Kashmira's Hilton Wedding review 6/16

[gkashmira]

Hi Ladies! Well our honeymoon is slowly winding to a close I am at my DH's (weird to write that!) friend's place in Prague so i thought I would take the time to write my review.

 

American Airlines - A+

Normally I would skip this part but i just wanted to note that we had bought our tickets using frequent flyer points. It's not possible to upgrade these types of seats. However when we walked onthe plane and hung up my dress and Dan's suit in the closet the stewardesses congratulated us and asked us where we were sitting. After the doors of the plane were closed they actually came back and got us to move us up to first class. It was a lovely treat for an early morning flight.

 

Hilton - Average grade: C but I really need to break it up into areas ad then you will see why they averaged a 'C' even though the wedding was perfect...

 

RECEPTION FOOD - A+

The food was awesome. We used the Caribbean menu and substituted some vegetarian dishes. We also added the pasta station which was awesome and served smoked marlin quesadillas during the cocktail hour (I never got one). he servers were great, everything was delicious and our guests raved about the food.

 

HOTEL & ROOMS: B+

The hotel and the ground were really beautiful - perfectly kept, very clean, very luxurious. The only reason they don't get an 'A' is that though we were upgraded to a "junior suite" the only real difference between our room and let's say my parents room was that we had a king size bed and then a small sofa to the side. My parents room had two queen beds but no sofa. However the weird thing was that the rooms were pretty much the same size. Our shower was a tiny bit bigger and our balcony was bigger but really there was very little difference. However that said, the bed was so amazingly comfortable it was ridiculous. We were treated spectacularly. The night of the wedding they sent up champagne, spelled out "congratulations" on the bed in little flowers and had balloons over the bed. At check-in they bring you a margarita and have you sit in the lounge while they check you in at the front desk.

 

WEDDING SERVICES: D

OK, here's where the negative part of the review starts - basically all the problems have to do with unfair or even possibly dishonest practices in regards to cost:

 

1. We had originally had a room block in place for our guests. The price per room was $260/night. A few months later a friend of mine went onto the hotel's website and they were offering rooms at $215 and $249. I was really annoyed and a bit embarrassed that I had been telling people to book only under our room block for the best deal and instead they were actually being charged more. I did email Emeline and all our guests (including us) were given the lower $215 rate in the end. However it raised a red flag to double check everything and I am glad we did.

 

2. Closer to the event we were sent the Banquet Event Order from Emeline. We had originally asked for Open Domestic Bar by consumption. while I was looking though the BEO I noticed that where the drink prices were listed that all of them were higher than the prices we had agreed to originally. Each drink was about $1 more - which would be a lot of money at the end of the night! so again I brought this to Emeline's attention and the BEO was fixed. however i was told that the cash bar (for items we were not offering) would be at these higher prices. Again i had to fight to have the original quoted prices used in case any guest decided to order something special.

 

3. We had set a open bar limit at $3500. It was actually a lot more than we anticipated spending and didn't think we would even come close. someone was suppose to let us know when the bar was abot to reach this number and in that case we could decide if we wanted to keep it open or close it. Anyway the end of the evening came and went and no one ever said anything and that seemed reasonable. My parents were checking ou the next day and all the remaining costs for the reception were suppose to be added onto their room bill. Anyway there was a tiny balance due for the food but no one could give us the drink totals. We had them call around, we of course wanted an itemized statement but no one could help us (it was a Sunday so the banquet department was closed). Anyway we paid the bill and left. A few days later my father saw a charge on his credit card for around $4600! He emailed emeline about the charge and our contracted agreement to cut the bar off at $3500. I don't actually know what happened since I'm in Europe. However I know my father however so i am sure the issue was resolved - even if it meant instructing the credit card company to only pay $3500. The worst part is I had had a conversation with emeline prior to the event saying that i wanted copied of the waiters receipts or something to review before we paid the bar tab. the fact the the bar tab was never given to us, no one could find it and then charged without permission (or signature I might add) in an amount that was over the agreed price was highly annoying.

 

CUPCAKES by Jennifer Hatton (via the Hilton) - B

They were tasty but a bit dry.

 

MAYE CORTINAS - B+

Maye did a great job. I used her for basically everything - mariachi trio, photographer, flowers, chuppah, decorations, DJ, booking welcome dinner spot & transportation to welcome dinner. everything was done perfectly. the only thing that would get on my nerves was during the planning process she wasn't great at keeping track of what we had discussed. She would think I was doing some things I wasn't and forgetting some things I wanted. However we went over everything in detail and in the end there wasn't a flower out of place or a single thing wrong. her assistant Paulina was also there and she was very sweet and helpful.

 

BAJA CANTINA for welcome dinner - A+

This is a beautiful location. The food is awesome, the open bar is stocked. It's a little hard to find but Maye had arranged a bus for our guests which was possible the best decision I made throughout the whole process. It was pretty affordable at $21/person for a feast of a taco bar plus $30/person for 3 hours of open bar. Well worth it and really has the best view in Cabo.

 

FLOWERS via Maye - A+

In the end I did a bouquet of gerber daisies and mini roses. It was simply gorgeous. I felt sad leaving it behind! The gerber daisy centerpieces were simple but pretty and Dan's rose boutinere was perfect.

 

DJ RICARDO - A+

OK, so DJ Ricardo was a savior for us. We had hired him at a reduced rate of $160/hour for 4 hours to run our ipod off his system. we also rented our microphone for the ceremony and the reception from him for $80. Half way through the reception the ipod froze... yup that's right. the music stopped short and the ipod stopped working. DJ ricardo had another song on in less than a minute and the dancefloor didn't empty until the end of the night.

 

We had a MARIACHI TRIO for the ceremony and the cocktail hour. I have no idea how they were to be honest.

 

TOMAS BARRON - PHOTOGRAHER - Unrated - I will wait to get the pictures before I rate him. He's a nice guy but his English isn't great. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get the portrait shots I wanted with friends but I think that was more due to a lack of time than lack of skill.

 

BAJA VIDEO PRODUCTIONS - Temporary rating of A

I haven't seen the final product but I like the teaser video Marci sent me (and posted on here). She was very sweet, enrique and tomas worked well it seemed to me so I think it's going to be great. they also ended up staying a bit longer than agreed upon to catch the "tossing of the bouquet" - I appreciated that very much.

 

NATIONAL RENT-A-CAR - B

The pick-up of the car was easy and the car was in good shape. However they failed to mention that they don't open until 7;30am and when i went to drop the car of at 6:30am there was no one there. In addition there was no drop off area, no key drop and no indication as to what should be done. So in the end I just parked the car in front of the returns department, locked the keys inside the car and slipped a note under the door. however it was annoying anyway.

 

MARBELLA EN LA PLAYA - A

The Hilton was pretty expensive so we directed a lot of our friends to stay at the nearby hotel Marbella en la Playa. The rooms were large and cool, the pool area and beach were nice and I think everyone loved it. In fact we even went there after our welcome dinner and all hung out on the pool level and had drinks, etc. It's a wonderful place to house guests who can't afford the larger resorts.

 

TROPICANA - B+

The last night of our trip we and all our friends and dan's parents went to the San Jose restaurant Tropicana. The decor was cool, the food was good. However there was a dead lobster inside the "live" lobster tank which was freaking me out and it annoyed me that they refused to give us tap water and basically made everyone order bottled water...

[TammyB]

Kash sorry things weren't great on your wedding day, but I seen bits and pieces or your video and you looked great. Enjoy the rest of you honeymoon and I can't wait to see your pics

[LCBride2007]

well it sounds like behind the scenes things weren't 100% perfect - but from what i've seen in the video - it all looked fabulous! and that dress ... HOT! you looked stunning!

 

hope you're enjoying your honeymoon!

[DreaW]

Kash I'm so glad you ended up having a great time other than all the other things that happend.

 

Like I asked everyone else who went to Baja Cantina....do you have pictures?

So Tomas was good? How long did you have him again?

Your flowers were good too....(having similar flowers)

Having Marci and Enrique too..

I think my wedding is somewhat similar to yours (lol) except it will be held at BC.

 

Pictures when you can!!!!

Have fun with the rest of your trip.

Drea

[jpkw]

Congratulations Kash!! Sorry to hear about the cost discrepancies - hopefully your dad resolved it. I'm glad to hear your wedding was amazing! Can't wait to see your pics!!

[CourtneyV]

Great review, Kash! I'm sorry to hear about the problems you bumped into. I would have been super pissed about the $4600 bill too! Hopefully your dad worked all of it out. I can't wait to see the pictures - any word as to how long we have to wait for them?!

[Jessalyn]

Congratulations Kashmira! I have to go find the video...I missed that post. I'm sorry to hear about the cost discrepencies...I encountered similar issues with the Sheraton....but, it sounds like everything was wonderful! I can't wait to see the pics...

 

alright, i'm off to find the video!

[gkashmira]

I should have prefaced my review by saying that on the day of the wedding everythign was perfect. We all had SO much fun, the weather was hot but beautiful, the food was delicious, the ceremony and recption sites were gorgeous! My DH said to me that night, "I can't imagine it being more perfect."

 

It was only the annoying behind the scenes money stuff that gets to you. But it was winderful.

 

I'll get you guys some pictures early next week - I promise! In the mean time check out the video marci posted!

[NHPT]

such a great review- it is annoying when you have to think and talk about money during your wedding week. i wonder if its like that everywhere or just mexico?

you were a beautiful bride- congrats and enjoy your honeymoom

[deleted]

thanks for all the details, I think they will be super helpful to brides. I'm sorry about all the money stuff...UGH!!!!!!!! I swear it is the one thing across the board that keeps Cabo weddings from being 100% perfect. So frustrating!