Newbie - Los Angeles

Ed,

I would keep the bar tab in mind when you are budgeting the wedding. The bar tab alone can be outrageous! I saw that you put a 12k minimum at One and Only. We had drinks there and I think you can EASILY reach that. We had a low priced wine at their bar and it was $24 each glass!

What are the per person dinner prices at Esperanza like?

To give you an idea, we had our wedding with 40 poeple at a restaruant in Cabo, per person food price was an average of $35, and we had mostly open bar. Our total after DJ, photographer, flowers, etc... was close to 15k.

Regarding the activities. There is Cabo Dolphins in the marina. We did this for our honeymoon and I highly recommend it:

Swimming with Dolphins at the Cabo Dolphin Center in Los Cabos

Jet skiing is everywhere on Medano Beach (in downtown Cabo) or at the Hilton in the corridor.

hi ed,

what about some other high end reorts that are not so high end...?

Hilton

westin

casa del mar

fiesta americana

the food at the big 3 will be expensive...my gf went to One and only for her honeymoon and they were spending $300-400 per dinner every night for 2 people.

Lunch buffets at Esperanza are $44 to $52

Plated lunch is $52

Dinner buffet is $75 to 95

Plated dinner is $78

Open bar was $56 per person for 3 hours.

Are the Food and Drink Minimums the amount you pay for the reception, or the amounts paid by the guests during their stay total, or both?

The Esperanza also gave me information that conflicted with the Las Ventanas information. Esperanza noted that I could take the blood tests in the U.S. so long as it was 30 days before or less and submitted 21 days before. Las Ventanas says that you have to take them in Mexico, two days before the ceremony.

Even though, I'm a lawyer, I do not know whether the prenup they make you sign is enforceable in CA? Anyone know? Has anyone had a civil ceremony in the U.S. before having a symbolic one in Mexico?

well, you may be able to do it at esperanza...

looks like your food and drink will range around $5,500 for 40 people

room rates for the basic are about $400-500 per night (in off season)

it will be cutting it close...

most of us have a civil ceremony in the states and a symbolic one in mexico...i think it is about 65% in us / 35% in DW

Hey Ed,

All good questions here!

You may want to double check, but I bet the bar tab is $56 per person, per hour for a minimum of 3 hours (+ tax and service). If so, off the bat, you're talking around $250 per person (not including taxes and service) for food and the 3 hours of open bar.

The food and drink minimums are the amount you pay for the wedding reception.

We did the civil ceremony at the courthouse in the U.S. prior to going to Cabo to avoid all the legal stuff. Hope this helps!

karla, i thought $56 was a little low for 3 hours...

Hi Ed - we looked at exactly the same places - her is some insight:

Esperanza - great food, beautiful property, but they will not allow you to have any music outside. You have to use a small room off of the restaurant area and they are very strick about a 10 PM stop time. That ruled them out for us - no room for dancing!

Las Ventanas - same issue - no music allowed outside so you are up in the corporate meeting area. Not attractive or the vibe you're going for when hosting a wedding in Los Cabos. PLUS, the area that they recommend for the wedding (which is outside) is right next to an air conditioning unit which would make it difficult for guests to hear the ceremony. Their response, "people are so focused on the wedding, they don't notice."

One & Only - the minimums were expensive and some of our guests wouldn't have been able to afford it there. Plus, the property is very big so you lose some intimacy and they don't really block out a space for you unless you use their corporate-ish party area. It's nicer than the Las Ventanas area, but you would need to spend some hefty cash to make it feel like a wedding. The chappel is beautiful and you can even rent a horse drawn carriage.

We chose Casa del Mar - it was perfect for us and for our whole group, but they are going through remodoling right now which caused us difficulty (not at the event, just in teh planning process). The food was phenomenal and their onsite coordinator works very well with our coordinator, Maye, who was a godsend.

About weather. October, even, is still hot and you run the risk of hurricanes or rain. They had a major storm in the last week of October. Actually, there may have been two big storms in October. September and August are really not so comfortable.

We were married November 11 which was perfect.

two cents...

Were doing a civil ceremony in Cabo. I will say that their rules really very depending of the judge that is booked, some are more strict then others. I orginally went with one coordinator that told me I had to do it in Mexico 3 days before our wedding (at their office) and then I ended up firing them and went with another wedding coordinator who said I just need to provide her with our blood type. If you choose to have a legal wedding in Cabo and there is a wedding coordinator at the resort, then I would let them handle it. If not then you may consider hiring a wedding coordinator to help with the legal paperwork.

Villa La Estancia (if I spelled that right) is also another nice resort, that is AI. and it's located on a beach you can swim in.