gujarwala

Booked the Private Beach Reception today

It might not be strictly enforced but personally I wouldn't want to take that chance, what if on the special day whoever is working decides to enforce it? Also for $45/pp you are in the same price range as having a private Gala reception (indoors) but that would be guaranteed for 4 hours.

There's another long detailed thread on this resort here as well: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/thread/27850/grand-sunset-princess-resort/550#post_1383516 We're having our wedding on Dec 20th and have paid our deposit, I was trying to call now to book the private beach reception but the WC is not answering. Sometimes they are very prompt in responding (within one day) and other times longer (1 week or more).

Thai Beach Restaurant = $45/pp but is only 1.5 hrs since it is a restaurant. Private thai beach reception = 4 hrs and is $100/pp

Thanks for the info michelleking, I'll copy and paste it to our photographer as ell

Why is it assumed that everyone who posts here in a bride? LOL. I guess its usually brides who do all the planning, not this couple though

What are some cool photo locations you would recommend? We are bringing our own photographer with us, works out well because she is friends with some of the guests so she's doing it for the cost of the trip + $800 and will photograph the whole week. We live pretty close to you micheleking

To rent the equipment is $252/hr and to hire a DJ is $757 for four hours. I imagine you can't rent a DJ for 2 hours because the price list didn't specify that, although I haven't confirmed it. Since the reception is 4 hours long, you can save my renting their equipment for 2 hours since you wont be playing music for four hours straight I would imagine, so then you can have food/drinks for 2 hours and speeches and dancing for 2 hours....its almost as though they want you to hire the DJ for 4 hours because if you are to rent the equipment for 3 hours its exactly the same price as hiring the DJ for the full four.

Where do you guys recommend to take wedding photos off the resort? Im thinking of what cool places to ask the photographer to accompany us to take wedding photos (on a separate day than the ceremony and reception). Perhaps some of the people who have been to RM can offer some suggestions? Thanks!

Thanks for the info Suzy! Just in the process of getting more info and questions answered by Sandra and we should have our decision made soon as to the venues we will chose and the various extras. More questions seem to arise whenever we get answers from the WC lol. Some of their pricing options definitely seem strange, for example it actually costs more to rent their audio equipment and play your own music (per hour) than it does to hire their DJ who uses the same equipment but does the work for you.

I'm leaning towards having the private beach reception because Sandra told me they don't bring in microphones at the restaurants, and then I dont like the idea of it being only 1.5 hours, have to wait in line for drinks, and eating at a restaurant where all guests will have access to all week anyway. The indoor private reception options are not that much lower in price than the beach option, which is making the private beach option look more desirable. Will make a decision soon. 34 are booked so far, there will be about 35-40 in total I'm estimating, and its Dec. 20/2010. I think we'll go with the gazebo ceremony since it's more private and costs a bit less than the beach wedding.

Thanks for all the responses everyone, I did end up finding a local photographer who agreed to do it for the trip + $800. She is friends with a few of the guests so she will spend all week with us and take many pictures of all the events. I find if you don't know the photographer personally they usually offer too take pictures during the week for only a certain # of events or certain # of hours, so I'm happy that because she's a distant friend she isn't going to be counting events or hours. I did get info from Sascha and his rates and what he offers were very reasonable. That would have definitely been my first choice had I gone with a local photograher in Mexico.

Thanks guys for the responses. I started thinking, how about we bring the non-wedding experienced photographer for the trip cost + $300 and then pay someone like Sascha to do 2 hours of coverage of the wedding for an extra $650 I believe his rate is, which woudl still put our total cost under $2,400. If we were to use one of the experienced ones in Mexico for the whole works it looks like it will be over $3k. I did notice Captured Soul Photographer who would do extensive work for $1600 + the trip, that's an option as we would still be under $3k. Haven't seen anyone who will do it for trip + $500ish to build their portfolio like you mentioned Tlseege, although I would be very happy to hear from someone like that, if you're reading this please PM me.

I'm a December 2010 Groom am I still allowed to post here? My fiance is pretty hands-off with the planning which is why I'm here. We will be at the Grand Sunset Princess and so far 12 of us are booked including the couple, and we realistically expect about 25 in total. Needing to focus now on finding a photographer, videographer, chosing the reception venue, etc.

Before anyone gets upset at me posting this I have been researching And it seems the more I research the more questions arise than answers lol. Here's the situation - wedding is in Riveria Maya in Dec/2010, photography budget is $1500 to $2000, but my expectation/hope is to also have a lot of photos taken for that price, including a TTD session and maybe even some shots at the ruins, marketplace, etc. I haven't yet found any of the vendors who will do all that for the above price? One option there is a photographer from Canada who is friends with one of the guests and would like to come on the holiday, so said he would photograph for the cost of the trip + $300, which falls within the range. He said he can take all kinds of pictures every day of the week - the catch is he has never done wedding photography before I don't think that's a huge deal however my wife is wary that he may not take great wedding pics if he is inexperienced in it, however on the plus he will be available all week as opposed to only several hours like the local photographers. For a living he photographs sporting events, celebrities, etc. and sells images to various publications. What do you guys think - should I go with the local photographer or is there any experienced ones out there who will do it all for $1500 to $2000 (hopefully closer to $1500). Please feel free to PM me as well. Thanks!

Before anyone gets upset at me posting this I have been researching And it seems the more I research the more questions arise than answers lol. Here's the situation - wedding is in Riveria Maya in Dec/2010, photography budget is $1500 to $2000, but my expectation/hope is to also have a lot of photos taken for that price, including a TTD session and maybe even some shots at the ruins, marketplace, etc. I haven't yet found any of the vendors who will do all that for the above price? One option there is a photographer from Canada who is friends with one of the guests and would like to come on the holiday, so said he would photograph for the cost of the trip + $300, which falls within the range. He said he can take all kinds of pictures every day of the week - the catch is he has never done wedding photography before I don't think that's a huge deal however my wife is wary that he may not take great wedding pics if he is inexperienced in it, however on the plus he will be available all week as opposed to only several hours like the local photographers. For a living he photographs sporting events, celebrities, etc. and sells images to various publications. What do you guys think - should I go with the local photographer or is there any experienced ones out there who will do it all for $1500 to $2000 (hopefully closer to $1500). Please feel free to PM me as well. Thanks!

I'm having a wedding in Grand Sunset Princess (riveria maya) in Dec/2010. Most of us will be travelling from Canada since that's where my fiance and I are from, and its easy to search for packages with expedia.ca - you enter the Canadian daparture city, "riviera maya" as the destination and can simply locate Grand Sunset Princess in the search results which are for vacations 7 days in length. I have a few friends who are interested in coming from California (they live in San Diego so would likely leave from the San Diego airport but maybe LAX if there's a large difference in price). I tried expedia.com (rather than .ca) and find it hard to use, I only get results when I enter "cancun" as the destination and I can't locate the grand sunset princess in their listing. Also I understand packages from the U.S. are usually three days in length? Is there a site that's easy to use or perhaps a TA can help? Thanks.

We are getting married there in Dec/2010. Haven't gotten too far yet in planning it. Current decision is whether to use the resort photographer or not. Although I haven't double-checked with the coordinator, the package info she sent had a rate of $1300 for only 90 photos which was their top package. I thought that's pretty limited in that I would assume most photographers give several hundred photos instead of just 90? Also does anyone know if the photographers there speak good English and are easy to communicate with? Thanks.

Quote: Originally Posted by JanineA I know some ladies didn't bother sending invitations they only used websites. Some ladies did printed invites. Seeing all the stress I went through getting my invitations (they got lost in the mail) and the fact is that really the invitations are just for show because we haven't sent them yet 25 people have already booked and we don't expect more than those to come based on the responses we have been getting. I say if you don't have to send them and you can set it up all by website why not. You can use the money elsewhere in the wedding! You're probably going to be sending out updates and info via that same website so why not get them familiar with it from early! Go for it! Thanks! I just needed that little bit of re-assurance that using a website instead of printed cards is not frowned upon before I proceed, and will do that now

I'd like to set up our wedding invites and rsvp info on a site like myevent.com because there isn't that much time before the wedding date (6 months) and we just got our date and time confirmed by the wedding coordinator in Mexico, and from here to get a card designed, mailing addresses, delivery time, etc. it would take a few extra weeks and our travel agent needs a deposit from everyone to get the cheaper group travel rate in 5 weeks...so using an online site would definitely be the faster way to start the invitation process. Just wanted to first get an opinion on whether this is considered cheap or tacky (to not send actual paper-invites)?? Or is it getting normal to use a website instead? Thanks.

Quote: Originally Posted by TA Maureen No, you do not want to book day passes for your 3 extra days because day passes are just that-passes for the day! Each resort has certain hours that you may stay on the property while visiting on a day pass. You will likely get a wrist band that is an indicator that you are there on a day pass and most will have you leave by 10pm. You need to book yourself into your friend's room in advance! And yes when traveling to Mexico you are going to find many people that do not speak English perfectly. I am always taken aback when people are surprised by this, it's Mexico! Have your TA book you into your friend's room for 3 nights in advance of your arrival. LOL its funny you told me that, because it was my TA who was recommending to me that I just talk to the hotel once i get there, so I asked her to make sure I'm booked in my friend's room in advance.

Quote: Originally Posted by Princess402 There is certainly A LOT of discussion on this forum about photographers. Do some searching through the threads and you will learn a lot! I can't really comment about the quality of resort photographers in general because some are good and some are bad, but I think that most would agree in any case that there's no guarantees you will get a "good" photographer. I put good in quotes though because good or bad photography is really so subjective! Which route you choose to go for photography depends a lot on what you are looking for. Resort photographers can be cheaper, if you only want limited coverage and photos. I am bringing in my own photographer because I also value the quality of photography, and really love my photographers' style. But on top of this, I also think it is a good value money-wise. I get my photographer for my rehearsal dinner, full wedding day, and TTD the day after, and I get all my photos on CD. A local photographer would cost me way more for the same coverage, and particularly with resort photographers you get only a limited amount of photos and if you want more you will pay for it. I'm sure that others will have other points for you to consider, but I hope this helps you Thanks for the response, wouldn't it cost more overall to bring your own photographer once you include paying for his/her vacation as well? Also from your post did you mean that the local photographers in Mexico would not give you your photos on CD? (as you mentioned an advantage of bringing your own is that you get them on cd).

Quote: Originally Posted by TA Maureen Thanks, lol! Your friend will be learning as she goes and she will get the hang of it and take good care of you guys! If a resort is all-inclusive you cannot roam freely onto the property. You have to be a guest of the resort to be on property or you have to purchase a days pass which can range from $50.00-$120.00 per day depending on the resort. The reason being is because once on the resort you are free to use all facilities including restaurants and bars so that must be paid for up front. Cool, so sounds like I would pay the day pass fee for each of the extra 3 days and stay in my friend's room. Do you think its more beneficial to book the day passes ahead of time, or the pricing usually comparable if you book it once you arrive as opposed to trying to do it online or on the phone ahead of time. I find it cumbersome trying to book things with those resorts ahead of time, once i called and could hardly understand the rerceptionist due to poor English, and then today I tried submitting the wedding info form online and that didnt work either.

Another question though Maureen, I was surprised that you said you can't pay cash at an AI resort - so what happens if guests want to roam off and eat at another resort nearby to try it out? Or say a single guy meets a girl from another resort and she asks him to come back to her resort for food/drinks, he's not able to?

Quote: Originally Posted by TA Maureen You cannot pay cash at a completely AI resort for food and drinks.You should just book your one way ticket home separately and have your friend's hotel reservation updated to include you for the last 3 nights. Also reconsider your TA, lol! You should have been our TA, you're very helpful! Although we do live in Canada so that probably wouldn't work, and like I said in the other thread we picked her only because she's a great friend.