We have a big guest list for a DW!!

Issue #1

Our complete guest list is around 250 people. We have a lot of family and friends who have committed to coming to our DW - We have guestimated anywhere between 140-170 people who will come. I'm guessing this is not the norm for most DW couples as much of the pricing I'm coming across (e.g. Sheraton Hacienda at $75 US/person) is not going to save us any money.

Issue #2

Our other key concern is ensuring that Cabo is an affordable destination for our guests. Even though we are looking at AI packages for them, Cabo isn't that cheap when coming from Toronto Canada (we're seeing AI pkgs starting at $1500 and up). Do you know if travel agents are helpful in arranging group AI discounts for large wedding parties such as these (we are planning to contact someone at selloffvacations.com and maybe agent at Flight Centre).

Anyone out there that's had to plan a DW with this many guests? Recommendation on places/locations that will be able to accomodate?

Thanks!!

Darlene and Manoj

selloffvacations does not do group rates if i remember correctly. i remember someone trying to get them to. also, 150 guests is ALOT (75 rooms), you will really need to get that room block in place pretty quickly ESPECIALLY if you plan it at dreams since they only have about 330 rooms total and book to capcity about 98% of the year...

just saw you are not getting married until april 2008...i thought 2007 and alsmost had a heart attack.

ps. it will be very difficult to get 1 week package under $1500 for an AI in cabo. even if you use sell off. they have a very limited amount of rooms at the sale price. but you can try.

i did find group rates out of toronto for about $1700CAD including air, room, transfers and taxes.

I completely understand your situation. I have a million people that I "have" to invite as well. I'm actually shocked that so many of your guests agreed to go. You know what though? People can say what they want, but when it comes down to booking I'm sure a lot of them will have tons of excuses on why they can't go. What I plan to do is invite everyone so no one feels offended but I'm sure a lot of them won't end up going. Also, I don't know if your sold on the Sheraton but Dreams in Cabo does $44 per person which would cut your cost a little bit. Also, Tammy (the host) is a great travel agent who specializes in DW. I am using her and she is usually able to quote people much lower prices than other TA's. Also Edyta is having a Cabo wedding and flying from Canada so you should speak to her about prices. I don't know if this helps but good luck with all the planning. Btw I do hope you go with Cabo b/c my aunt told me that it was a pain for her cousin to work with vendors in Matazlan even though it was cheaper.

-Glenda

Darlene, I had a similar problem and I invited everyone, but as it got closer, so many people started himming and hawing about the money and getting time off. I am sure you will have a little less than you expect. I would still invite everyone so you don't offend anyone and see if your resort/videographer can do a web stream for those who cannot make it, or just send out a video when you get back.

Begin calling the resorts you are looking into to book a block of rooms, you would hate for someone not be able to come because everything was booked, I would work with Tammy (host) on that.

Let us know if there is anything else we can do...

ps. Glenda, wow you are really rockin' this forum, for someone who claims to not be into the wedding details ) I hope all this time on the forum is helping you to make some decisions about your wedding!!!

LOL - glad you didn't have that heart attack Tammy!! Although, if it was in 2007, I would have already had the heart attack first!! Many of our guests are part of families of 4 or 5 (many will probably book together) with many children - so that should cut odwn on number of rooms needed. I have to actually go through the list and figure out how many rooms we'd need.

After all this consideration, we're still not ruling out Mazatlan... but how disappointing to hear that the the vendors there are difficult to deal with. Was it because of the language barrier maybe? I'm hoping that my friend who lives there will be able to alleviate some of that stress as she is fluent in the languange. If we go ahead with Mazatlan, there will be less chance of all the guests staying in one hotel because AI's aren't that abundant in Mazatlan (which i don't think is as fun when all the guests are separated). At least in Cabo, we can arrange to at least TRY to have everyone in one place or be in the same vicinty... Are resorts in Cabo close to each other?

i ansered in red

Quote:

Originally Posted by salsa_bride Many of our guests are part of families of 4 or 5 (many will probably book together) with many children - so that should cut odwn on number of rooms needed. most resort will not allow that many people in a room unless they were newborns or something. you may have to do some finagling like "putting" a kid in another room or something At least in Cabo, we can arrange to at least TRY to have everyone in one place or be in the same vicinty... Are resorts in Cabo close to each other?there are alot of resorts close to each other...the 3 main sections of cabo are: San Jose Del Cabo, Los Cabos (Resort Corridor) or cabo san lucas. what about PB chain? They have sister resorts of different fees...they also have suites with kitchenettes for family and are really good price but not AI

Actually the girl I know who got married in Mata is from there. She has lived there her entire life and is Mexican so no, there was no language barrier. But she said the problem she had was that there are few AI's and they were kind of limited with what she wanted. I guess they don't have a wide variety of things and a lot of "trendy" things have to be shipped in which makes it difficult and costly. I will ask her to be more specific so that I can let you know what she means by this. BTW Christine I can't help it, I'm hooked. Full fledged addicted. There is actually a good chance that I will be fired from being on this website so much.

-Glenda

Hm, well, I guess we have to open up our options to other locations to better accomodate our situation (maybe we'll save Cabo for our honeymoon!!!). So in summary of our wedding needs:

Budget - 20-25k (CDN)

Guests - approximately 150 (needs to be affordable, easy to book for that many people)

Ceremony - would like traditional Catholic ceremony

Reception - this is where we thought DW could save us some money, but we want it to be a private event (no wandering sunbathers or other toursists in t background)

I am open to looking at other locations in Mexico (maybe Dominican)?

How did you gals plan your DW when it came to confirming numbers? Did you send out invites first to get confirmed number of guests? How do you do that without booking the location first? And how do you book unless you know how many guests are attending? I feel like it's a catch 22??

I was pretty close to being trouble, my grades were due today and I was super behind on grading because I am so distracted by wedding planning...I still need lesson plans for Monday.