much I need to put linen (tied on one side thrown over the top and tied at the other side - if I am being confusing let me know and I will post a picture, I am just at work and dont have any on this comp.) Also I would love to know the size of the top and the height of the cocktail tables, and the little table used underneath the large wedding gazeebo on the sand. Sorry I have asked Cecilia repeatedly, and started to worry that I will just have to error on it being too long and trim it if I had to once I got there, but dont think that that would look too good, and I only have one full day at the resort prior to ceremony - yikes! Thanks so much!!!! Ok I think I know what you mean - I will see what info I can get Let me know if anyone can think of anything else!

I am leaving for my site visits on Thursday morning and every hotel that I am visiting offered me a discounted rate for the stay and some sort of credit towards the wedding if we book with them. I am staying at my #1 choice (Secrets Maroma) and visiting Excellence, Paradisus, and Cieba del Mar - each I have an appointment with. Pick the weekend/week you want to go and reach out to each WC to let them know what you are thinking - it might get frustrating to confirmations but it will all work out - trust me

I am leaving for my site visits next Thursday AM and I am staying at SMB the entire weekend. Are there any questions anyone needs answered or anything you would like for me to look out for while I am there I will be happy to help with any questions. I'm also going to check out Excellence, Paradisus and Cieba del Mar.

My fiance' and I are Jewish and his parents are more Conservative and would prefer we get married by a Rabbi but we do not want to legally wed in Mexico. We are thinking of getting our marriage license here (NY), have a religious/symbolic ceremony and getting married by a Rabbi in Mexico and then making it official when we get back. It would be amazing if we got married by a Rabbi who is registered in NY while in Mexico but I think that would be difficult unless we brought someone with us.

When we figured out that the kids under 18 wouldn't be coming to our wedding we switched gears and started to focus on Secrets, Excellence and Royal Hideaway. Adults only resorts are the way to go if you can I've been in touch with all of the WC's at these places and they have all been amazing at communication and information - can't wait for my site visits next week!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by LisaM&JimmyG We are considering doing the Bon Fire option for our rehearsal dinner. Does anyone know any details about this or have they done this themselves? We are looking into that as well. I saw one on a photographers website - I think it was Rafa Ibanez's site - looks like a lot of fun but I think it's only apps and drinks and I'm also wondering about music - if any. We would want to do a dinner as well so I'm going to talk to Cecilia about it when I meet with her in a couple weeks.

great ideas! i can't wait to go down for our site visit in 3 weeks!!!! everyone i have talked to who has been to SMB has only amazing things to say, so I'm very confident this will be our place

Hi Avong - we were going to stay at Paradisus for our site visit and they offer a discount and will put one night's charge toward the wedding as a credit to you. It's not bad but I think they can do better - I know of some other people who have had their entire stay comp'd so you may have to negotiate with them. You can go directly through Cecilia for this. Good luck!

ahh got it - i knew what they were just didnt get the abbreviation I love the idea of having bags in there for our guests - I'm thinking of putting the following in ours: - Itinerary of events for the weekend - Kiehls Sunscreen - Haviana Flip Flops - this is a big maybe - no way to know everyones size - Immodium - Advil - Emergen-C - and Alka Seltzer morning relief - Passport holders or Luggage Tags Any other ideas?

Thanks everyone! I will def look into Dino more and see what others maybe - we don't want to blow our budget but we also want some really fun pictures so we'll see Secrets is our first choice then Excellence, Paradisus and Cieba del Mar - but I think it will be at Secrets as long as we can get a really good group rate for our guests (we are inviting 206 but except 80-90 to make the trip). I sent Cecilia an email yesterday to see what she can do for our site visit stay so I'll keep my fingers crossed! Thanks ladies!!! p.s. - what does OOT bag stand for? I'm trying to learn the ling on here, lol!

Jewels - I spoke to Cecilia on the phone today - you should just call her - she hasn't answered any of my emails for almost a month so I picked up the phone and got her. She answered my questions for now but I feel like they are very overwhelmed there with the amount of weddings they have taken on - when I go for my site visit march 11-14 she said they have 4 weddings!!!!

Good luck!!!! Def let us know how it goes Does anyone have any info they can give me about doing a site visit and staying at the resort? Just wondering what kind of incentive they give - some others will give a discount and put the money spent on the stay toward the wedding. Any info is appreciated Also, is anyone using Juan Navarro that Cecilia recommended or are you using the house photographer? What about a DJ or Band for the reception?

Quote: Originally Posted by shanenlynn My fiance and I are trying to decide if we want to go forward with making plans at Secrets Maroma Beach. We've been having a very difficult time getting answers, pictures, pricing info from the Wedding Contact at the hotel. If anyone could please share with me (even by email, etc) pictures of their events, any pricing lists you may have gotten from the resort, etc when you made their plans I would greatly appreciative! thanks so much! Hi Shanelynn! The pricing is listed on the website for the different packages that they offer - this is pretty good to start with and then there are other things to add (additional costs for each guest over 20, outside vendors, etc). I received a proposal based on 25 people for the ultimate wedding package with the gold menu and it is about $3500 total - this doesnt include some of the upgrades or extras. As for pics - check on tripadvisor for some great ones and I believe there is a previous post in this thread of a wedding review with pics. Don't worry - Cecilia will get back to you shortly - they are just on a different schedule then us American's Good luck!

Honestly, all of those are great - it really depends on the location you want. Each one is different so that is what I would take into consideration. I've been speaking to the WC at both Secrets and Excellence and they have been responsive and organized so far - which is refreshing after dealing some other resorts who take weeks to get back to you. Are you planning a trip down to do site visits? That will probably be best to help you make a decision - mine are all in a month - can't wait! good luck!

i haven't heard from anyone at Paradisus since January 20th. I've decided that this is not a good indication of how things are going to go and from what i've been reading this place seems like more work than it's worth. I'm sorry but NO ONE should have to beg them to get in touch like this. Every other resort that I am in touch with gets back to me within hours or a day - not weeks! I've decided even though I gave them a deposit, I may be canceling and moving our wedding to a resort who actually wants our business.

Quote: Originally Posted by avong1228 Kelie, that is such a relief. Glad it went well. I just wish she now would respond to any of my emails!! Lauren, you will have a blast and totally agree with Kelie you will know when you try it on! She hasn't responded to any of the emails I have sent since 1.20.10 - i'm starting to get very annoyed. We gave a deposit to secure the date and it took them 4 days to confirm it and then I booked my site visit for March thru Cecilia, sent her the CC info and such and she still hasn't confirmed everything I sent her. I'm starting to think they can't handle the volume of weddings they have taken on. I'm not even into my planning yet and I'm having these doubts..........not good.

thanks! i think i need to get used to not having everyone in NYC time i'm sure it will work out. can't wait to start planning everything!

I have a question - since we gave our deposit last week for our date, we haven't really heard back from anyone since. Cecilia finally emailed me tonight after 2 days of basically begging her to confirm my date and the site visit date - has this happend to anyone else? Now that it's all confirmed and we are going down in march to check everything out, is there someone who will be in touch with me about planning or do we do all that when we get there? I'm feeling kind of put off by this for some reason - shouldn't they be communicating with me and planning things out? I'm confused :/