Arroyo17

I used Transcabo for my wedding in June and they worked out great. I chose them because they gave the best rate and were the most professional of the many transpo companies I contacted.

I sound like a broken record but Illeana is amazing and you will be thrilled with her work. She is simply wonderful at what she does.

@@SosoCali I originally thought I would hire a planner because all the ones I spoke to said they would save me so much money by being able to negotiate better rates with vendors but after I did my research, I found the rates they were quoting me were the exact same ones I could get on my own. The planning was definitely a lot of work but I'm happy I did it because all my vendors were amazing and my wedding was perfect and it was because I did tireless research into everything. I am going to write a post soon with all my vendor reviews I think a wedding planner is worth it if you have endless gobs of money, but if you are trying to stick to a budget, doing the planning yourself saves BOATLOADS of money. Just definitely get a day-of coordinator because they are key to the day going well.

I hired Illeana Reyes as my day-of-coordinator for my wedding in June and she was AMAZING. I could rave about her all day long. She rolled with all the crazy last minute things that came up like they were nothing. My maid of honor happens to be an event planner and she couldn't stop raving about Illeana's work.

Illeana Reyes coordinated my wedding in June and was worth every single penny. She is a sheer delight and made our wedding run absolutely perfectly. I can't recommend her enough.

I hired Illeana Reyes as my day-of-coordinator and she was AMAZING. Not sure how much she charges for full-on planning but she seems to be open to negotiating rates based on your needs. I highly recommend her. When I was planning my wedding, I was always trying to get an idea of what people's budgets tend to be as some of the wedding coordiators in Cabo are only used to working on outrageously expensive weddings. If it gives you some idea, I had 39 guests at my wedding in June at the Sunset de Mona Lisa and the total cost of everything ended up being about $22k (including everything from my dress, photographer, food, drink, etc, etc) (Although I will say you can do things for cheaper if you choose an all-inclusive resort for the wedding)

Could someone please please pretty please send me the Funny Spanish phrases? I can't download. winterelle@@gmail.com thanks!

Hi Carah2520, I am getting married at Sunset de Mona Lisa with 55 guests and it is going to cost me about $22,000 when it's all said and done. (Original budget was $17,000 but that went out the door pretty quickly!)

Hi guys, I want to have a mariachi band play during our cocktail hour at Sunset de Mona Lisa. I'm sure a full 12 person band will be beyond my budget but I am hoping a trio or quintet won't be too outrageous. So far I have contacted --Mariachi Gavilancillo --Mariachi Cabo --Mariachi Los Cabos --Mariachi Nuevo Jaliscience Anyone have experience with any of these or have a rec for another group? The other threads on this topic are really outdated so would love some more recent opinions! Thanks!

Hi Minnykiss You should also contact Illeana Reyes for your coordinating. I am working with her and she is awesome and more reasonably priced than many others. She is open to negotiation.

Looks like you had a beautiful wedding @@Gyqueiroz !! I am getting married in June at Sunset de Mona Lisa. I'm bummed to hear you didn't like Alma's work--I have booked her. Did you do the airbrush makeup or the regular? If you didn't use a florist, did you have any sort of centerpieces on the table?

Karla Casillas' company also does flowers. Has anyone worked with them? Flo--I look forward to hearing who you end up going with!

Hi guys, I have a question...I have quotes from both DJ Ricardo and DJ Mijares. DJ Ricardo says that we give him a list for the playlist for the entire ceremony and reception. But isn't at least 50% of being a DJ picking out the songs and knowing what songs people like to dance to? It seems kind of insane to charge hundreds of dollars per hour to be a DJ when basically all you are doing is Emceeing and hitting play on a playlist someone else has created. Anyone have thoughts on this? Thanks!

I'd love to hear what you found in your florist research. I am just starting to price out vendors myself--do you have any front runners that looked like they do a good job and arent overpriced?

Hi Ash, Out of all the site coordinators we met when doing site visits in Cabo, Susanna at Hacienda Cocina was probably my favorite. She's really down to earth and is totally understanding of people needing to do things on a budget and just seemed really on top of things. We just pulled the trigger on Sunset de Mona Lisa. As you go along in your planning, I'd love to hear if you have any recommendations of vendors. We will need transportation, hair/makeup, audio equipment rental, linen rentals, etc. Good luck!

Hi Ash984, Hacienda Cocina is a great venue and I can give you a lot of info! The contact person there, Susana, was really great. Basically there are 3 different areas to have your reception in: 1) The restaurant. This requires a buy-out with a minimum consumption of $20,000k. This obviously doesn't make sense unless you have at least 100 guests. This is way out of our budget but there was a wedding the day we went that was doing this and it looked awesome. If you do the buyout you get to have this awesome little cocktail area too and this awesome bar area/palapa type thing for your dance floor. 2) The beach front area. This is a small area that is designed to hold about 45 ppl but she said it can go up to 70ppl. The minimum consumption is something like $2500 plus a $250 site fee (these numbers are ballpark of what I remember her saying--not exact). This area would be awesome bc it's directly on the beach. 3) A terraced area in the back. This area overlooks the pool and holds a lot more people. The price is something like $5,000 minimum consumption with a $600 site fee. Another great area. The ceremony would be held on the beach and there is a grassy area between the beach and pool where you do the cocktail hour. The only thing I don't like about this venue is that the beach area is close to the hustle and bustle of Medano Beach. It's not close enough that you can hear the noise or anything but in pictures it would be nearly impossible to avoid having other big hotels and stuff in the background. You could shoot towards the ocean but at this beach there are a line of buoys in the water that I think make wedding shots not look as nice as if you had a clean ocean in the back. I realize many people won't care at all about this but for whatever reason, it's a deal breaker for me. If you aren't as picky about this sort of thing I think this is a trily fabulous venue. We also aren't going with Hacienda Cocina because you have to bring in all the rentals (chairs, linens, etc) and we are trying to avoid doing too much of that. Oh another great thing is that Susana said that at the end of the night, she is willing to print out 2 receipts: one for how any drinks were actually consumed and one for the open bar price and she will charge you whichever is less. That is a great perk! That way if people don't drink as much as you anticipate you can save money.

Hi Flo! Thanks for the info--we JUST got back from Cabo where we did some site visits. We are debating between SDML and the Sheraton. The transportation issue with SDML is a definite pain but yeah I really didnt like the rooms at the Sheraton--they aren't the kind of rooms you expect when they charge the prices they do. Also they close the pools at 5pm--what the heck is that?! We also looked at Hacienda Cocina but decided against it.

I am planning a wedding in Cabo for spring 2014 and am planning on doing all the planning myself (and will probably hire a "day-of coordinator") I am overwhelmed with the sheer number of sites we can choose from. We are having a relatively low budget wedding--about $18k for about 60 guests so I'm looking for a place that is not on the total high end of the spectrum. I'd like to avoid any of the mega-resorts as it's just not really my style. We prefer something smaller. So far it looks like my best bets are the Sunset de Mona Lisa restaurant and the Sheraton Hacienda. Does anyone have any experience with them or do you have any other recommendations for great venues? Thanks!