Secrets Maroma Brides

[mlynnea]

Hi everyone, I need some help....Would anyone be willing to share the pricing they were able to get per night at Secrets? How far ahead of time did you make reservations and purchase airfare? I'm planning a wedding for next Spring and checked the resort pricing for that time and it's the full $700/night....Do I just need to wait until it gets closer to my wedding date to make reservations? I can afford to stay there with the current online pricing around $400/night (I was looking at pricing for November), but if that same deal isn't happening when I actually have my wedding I'm going to be horrified!! Any advice on pricing and how you set that up? Does the WC at secrets lock in good pricing for you and your guests?

 

Sorry...I'm rambling. Any advice people can give about how they setup pricing for airfare and resort reservations would be greatly appreciated.

 

THANK YOU!!!

[newyork6156]

Hi mlynnea - The WC will lock in 2009 wedding package rates for you if you put your 1st deposit down now. We put our deposit down in August 2008 for July 2009 wedding and this is what she did for us.

 

As far as accommodations and airfare...we booked flights on our own thru JetBlue around Jan/Feb and then with the swine flu the prices went down so we got a price adjustment last month.

 

I think if you book your accommodations with a travel agent and take out the insurance you can lock in the current rates for the time you will be staying there. Then if the rates go up, yours will not...but if the rates go down over the months, then you can get the lower rates. I think that is how our TA explained it. I think (not positive)up until the end of April is the "high season" there, so prices will be the worst.

 

Also, I know that some our guests ended up getting really good deals(air and hotel) through Expedia and Orbitz recently.

 

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In addition, has anyone had any trouble setting up the flowers with Cecilia? Honestly, I'm a bit confused as to what I want the centerpieces to be and my bouquet, but I'm having some difficulty getting quotes from her. Maybe it's the florist they work with and not her, but it's getting frustrating. Or maybe it's that it's getting so close and I'm getting antsy!!!!!! :-)

 

For those already married there - did you have a buffet or sit down dinner for the reception? We are only having 27 people but I think I want the buffet. If you have the sit down dinner everyone has to eat the same thing, at least that's how I understood what Cecilia told me. That just doesn't seem right though.

[Gail]

hi all,

 

i didn't have my wedding at secrets but we went there for a addit 5 nights alone after our guests left and we loved it. staff are amazing!!! they are best i have seen. food is beyond great- even room service. we didn't do buffets though. italian was the best!!! lunch restr by pool was awesome. they even serve you by pool. a cart comes around with sushi.... you guys will have a amazing time. we stayed at 1500's (151- try to request that sec. they seem to upgrade all honeymooners there. we had swim out pool room on first floor. we didn't use it but it is nice... warm. we had no trouble with bugs but i heard guests on other side did they said they even provided bug spray in their room which they didn't for us. i read a review on here and she spoke of the rooms in regard to this and she was right on! good luck all

[Gail]

well don't know what happened but room was 1518. sorry

[newyork6156]

...anyone?

[Simistar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by newyork6156 In addition, has anyone had any trouble setting up the flowers with Cecilia? Honestly, I'm a bit confused as to what I want the centerpieces to be and my bouquet, but I'm having some difficulty getting quotes from her. Maybe it's the florist they work with and not her, but it's getting frustrating.

Yeah -- it's sometimes hard getting basic info out of Cecilia...
I was married in December, so obviously things may have changed since then in terms of what florist they use and prices...
But I think if you check out the previous Secrets thread on here or even the sticky with Secrets info under "RM Accommodations", there should be a price list and pics of different centerpieces and bouquets...
Sorry -- in a rush right now so don't have time to find and link them, but if you have trouble finding them, just post again and I'll hunt 'em down for
you:-)

*One thing I will say (sorry to repeat...this was also in my review) is that I paid extra to upgrade my bouquet -- and my bouquet (all calla lillies) was CRAP! Seriously... for $130 I got like twelve half-dead flowers...I had to remove some of them b/c they were mushy!
However, pretty much all the girls who just got the bouquet that was included said it was gorgeous! (And in fact, while we were there I saw some brides who had the "included" bouquet and it was MUCH nicer than the one I had paid to upgrade to!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by newyork6156 For those already married there - did you have a buffet or sit down dinner for the reception? We are only having 27 people but I think I want the buffet. If you have the sit down dinner everyone has to eat the same thing, at least that's how I understood what Cecilia told me. That just doesn't seem right though.

We had a sit-down dinner... just what we preferred. However, you're right -- your guests only get ONE choice for an entree (i.e. everyone eats the same thing...unless you put in a special request if someone's allergic to something, one or two people can get special meals...) -- which does kind of suck:-)
That said though, the food at our reception was really good! We got the beef tenderloin and grilled shrimp...

Hope this helps!? :-)

[newyork6156]

Thank you! I just received an email from Cecilia about the flowers and I'm beside myself!!

 

1st she didn't even include any quotes for the centerpieces!!

 

Next, my Matron of Honors bouquet is supposed to be a small bouquet of white roses...which she already gave me a quote for $60 and now she gives me a quote for the matron of honor bouquet at $70 with each rose a different color!!! seriously...I don't have the patience for this right now. Was I not clear about it being all white and why is it $10 dollars more now?

 

What she wrote about my bouquet doesn't even make sense.

 

So now I have to write ANOTHER email to her to clear all this up again when I'm thinking it will probably get messed up when I'm there anyway. I'm really trying not to be complicated with my flowers, but OMG apparently I have not been clear.

 

I wish I could just go to a florist when I get there and pick out my flowers myself...this is just getting crazy.

[mlynnea]

You'd think that after doing soo many weddings, Cecilia would have things running more smoothly since Simistars wedding last winter. Guess I'll have to try to go with the flow once I get down to the details with her. We'll see how well I can do that!! ;-)

 

Thanks for the advice about airfare and accomodations. I talked to a Travel Agent who was trying to setup group rates for us, but they ended up being really expensive. I'll probably end up booking through Travelocity or Orbitz myself.

Oh, and we are getting 2009 wedding package pricing! Which is nice.

 

New York, curious, which package are you doing? and are if you are doing the Ultimate, which Mexican Trio music option are you choosing? Did Cecilia provide you with any music samples?

 

Speaking of vendors....Does Cecilia provide samples of any of the vendors that come with the packages? I've seen the bouquets, but what about music, photography, videography?

Thanks~Lynnea

[newyork6156]

We are doing the Ultimate package. We are actually using the carribean trio for our welcome dinner the night before our wedding. I have not heard any samples, but honestly I have not asked either. I am using the resort violinist for our ceremony. Someone on here said he has a sample on youtube. I am going to double check with Cecilia that they still use the same guy, I hope so b/c the sample I heard on youtube was pretty nice. think his name is Carlos Molnar. I am using the package video for the ceremony, but am not using the resort photography, we are using Moments That Matter. There is a thread about them on here. We are also using an outside vendor for the cocktail hour and reception music, his name is DJ Bob.

[Kits55]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mlynnea You'd think that after doing soo many weddings, Cecilia would have things running more smoothly since Simistars wedding last winter. Guess I'll have to try to go with the flow once I get down to the details with her. We'll see how well I can do that!! ;-) Thanks for the advice about airfare and accomodations. I talked to a Travel Agent who was trying to setup group rates for us, but they ended up being really expensive. I'll probably end up booking through Travelocity or Orbitz myself. Oh, and we are getting 2009 wedding package pricing! Which is nice. New York, curious, which package are you doing? and are if you are doing the Ultimate, which Mexican Trio music option are you choosing? Did Cecilia provide you with any music samples? Speaking of vendors....Does Cecilia provide samples of any of the vendors that come with the packages? I've seen the bouquets, but what about music, photography, videography? Thanks~Lynnea

Lynnea: my husband and I bought the Ultimate package in April of this year. We were not told the name of the Mexican trio that they used but our guests really liked them. I will say that one funny thing is that we could see each guy's cell phone through the pockets on their white tops. We didn't care because they kept everyone entertained which was nice. I did not receive any samples of the vendors but the videographer is fantastic. His name (I think we actually got an associate of his but I'm not positive) is Miguel Angel Cantarell. I do not have our video uploaded online yet but you can see some examples on his website. He is actually the videographer that I would have booked for our wedding had he not been included in the Ultimate package.

For photography SMB uses Juan Navarro and assc. I'm not a huge fan of their work but they did do some that DH and I are still happy to have. Post #9 are some examples of the pictures his associate did at our reception. http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t32681

The bottom line on the photographer is; if pictures are a very top priority go elsewhere if you like the high quality look of other bride's photos but if you don't have the budget or don't care that much about pictures then you'll be happy with Juan. This is only my opinion but for me photos were our very top priority so we hired an outside photographer. HTH