robin439

Have fun in Cabo...I want to go back!! I see you are also from LA, so that makes the travel & site visit so much easier (we went down twice while we were planning ) I am hoping to find the time to write up my review over the upcoming holiday weekend, but since that won't be in time for your visit, below are some of the other vendors I would recommend. Feel free to PM me if you are still looking to finalize vendors and need additional input on anyone, otherwise, I will get around to posting a full report out soon. Sorry to side track your post, but wanted to get you some additional input in time for your site visit! - Suzanne Morel- Hair & Make up - Pricey but good work - Ana & Jerome Photography- LOVED them.... and have loved the couple preview photos they sent me so far. Won't be able to post a full endorsement until I see the final product, which should hopefully soon. If my pictures are half as good as the entire experience has been with them so far, I'll be reporting back good news - Ambar productions- lighting & furniture - Arturo Ortiz- DJ - Sergio Farias- Flowersandeventsloscabos.com- Flowers - Cynthia Sosa- Hola Grand Faro on-site wedding planner (now Barcelo Grand Faro)- I think you already have your venue, but Cynthia was fabulous to work with

I recently returned from my Cabo wedding (will post a full review soon), and used Maye as my wedding planner. Unfortunately my experience was not positive, and based on my experience I can not recommend her to other brides. It seems that the experiences with her on this forum continue to be inconsistent (some great, some not so great), similar to how they were several years ago when there was more feedback on her. In short, I found her to be disorganized, lack attention to detail, and on a couple of occasions dishonest/ manipulative. I found her to be very quick to initially respond to emails, but her follow through was very poor. I found her to be very reactive, and not a proactive and planful with our wedding process. It is true that she is probably one of the least expensive planners in Cabo, but honestly after my experience, I would have paid not to use her at all. Given my experience with her attention to detail, I probably couldn't even recommend her for day of wedding supervision. On a positive note, she was hard working, nice and does seem to mean well. Additionally, the vendors that we did use from her were reliable. Lastly, she knew I was very unhappy on several occasions and did work with me on price because of this. Working with her was one of the most stressful parts of my wedding planning process. I plan to write glowing reviews about almost everyone else we worked with in Cabo, but unfortunately this completely missed the mark for me. I will write a full review and provide further details/ examples, but if you have questions in the meantime, please feel free to reach out by private message.

I'm wondering if any of you have used a website for RSVPs? We have several events + the wedding that we'd like people to RSVP for, and since most of our guests are tech savvy we would like to do this online. Our wedding website is on theknot.com and their RSVP section doesn't seem to work well for what we are looking for. Are there any standalone RSVP sites that you all have used and could recommend? As always, thanks for the help!

After months of researching, I decided to go with Ana and Jerome for my November 2013 wedding. I loved their work, they have been very responsive, and they are very personable so I can see them fitting in well at our wedding. They were right in the middle for pricing- not the cheapest, but definitely not the most expensive either. Jerome used to go by "Mango Productions" so you can find reviews on here under that name. I won't be able to post a full review for another 5 months, but so far so good in all of my interactions with them so far.

Trying again..I think I submitted wrong the first time.

This is my Puggle, Molly. I wish she could come to the wedding too!

I am using Ana and Jerome (formerly Mango Productions- Jerome Dieu if you want to search on this site for reviews) for photography. They do videography as well, and are much cheaper than your other quote. I am using them for photography, so I am not sure what their standalone rates would be for video alone as my quote was for both video & photography. I didn't end up signing up for video just due to budget, so I am not sure what the recommended amount of hours is for wedding coverage. I really like their work, they have been incredibly responsive and helpful so far, and they had good reviews on this and other sites. They were in the middle from what I found in terms of pricing- not the cheapest, nor the most expensive either. I won't be able to post a full review until our wedding in November, but my experience so far has been positive. here is their website: http://anaandjerome.com

Thank you! I spent hours searching on Etsy yesterday and looks like there are lots of great options there. I will look up the seller you suggested. Thanks

Hi All, I've been admiring all of the beautiful invitations on this thread, however, don't have the crafty talent or patience to tackle a DIY invitation project. Does anyone have any recommendations on cost effective websites where I can order invitations from? We are debating between passport & boarding pass invitations, and would prefer not to spend much more than a few dollars per invitation. Zazzle is one that I have been looking at so far. If you could post the website and cost of invitations (if you know if) that you've used or looked at I would appreciate it. Also, if this has been discussed somewhere else on this site please let me know. Thanks!! AR

I'd be curious as well, as he is one of the top photographers we are considering. He does have recent work/ recommendations on his website, but curious if anyone on here has recent feedback or wedding album they would be willing to share.

We finally picked a venue and are going through a contract with Hola Grand Faro, San Jose del Cabo for November 2013. I've been researching Cabo resorts since I got engaged last September, so If I can help anyone please let me know! SO excited to finally have a venue picked!

Hi Annied- I am working on a contract for a November 2013 wedding. I don't have any vendors booked yet, but will be glad to share when I do. Just wanted to say hello and happy to see some other Hola Grand Faro brides on here!!

Congrats on selecting a venue!! I haven't been to a wedding at Melia Cabo Real, but went there on my site visit a few weeks ago. The wedding coordinator there was really organized & on top of things. The grounds were beautiful, and there were several good options for reception & ceremony locations. The beach there was very private and wide. The hotel is definitely older, but you can tell it has been renovated and the rooms were perfectly fine for the price. We stayed there for 1 night, and ate at one of the ala carte restaurants for dinner & the breakfast buffet. The food was fine, we weren't blown away, but it was perfectly good for an all inclusive. We aren't picky, and for the money we really liked Melia. We ultimately chose a different hotel because we wanted our guests to be able to walk to some bars & restaurants, and we found Melia a little too remote. It did make our top 3 short list though! Good luck planning!

Unfortunately my sheet isn't working for people via email...I tried to pull it from a Facebook message and it won't work.... I will PM you some of the basic prices I have, and I would recommend reaching out to their wedding coordinators through Facebook or email. They have been extremely responsive and will get you a wedding package right away. We have been on a mission to find a reasonably priced wedding for us, and also didn't want to ask our guests to pay more than $250ish for 2 people (all inclusive prices). From my research all of the below properties had wedding room rates under $300 per night per couple (all inclusive rates) and also had reasonable wedding packages (under $100 per person for food, beverage, ceremony & reception, etc). I will rank them from least expensive to most for the wedding packages based on ~75 guests: Hola Grand Faro (All Inclusive- San Jose del Cabo) Melia Cabo Real (All Inclusive- Corridor) Villa Group- 3 Properties from budget to high end to count towards your room block- Villa del Arco, Villa del Palmar & Villa la Estancia (Medano Beach, Cabo- Optional All Inclusive- This one actually could be the least expensive wedding, only if all of your guests choose the All Inclusive package...if some of your guests don't this would be middle of the pack for pricing) Playa Grande (Land's End, close to Cabo--- I can't recall if this is all AI, or AI optional) Hacienda Encantada (Just outside Cabo San Lucas- beautiful property) We have it narrowed down to Hola Grand Faro & Villa Group and hope to make up our minds this weekend...we ultimately ruled out Melia because we like to be walking distance to other bars & restaurants, and Melia was a little remote. It was still a beautiful property and reasonably priced so we seriously considered it. I've spent hours searching these boards & reaching out to properties with the criteria of reasonable wedding & reasonable rooms so hope this helps! Will send you a PM with some more info.

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences and the verbiage that you used on your websites/ invites. We plan to let guests know that they would be responsible for paying for their day pass if they stay elsewhere as well, but we will also have to pay an extra cost for them at the reception at some of the resorts, so we are trying to cost out realistic & worst case scenarios as we make our final decision. Allie H- I really like your FAQ that directs them back to your TA if they find a cheaper price somewhere else, as I'll bet that could save some people from dropping out of your room block. Thanks again for sharing!

I apologize if this isn't in the right location, but I really couldn't find one that fit. For those of you that planned a resort DW (or are far enough along in planning to respond), I am curious to know what percentage of your guests stayed at the location you got married at? Also, if they had the choice to opt in or out of an all inclusive package, what percentage of your guests chose AI (if applicable)? Lastly, if anyone of you strongly suggested (or required) your guests to stay at your resort, would be curious to hear the language you used on your invites and/ or wedding website. I'm in the midst of picking a venue in Cabo, and there are some locations that have pricing that varies significantly depending on how many guests choose to stay at their location (in some locations, our costs could more double if many of our guests decide to stay elsewhere). It makes me nervous that so much of the cost depends on what my guests do, so am wondering how how may of yours stayed at your location if you directed them to? One of my friends had a DW just over a year ago, and she said only half her guests stayed at her resort...so wondering how common that is. Hearing some other opinions on this may help me narrow down our options. Thanks so much for your thoughts and opinions!

I have a price sheet in an odd web format I will try to send through. They also have a Facebook page with tons of pictures if you haven't seen it yet, and their wedding coordinators are very responsive on that page if you have questions or want more information. I actually just got back from a site visit in Cabo this past weekend, and we stayed at Melia one of the nights. I will try to post a review a more detailed review of my trip and upload some more information this weekend when I get a break from work, but overall we REALLY liked Melia for the cost. Quick summary: Pros: - Half the cost of wedding packages compared to many other places we were looking at - Huge, nearly private beach to have a ceremony (also have grassy areas as pictured above if you don't want the beach) - Many options for reception locations with ocean views - Comprehensive wedding packages that also includes a welcome event if you book a minimum number of rooms on site - Very responsive and organized wedding coordinators - Reasonable all inclusive room rates for guests (~$225-$250 for 2 people) Cons: - Older property, so you can tell it is dated compared to the newer resorts (not as much wow factor as other places when you walk on site, however, the rooms were clean and you can tell the property has been renovated) - Far from all of the action in Cabo San Lucas, and very remote- we didn't go into town while staying there but we are told its a 15 minute bus ride or $20 cab ride I'll post some more information later, but saw a couple of you asking about Melia recently and I found it hard to find recent reviews on the property when I was looking before my site visit so thought I would share! All in all, we really liked Melia due to the cost of packages and rooms, as well as the privacy.

Hi Afton- If you search for "OOT" you will find countless strings on OOT bags, welcome bags, etc. There is even a a dedicated "OOT" section in the forum. I really enjoyed this one as it had some alternative ideas to the traditional bags, and some low maintenance/ low cost/ easy ideas: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/27669/are-oots-a-must-what-are-alternatives I'm not far enough along in my planning to have any ideas myself On a side note your subject line caught my eye as I am recently engaged and The Villa Group is probably my top location right now for a November 2013 wedding. I am heading down in January to look at my top choices and should hopefully finalize something then. I may send you a PM some time to pick your brain on your experiences so far if you don't mind! Good luck with your planning!

I would also be interested in feedback from any recent brides. This is in my top 5 locations so far for a November 2013 wedding also, particularly if we end up with a bigger wedding because they are so affordable. I am heading down to Cabo in January to check out my top spots and hopefully pick a venue and a date. Will report back once I go!

Hi Guys, Newbie here, only my second post so hopefully am doing this right. I was wondering if anyone has been married recently, or is currently planning a wedding at Playa Grande, Cabo? I am in initial planning stages of a November 2013 wedding, and looking for locations. I like the idea of this place because its close to town, yet more privacy than you would get on Mendano, and there are multiple properties within Solmar group close by that guests could choose from depending on their budgets to stay close by. Also, the pictures I have seen from weddings online look beautiful as well....however, I have had a challenge getting in touch with their wedding coordinator Rosaura Carrillo. I am ready to give up on pursuing them due to responsiveness, but figured I would check here to see if anyone has any experience with this property and if it is worth pursuing. I have information on Grand Solmar whose WC was very responsive, but they are a little bit more than we wanted to spend. I figured that Playa Grande may be a bit more reasonable, but have had challenges getting any info from them. Does anyone have pricing sheets on this property? Anyone have experiences to share, good or bad? Thanks for any guidance you can offer Andrea

Thanks so much! I haven't heard back from the resort yet, and the cost of rooms is the one thing that's been holding me back from considering this property. $325/ night isn't bad at all. Thanks for the input!

Hi Everyone, I'm recently engaged, and we are just in the beginning planning stages of a wedding in Cabo probably in November 2013. This is my first post, so hopefully I am doing this right! I've been searching the boards, and haven't found much about the room rates for guests at Dreams. I really like everything I've read about Dreams, but my biggest concern would be cost of room for the guests as looking at the published rates for a couple would be around $500 a night which I feel like would be a lot to ask of some of our guests that are coming on a variety of budgets. Based on the significant cost savings that there seem to be when most of your guests stay on site, I would like to choose a resort where most of our guests can stay. We will likely have somewhere in the range of 40-70 guests, so maybe 30-50 rooms for 3-5 days each if we can funnel most guests to stay where our wedding is. Couple questions about those that are planning a wedding at dreams: 1.) What kind of room rate deals did you get for your guests through the resort or a TA? What are the average costs per person/ per night that your guests are paying? 2.) Does Dreams have a requirement that a certain percentage of your wedding party is staying at your hotel to get the lower priced wedding packages? I've been pricing some other properties and found that some have a minimum room requirement & also have a percentage of wedding guests requirement imposed (i.e. 90% of wedding guests must be staying at property with AI to receive discounted rates on wedding). Any information that any of you have would be greatly appreciated. I really like everything I'm hearing about Dreams, but the cost of the rooms for our guests is the one thing that has given me reservations to pursue it further. Thank you! Andrea