MattyTrinh

I looked into getting a chuppa on the beach because I love the look blowing in the wind with the white drapes. However I am not getting a resort package so its $900 for the basic arch! I decided to go with floral urns that we can reuse at the reception. Plus yeah, bridesmaids, groomsmen, bride and groom, beach in the background makes for some pretty awesome decor. @@Ksarnowski, I'm in the same boat. You don't get as much out of these without seeing all the pics! And you can't do that until you get to 150 posts or pay $30! I hate it, but I'm trying!

Yeah .. I know this post was a couple months ago, but did you hear about the virus killing millions of starfish up and down the Pacific coast? I had real ones for my invitations, and they were beautiful! But most did not make it since I didn't wrap them well. Most people got a pile of sand in their invitations. Haha! Please let me know if you find a nice faux starfish. :-)

Oh I love this idea! I'm going to ask the WC's now!

@@lydiasusi, OMG your flowers look amazing! It may be too late since you already fluffed them up... But have you thought about bringing the flowers flat? Like they how they come when you buy them? That's how mine are. :-) And we are fortunate enough to be able to do a site visit this Christmas for our July 2015 wedding. I plan to bring a huge suitcase of paper tissue poms(u fluffed), paper lanterns, wish lanterns, candles for centerpieces, marbles, etc. And my wedding coordinator is keeping them for me until July. I might even do a storage locker for 7 months! Worth not having to worry about all that during wedding week!

@Mention, fantastic, thanks! I'm a little concerned the Bahia may not have enough rooms for our wedding party. I asked our guests to RSVP by November 30th, with hopes I will have them all by end of year. So far, we are over 100 guests! I think the Bahia has something like 65 rooms? It would be neat to have our own private hotel though. We will have to see... The Bahia and HCYC are walking distance (in heels) from each other, correct? Thanks again for your help!!

My wedding date is set for July 2015 at the Hacienda Cocina Y Cantina (HCyC). I always thought I can do it all myself. Not for a destination wedding! Vendors in Cabo especially take weeks to respond to you, since it's one of the most popular destinations in Mexico, and they sometimes are not consistent with their prices, contracts. It's better to have someone down there batting for you, making sure your vendors respond promptly and will make sure your day goes smoothly without any extra stress for you! Keep it fun!! I highly recommend Christina Mattos at Cabo Beach Weddings for a third party wedding coordinator (WC). She was a fraction of the cost of other WCs. ($1000, $200 deposit). She was super patient when I had my first surge of "to do items" to check off. Mostly, find a venue, set a reasonable budget for 100 guests. The info about vendors alone was worth $1000! However, she also negotiates her special rate with the vendors she trusts, and gives you several options to chose from. You kind of have to prioritize what is most important to you... the view? The DJ? The flowers? Hair and Makeup? Best experience for your guests? Otherwise it will get very expensive, very quickly. She also handles everything from signing the contract to keeping on top of vendors on day of to picking up afterwards and making sure you get everything back to your hotel when you just want to party more after your reception! She let me change several times from having a hotel package wedding (like Pueblo Bonito), to a restaurant like Sunset di Mona Lisa (SDML) or HCyC to a private Villa, back to a restauant. We still can get our deposit back up to 90 days prior to the wedding! It's not too late to switch, LOL. So we booked the HCyC. I'm going to try to address as many of the issues I saw on this thread, keep in mind we are going to our site visit this Christmas 2014, so I haven't seen it in person. I am only working off my planning experience which has taken a massive break for about 6 months. We chose the HCyC mostly because of the beach front view and the location. The SDML is without a doubt the most beautiful view in Cabo. However like others said, you have to rent private transportation to get there from hotels, which gets expensive for a lot of guests. And they can't really accommodate more than 50 guests. The menu looks amazing too! HCyC has a gorgeous view on a normally busy beach. Since we are having a sunset wedding, most people will be gone from the beach at that time. Christina informed me that there might be a few lookers, but I am not too concerned about it. My photographer can photoshop out 1 or 2 people no problem. Same with buoys.. no big deal. My FI insisted we get married in the sand. Not on a terrace overlooking the beach. I let him have his way. ;-) So we will have a quick 15 min beach ceremony, then a cocktail hour with apps on the lower La Cima Terrace, then reception plated dinner on the upper La Cima Terrace, and dancing on the lower La Cima Terrace. I also loved their wedding website, it is very informative and we'll built. (My FI is a software engineer, so we take good interfaces very seriously). We expect 75-100 guests. If we go over 100 guests, we may have to re-strategize completely. You do have to do a buy out at $20K for the entire restaurant for more than 150. Yikes. Right now we are at $7500 for food and beverage min, and $1800 for the La Cima Terrace $900 to use the beach. Still much cheaper than anything in California where venue alone, no chairs or tables will be over $10K. There are not many venues that can accommodate 150+ guests. And it has been difficult to try to get than many people there... although it's a strong possibility we will reach 100, maybe go over. You can NOT bring your own alcohol. This was a major bummer for me since we love wine and we live near Napa Valley. The HCyC does have 60 brown chivari chairs and 10 tables (I believe) with beige cushions @ and beige linens. We will rent more. Type of chairs, tables and linens is definitely not something I think guests will remember. You do have the option to do rectangle or round tables. I love the look of the rectangle tables, but our families insisted round or 8 person square was better for conversation. Susana @ HCyC has been an absolute pleasure to work with, very professional, prompt and informative. It's sad to have to point that out, but not all vendor contacts have been easy to work with. Even if you have your third party wedding coordinator being the middle man. HCyC us also super close to the hotels in the area near the marina. Ideally I would like our guests to be able to walk across the street to get to the wedding, and also be in walking distance to restaurants in the area. I'm not looking at All Inclusive (AI), since most guests seemed not too into it and it's $100 more per night for AI. We are doing site visits at the Bahia Hotel, Cabo Villas, and the Hacienda Encanta da which is further away from the marina. I'm looking strictly at price point $150-200/ night, proximity to HCyC, awesome pool, and looks modern and clean. Will have to update on customer service and activities later after we visit in December. HCyC also has a few different options for food and bev. I can email those if you want them for this year, prices usually go up every year. My FI hates buffet, so it was plated or family style only. We went with plated. I think we'll have seabass, steak, veggie pasta option and a child's meal (under 8). Again, will depend on December trip. I think thats all I can think of regarding venue... it's a big decision, it helps to have someone (wedding coordinator) to discuss it with when your FI and MOH are tapped out. Lol. I'm fortunate enough to have a man who is excited about wedding planning (mostly). Let me know if you want to discuss flowers, DJ, photographer, hair and makeup, OOT bags, guest list, etc. I am one of those brides who is super dooper prepared and tells my WC how I think I want it, then do some research and bring it back to her a few times. If you are a bride that wants so me one else make your special day happen without thinking about every detail, I am confident Christina can do it too! Keep it fun, good luck! Hope this helped! Matty I can confirm a lot of this info as well. The La Cima Terrace I think you are referring to is now $7500 min food and beverage consumption + $1800 fee. It goes up every year, so if you want to book in 2016, I recommend putting down deposit asap! Thanks for the info regarding the open bar! That's news to me! I was told they have 60 brown chivari chairs and 10 tables if you want to use them. You can always rent more. Unless you do the buyout. The La Cima Terrace does overlook the pool as well as the beach, and it requires more lighting which you can do on your own, or DJ can provide it.

OMG I think you just changed my life with the minimus.biz site. I can literally spend hours on this site. haha. Thanks!

We're going to have the cutest OOT bags! Can someone also send to me? MattyTrinh@gmail.com Thank you!

Hi! I'm interested in having my DW in La Paz as well. Have you gotten a lot more planning done since you posted this? How did you decide on this resort? Do they have any wedding packages? What is your budget? How big is your guest list? Any other info you want to share? :-) Matty

I think a nice transition between ceremony and dinner is a cocktail hour with appetizers. Also a good time for you and husband to take pictures. It helps to have a friend MC to direct people to the next event. That way you don't have to worry about it. :-) I think traditionally the bouquet is thrown towards the end of the night and the bride and groom make a spectacle of an exit to their honeymoon night. But since you're doing a destination wedding, you don't have to be traditional at all! I am planning to have the reception end at 10:30pm and the older family members can go to bed and the rest of us will hit the town (if its not on a remote island with no night life.) It will be a long day for you too so no one will blame you if you want to hit the sack early. The great thing about DW's is that you get to see your guests all week.