38 replies to this topic

[neen]

pardon the harsh title, but i'm sort at the end of my rope. we may be changing our wedding ceremony and reception choice from the Paradisus Riviera Cancun because their prices and fees are just getting totally unreasonable. It's also unrealistic for families with 2 or more children to stay there affordably for our wedding. Of course, the prospect of having to research and select a whole new location and site have me completely depressed, but what else can i do!

so...i'm wondering which brides out there feel like their site and/or resort are reasonable in terms of their costs and fees...and who feels like they're not asking their guests to pay an arm and a leg to come to their wedding?

[JennyK]

Quote:

Originally Posted by neen pardon the harsh title, but i'm sort at the end of my rope. we may be changing our wedding ceremony and reception choice from the Paradisus Riviera Cancun because their prices and fees are just getting totally unreasonable. It's also unrealistic for families with 2 or more children to stay there affordably for our wedding. Of course, the prospect of having to research and select a whole new location and site have me completely depressed, but what else can i do! so...i'm wondering which brides out there feel like their site and/or resort are reasonable in terms of their costs and fees...and who feels like they're not asking their guests to pay an arm and a leg to come to their wedding?

My FI and I have had this talk so many times bc of our resort! It's not AI (us and the guests are staying at a diff hotel) and it's charging us everything A La Carte.. for example, we pay plates.. not packages. The plates here are more expensive than if we were to do our wedding in NJ BUT since it'll be less people, it wouldn't be as expensive in the long run. The ONLY thing we get included is votives and our cake. We have talked about changing. We just might.

[Dbell]

I sorted through many sites and we chose Dreams Cancun because our families were "complaining" about the cost of traveling and staying at a resort. We searched for a 5 star resort with many amenties for those with children, short travel from the airport for the seniors and an all inclusive to cut down on the out of pocket expenses of the guests.

Based on the reviews on BDW, we believe we found the most bang for the buck!

Good luck!

[rodent]

I picked a 3 star resort to keep it affordable. A 3 star in mexico is still a really nice resort IMO. I'm glad i did because it's a cheaper trip for guests especially with flying getting so pricey.

[MelissaH]

I know I'll probably sound like a broken record, but I think the Barcelo is a great choice in terms of affordability. Your guests (providing you don't midn everyone staying in different parts of the resort [we didn't]) can choose which part they want to stay at depending on their budget.

[lucy106]

We chose Dreams Cancun because it is reasonable and they have a lot of kids stay free specials. I thought their wedding package prices were reasonable too. Dreams Cancun Resorts & Spas: Plan Your Wedding

[Kat81]

Dreams Cancun is the way to go. All you have to pay for kids is airfare and taxes. They stay and eat for free. And their packages are pretty reasonable I think.

[SunBride]

My top 3 choices were Paradisus RM, Bahia Principe and Dreams Tulum. I ended up eliminating the Paradisus for exactly the reason you are explaining, their fees were ridiculous! Upgrading their "symbolic" wedding package to a civil ceremony (legal) was going to cost I think 700$ or 900$!!! It was one thing after another with them. I finally chose Dreams Tulum (several small factors had me chose them other than Bahia Principe) and they have a free wedding package that is legal and that includes all the basics.

Dreams Cancun was actually my first choice but it was a couple hundred dollars more per person that the other three choices above which was why I didn't go for it. I didn't want to ask our families to pay that much.

[monicaswave]

That's the main reason we chose not to have our wedding at a resort. I didn't want to ask for my guests to pay an arm and a leg to come to our wedding. There are still several places you can have your wedding outside of a resort and you don't have to deal with being bride #12 or something for the day. You are the only bride when you look outside resort. You just have to find a good wedding coordinator that does nonresort weddings. I wish I could recommend mine but I've had a few good and bad run ins with her. We'll see the end result when my day comes. I'm really happy with my decision though cause our guests could stay at a super expensive resort if they choose or at one of those super cute chic hotels in playa.

[MissyR]

It is a hard decision - no question about it. We looked (did site visits) -of 8 or so resorts in the last year through a number of vacations and in all honesty we didn't like a lot of them for various reasons. I do think that if what you want is a private dinner, customized menu, DJ etc. you are going to pay extra - again really all depends on what you want.

We were at a wedding at the Grand Sirenis in November - they got the 'basic' package, used IPOD and just for the ceremony and dinner it was $5000 - so I think that any resort has costs associated with the wedding.

In terms of guest prices we struggled with this as well. We are paying 1900 per person for the week and there isn't a good single supplement so we have people paying more if they are travelling alone.

It is a hard decision and there are draw backs everywhere.