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Hi girls,

 

@Becks ~ I emailed you just now... We got the group contract back and I think we're going to sign today. Still waiting on some negotiations, but she says it doesn't matter in relation to the contract being signed.

 

@ Eadon ~ That really helps to see your breakdown. That's really awesome that you are able to pay for your guests rooms! I think my numbers on makeup/hair and photography/video are too high for one thing. For us, since we aren't paying for our guests rooms, Eddie and I decided we really want to give them a good party for their trouble, a nice dj or band, other events like welcome party, etc. It all adds up so fast though!

 

 

 

 

 

My budget breakdown looks sort of like this:

 

$300 catering ($20 x 15ppl)

$800 ceremony etc

$395 flowers (bride bouquet @ 100 two bridesmaids @50, centerpieces and altar flowers)

$900 photography (maybe? I don't know yet)

$350 hair and makeup (just for me)

$250 music (we're doing iPod speakers)

$200 cake (not definite. this is a guess based on what Allibe said)

$4848 2 night stay for 12 people

$2900 for me and FI including possible airfare

 

I don't know about chair sashes yet, but that's the only other thing I would add in.

 

Our trick to keeping cost down is limiting the number of people (we didn't want a big wedding) and by keeping it simple. There's nothing I have my heart set on other than being married by the beach.

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tricey628 View Post
Hi ladies! And welcome to Erin..

I actually just worked out my budget this week while waiting for the group contract negotiations, and man, it hurts. Itâ€s like even if you save money on the big things, itâ€s really all those little things that add up. Some of it though is based on averages for things I donâ€t know yet, so I hope they will be cheaper! The travel between the trip itself and the site visit is a big piece, and then things like photo/video/music etc are going to be expensive.

I havenâ€t received any pics of flowers. According to Allibe, the $800 fee and $20/pp includes all linens but only in white, no chair sashes, and serving dishes etc obviously since they are catering. Also includes officiant services, ceremony table with white linens, microphone if necessary, white garden chairs for everybody, recep. tables and chairs, all food and drinks, servers for cocktail hour and reception, all that. It doesnâ€t include cake, chair covers, other color linens, flowers, music, arch, aisle runner, dance floor (if needed), or anything else Iâ€ve tried to think of to ask her. The only other costs she has said are $3 gift distribution fee. Iâ€ve asked her a few times about other fees and she says there is nothing else. I think she will serve our vendors food for free, Iâ€m waiting to hear more on that.

Anyway, my budget totally freaks me out. Itâ€s currently $21,400 and when I first worked it up (with fireworks etc) it was $30,000. Iâ€m not really sure what else to do to lower costs though, without skimping on things. This is based on 35 people as an estimate.

The breakdown is:

Attire/Hair/Makeup: 2265 (includes everything for FI and I and paying for hair, makeup, mani, pedi for bridal party)

Ceremony: 1360 (includes ceremony musician @ like 350, the 800 fee, guest bk, RB pillow, FG basket, arch, sand ceremony kit, unity candles)

Reception: 2700 (includes 20/pp fee for 35 guests, music @ 1500, cake @ 200, other rentals linens, décor, etc @ 300)

Other Events: 1400 (20/pp for welcome party with smores etc on beach, and same for rehearsal dinner)

Photo/Video: 4300 (no idea, but want to do a BD shoot, and feel like photo/video is most important to us)

Stationery: 1015 (includes stdâ€s, invites, signage, pre-dept packet, welcome letter, wedding website, napkins, thank you cards, and programs with fans- we got those here, cost us 100)

Gifts: 1110 (includes bm and usher gifts at 40/ea, parent gifts @ 80/ea, welcome gifts @ 15/ea, and favors @ 3/ea.)

Flowers: 1160 (bride bq 100, 4 bm bqâ€s 200, hairpiece 10, corsages 100, groom bt 25, 6 ushers and dads bt 150, ceremony altar 50, pews/aisle 75, petals on ground/tossing 150, centerpieces 300)

Travel: 4280 (includes 7 nights for us @ like 192/nt each ~2680, 600 flights, 100 transfers, 800 his parents flights, 100 his parents transfers)

Site Visit: 1600 (3 nights for the 2 of us @ 150/nt/each plus flights and transfers)

Misc: 200 (insurance? Still looking into this)

We are/were hoping we can get the free room for his parents, still negotiating on that, that would save us another 2680 on that, otherwise add that in too sad.gif Anything in yellow is stuff Iâ€ve been told by Allibe – estimates on flowers sheâ€s given me, etc. I canâ€t believe it gets so high so fast! How are you keeping your costs down? So far I still feel like HTR is cheaper than what Iâ€ve seen elsewhere, the no vendor fees, music prices sheâ€s quoted seem good? The 20/pp is amazing I think. How are you ladies keeping costs down- what are your budgets?? I did NOT thinking Iâ€d be spending $20,000… Do you think any of my numbers are off or I could save anywhere?

Wings~Who did you book for photo/video? I think thatâ€s going to be my next step with research…

I think mine is actually a bit higher because I wanted to use the tiffany chairs. I didn't even put our site visits in the budget and it's still quite high. Yikes! I thought flowers would be a bit cheaper in Mexico.

What are you guys doing for guest favors etc?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by becks1581 View Post
Thanks for posting your budget breakdown Tricey and you're right...it really is all of the small things that add on fast. We're trying to stay at $15k not including our travel and room expenses. That also doesn't include my dress which my parents bought for me or our site visit. FI's parents are helping out by paying for the welcome party which also helps us stay close to budget. It's all very much an estimate at this point though. All in all, your breakdown looks really similar to mine.

Another question for you Tricey...I got my wedding event contract from Allibe today b/c we are doing the group contract via TA Jill. The contract says that anyone who doesn't book through Jill and the group contract will be charged the FULL cost (i.e. $80 plus bar) for the dinner reception. Isn't this RIDICULOUS?!? I emailed her to ask what the rationale is but I think it's just absurd!!
Was this in your contract too?
I would talk to them about this. Not everyone will book through your travel agent. PM me if you'd like to see our contract. We ran into the same problem when they asked that all bookings be done through our outside wedding coordinator. This may be a TA issue not a resort issue as we found was the case for ours. We were able to negotiate this with them though because we know everyone has their own preferences when it comes down to booking.
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I think the price I was quoted for hair and makeup is ridiculous :P But I"m not sure how to negotiate down. I mean, $350 is a ridiculous number. It wouldn't cost nearly as much here.

 

I'm not doing a site visit for a couple reasons. Mostly it comes down to not having the money and ability to take time off of work. But we only discovered H3R because that's where we got engaged! At a wedding convention I went to the year before for my Matron of Honor I won a free trip there! So we've seen the place and we know we like their food. That's going to have to be good enough for us.

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Originally Posted by Eadon216 View Post
I think the price I was quoted for hair and makeup is ridiculous :P But I"m not sure how to negotiate down. I mean, $350 is a ridiculous number. It wouldn't cost nearly as much here.

I'm not doing a site visit for a couple reasons. Mostly it comes down to not having the money and ability to take time off of work. But we only discovered H3R because that's where we got engaged! At a wedding convention I went to the year before for my Matron of Honor I won a free trip there! So we've seen the place and we know we like their food. That's going to have to be good enough for us.
I agree with you. $350 seems like A LOT! I wish my hairdresser were going with me. I love her.

If you loved the resort and stayed there then you don't really need to do a site visit IMOpinion. We hadn't seen the resort so that's why we went the first time, the second time we went to scout more chapels so we decided to try the resort overnight.
They can probably set up a food tasting for the wedding menu when you arrive. I actually didn't get to eat at all the restaurants but I'm hoping they're all as good as the ones we tried while we were there.
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Holy cow, some of those breakdowns of costs scare me a little bit.. Our wedding is not nearly going to cost 30,000. But maybe its cuz I am cheap. ha ha. I agree that the $350 dollars seems sooo crazy. But as someone told me, it is a one time event, so you might as well do it up right! Which kinda helped the feeling disapate.

I am still waiting from Allibe to hear the quotes on the flowers that I liked.

We booked our photographer/videographer with Claudia Rodriguez. I love the eye she has for her photos. You can check her website out at: Claudiaphoto.com

We are not planning on doing anything too fancy, believe the white chairs are fine. Don't need slip covers or sashes, as no one "really" pays attention to that, even though it may look nicer. It is not an important thing to us.

We are also not having a DJ or reception as when we get back we are having a reception here. Just bringing an ipod and a bose player.

We would just like to have a nice sit down supper after the wedding, and then we can go to one of the bars, or lounges or just hang out by the pool.

We did not do a site visit, or have the TA charges or anything like that as future MIL has shares in H3R and our guests are all booking condos with her (saves major $$ for our guests)

I think making things simple is an obvious way of saving money, but it all depends on what your dream day entails.. I am just happy to spend the rest of my life with the one I love, and have our close family and friends there. I am a pretty simple girl as it is wink.gif

Although I will add that everything does add up, no matter how small the things are. Good luck with all your guys' planning! Hope you are having fun! (My dress just came in!)

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I agree completely about the hair and makeup... I was actually thinking about doing it myself! At least the makeup, I donâ€t like to wear a lot anyway. I do think I want to do something nice for my BMâ€s though for spending so much to get there, maybe something at the spa if we donâ€t do hair/makeup?

 

I wish we could get away with no site visit, but since weâ€ve never been there at all, I feel really uncomfortable. Oh well, at least itâ€s a nice weekend away…

Congrats about your dress Wings! Are Claudiaâ€s prices pretty reasonable? What kind of package are you doing?

 

Iâ€m not sure about the cocktail hour but I do have a “plate menu†Allibe sent that you can choose from and there are appetizers on it. Iâ€m not sure how to post it on here but if you want to PM me your email Iâ€ll send it to you if you donâ€t already have it.

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Quote:
Originally Posted by anacj13 View Post
I would talk to them about this. Not everyone will book through your travel agent. PM me if you'd like to see our contract. We ran into the same problem when they asked that all bookings be done through our outside wedding coordinator. This may be a TA issue not a resort issue as we found was the case for ours. We were able to negotiate this with them though because we know everyone has their own preferences when it comes down to booking.
Thanks for your advice Ana,
I talked to Jill, our TA and she def thought that the policy was crazy and is contacting Allibe to negotiate...esp since Tricey who is also working with Jill doesn't have the same thing in her contract!!!

All--I'll post my budget this weekend. Unfortunately work has been crazy since I got back from vacation and I am sadly forum deficient ;-)
We are planning to sign our group contract tomorrow though. We'll wait until everything is sorted out until signing with the resort. Can't wait until that is all done!!!

Wings, Congrats on your dress. It is such a great feeling to have the purchase completed!! It makes it seem so real.
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Originally Posted by anacj13 View Post
Hey girls have you guys gotten a menu of what they will serve during the cocktail hour? I never asked about this...
Great question! On our site visit it sort of sounded like they would make whatever you wanted. Oscar seemed pretty cool about that. It would be great to see a choice of selections though.
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