Wedding Review: Sheraton Buganvilias

hls140 · 11-21-2007, 08:33 AM

Hi girls, after 13 amazing days in Mexico and 8 ridiculously busy/horrible days back to work and school, I wanted to take some time to post some thoughts on our wedding.

We were married at the Sheraton Buganvilias--and as much as I scoured this website I couldn’t' find anyone who had been married there....so, I was a little nervous. We didn't have the time to break away for a site visit, and so I chose it based on the photos online and the package that they offered. It was down to there and the Westin and the Sheraton gave us more flexibility with bringing in outside vendors, so.... that's how that went : )

The Ceremony & Reception Site:
The Sheraton Buganvilias in Puerto Vallarta--loved it! My husband, Jace, and I are already planning a return trip and so are many of our guests. Like I said, I was nervous and was wondering why I was the only bride on here that was getting married there, so I wasn't expecting anything amazing when we arrived. I was so surprised! The hotel is gorgeous inside--modern mexican architecture and feel--which I love! The grounds are nice and green, and the pools there are wonderful!! Swim up bar and a section of one of the huge pools which only comes up to your knees--perfect for my nephews and for us ladies who can't stand to lay out in the hot sun!!

As for our room--they upgraded us to one of their junior suites on the club level—gorgeous, clean, white-walled room with its own sundeck and a gorgeous oval window when you enter that shows the gorgeous PV sunset. Couldn't have asked for more.

They have a gorgeous little house on this pier that I knew was just going to be amazing, and it was—this is where we had our ceremony. The reception was held in this beautiful little heart shaped garden area overlooking the ocean. Perfect as well.

Reception Food and Drink—pretty amazing. We went with the surf and turf: Prime Rib and Shrimp. It was really delicious—we heard from a few people that it was the best meal they had ever had—so, that’s good : ) Drinks—not skimping on any alcohol there!

Sheraton Spa— a bridesmaid and I had manis and pedis there and lets just say, while they were very nice, I’d say the money would be better spent (and they were expensive) at an outside salon. Reason being only that I was expecting the spa to have those big massage chairs with the motorized foot tubs and what we got was just a regular chair and a foot tub. I feel so snobby now….sorry, I just expected the Sheraton to have that!!!

Jace and I had a couples massage though that was pretty good, so perhaps for those types of services this spa is better.

Sheraton Coordinator:
Fernanda was great! At first a bit slow to respond, but once she and I got our acts together, she was quick, competent, knowledgeable and sweet! All in all, I'd say there were only a few things that weren't "as planned", but nothing that put any sort of damper on anything. The ceremony itself was gorgeous and she did a great job with the reception, placing all of our wedding "knick knacks"--I don't know what to call them--programs, palm fans, favors, etc., helped us with our ipod the entire ceremony, and handled everything day of so that I didn’t need to stress-- just wonderful. She made me feel comfortable in that if I asked for something, she would provide--and she did. She also was very accommodating to all of our guests (my mom and her thousands of questions).

Photographer:
We had Beth Fladung/Elizabeth Lloyd photograph for us. We are so excited to see our photographs!! She was a pleasure to work with and really was invisible most of the time—but I saw her photographing a lot of our guests too, which I’m really happy about. She came from the tail end of my getting ready (I was pretty much strapped into the dress and had my make-up on, just some finishing touches with my mom messing with my hair) and stayed until after the bouquet toss—which was longer than I had asked her to stay and we had agreed upon—so that was from about 4 p.m. until 10 maybe? Either way, she was wonderful, and I just KNOW she got some amazing shots!!!

Rehearsal Dinner: Barcelona Tapas
Much like everyone else who has been there, we just loved it, and so did our guests. The food was amazing and the ambiance was wonderful!! I’d only give two caveats— my father in law had planned to give a little toast/speech, and we had wanted everyone to go around and introduce themselves, and this was NOT possible here—way too loud. We had about 38 guests and were on the top level. Perhaps we should have asked if it was possible to have the whole level for ourselves and the music turned off…. oh yea, and the second caveat is—it was soo hot there. It seemed to be at least 10 degrees warmer than down by the ocean—and that’s being conservative. But, well, we winged those parts and I know everyone loved the place!! We’d do it there again in a heartbeat.

I think that’s it. I would totally recommend going with this hotel as the reception and ceremony spot. We and all of our guests just loved it! Everything turned out so much better than I could have hoped for and I know that we were successful in giving everyone some beautiful memories of their own. I’ll post photos whenever we get them. For now though, if anyone is curious as to how the Sheraton looks or the ceremony/reception site is, I have tons of photos from friends and family that I can share. Thanks for reading and happy planning : )

hls140 · 11-21-2007, 08:47 AM

Already, one thing that I forgot--our honeymoon--
We were married on Saturday, and left PV on Monday for Guadalajara (I lived there for 6 months during school)--it was great to be back and we stayed at the amazing Quinta Real. If any of you want to see Mexico's second largest and beautifully historic city, I'd recommend staying at this hotel. Its just gorgeous. Also, while there, we went to a great restaurant called La fonda de San Miguel. Definitely worth checking out. We stayed there until Thursday.

On Thursday, we took the bus back to PV and stayed at the Barcelo La Jolla hotel. We weren't quite aware of how far away this hotel is from the malecon and downtown area--its at least 15 minutes by cab to downtown. This was a bit too far for us. Also, they are doing MAJOR construction (which I think was discussed on here) and the room that they first put us in was right next to a room that they were working on. We unpacked nothing and asked to be switched to another room--they did, it was about 3 down from this one. Let me just say--during the hours of 8 and 6 p.m., you can hear all of this construction in your room and down in the pool and restaurant areas. I understand that they need to renovate--the timing just wasn't great for us. We've never been an AI couple but decided to try it out to see if it was more "relaxing"-- based on the food and quality of the hotel, we kind of ended up wishing that we would have just gone back to the Sheraton. But--we were adventuring--so it was nice to discover another part of Puerto Vallarta : ) And, I will say, the beaches are nicer and less rocky then in the downtown area.

My last comment--is about a great place that we went for our thank you brunch on Sunday--mi Querencia--right across from the malecon. Delicious food--many of our guests (including us) went back for dinner. Super affordable and they gave us our own private section--we prearranged through Fernanda, the Sheraton coordinator.

edna · 11-21-2007, 08:59 AM

Congratulations on your wedding Heather!!! Is great to hear from a wedding of a new place, thank you for the amazing and detailed review and Welcome Back!!!

JulieG · 11-21-2007, 09:08 AM

This resort sounds amazing. I can't wait to see the pictures of it. I love it when people go to new places and we get to see what they look like.

Great review I am sure it will help out some brides out there.

Congratulations on your wedding.

hls140 · 11-21-2007, 09:20 AM

Thanks, girls! Its nice to be able to tell about it : )

Tlseege · 11-21-2007, 09:25 AM

I too love new wedding places! Your avitar pictures looks beautiful! I can't wait to see the rest!

Yari · 11-21-2007, 09:58 AM

Welcome back!

I am so happy to hear that your special day went awesome.

amyh · 11-21-2007, 01:16 PM

Wow! Great review Heather! I can't wait to see your pics from Beth. I'm sure they will be amazing!

raisinblur · 11-23-2007, 10:09 AM

Welcome back!! Thanks for the great review. Sounds like you had an awesome wedding/honeymoon. I can't wait to see your pictures from Beth either!

cuata2pink · 11-25-2007, 03:00 PM

Thanks for the review! I'm also staying at the Sheraton but I'm having my ceremony at the church in the malencon and I still havent decided were to have my reception. I've stayed at the Sheraton ad I loved it! they also upgraded us to a nicer room because the one the initally gave us was not what we had paid for , they upgraded for free! I love this resort !