Cabo site visit, Nov 14-16th

OK - here we go:

1) Book appointments with the sites before you go to maximize your time and ensure that someone who deals with groups will be there when you visit. Tell them the amount you want to pay for food and beverage before and ask them to come to the meeting with a menu that matches. We told people that we wanted to pay no more than $40 per person. Also, ask that they have a few of the items available so that you can try them (for a fee, of course - they may offer it to you for free, though). DO NOT sign an agreement until you have negotiated F&B. We negotiated F - not B - now we are paying the full amount for beverages.

-You are there mid-week, right? E-mail a bunch of hotels (even though you are not having your wedding there) to find out if they will have a wedding set-up. You will get a lot of good ideas about what does/doesn't work by seeing someone else's set up. Also, one or more will give you a deal on a room if you stay there since they know you are scouting AND it's mid-week. IF you get a good deal on a hotel, does your FMIL still have to go? It sounds like you and Cain could really use a vacation together and I know that when we went we had a BLAST together.

-Eat and drink at different places. You will find hidden jems and may be inspired to have your reception somewhere you weren't planning.

-Take pictures to refresh your memory.

-Flowers - based upon information supplied by my friend who lived in Cabo and worked in the service industry, make sure you find a vendor that is close to your venue. If they forget something and you're in Cabo and they're in San Jose, it will stress you out. Also, take the list of flower prices from the other thread - it will help. This isn't one of your high-ticket items, so I would focus your site visit more on venue, f&b, and getting a good solid understanding of how things will go with your coordinator. It sounds like you need to have a good face-to-face with her and determine if it makes sense to continue working with her.

My dos centavos

Awesome advise Natasha, THANKS.. Please pass on any other information you can think of.

I would LOVE for Cain to go, but since Marty is getting free airline tickets (she has to be one of the travelers) then I'm pretty much stuck with her. We tired to get 3 tickets so that Cain could go, and just enjoy his time off work and surf, but FMIL could only get two tickets, so he'll be stuck home watching the dogs.

I was planning on visiting the resorts located around Villa Del Palmar and Melia San Lucas to check on dinner pricing (only about 10 guests coming to Cabo) I'm really looking for a romantic yet fun place to have our dinner, and of course a place with good food.

Question: Since we are having a small wedding, we weren't planning on limiting what our guests choice of meals would be, do you think I can still negotiate the rate?

For those of you who did a site visit, how long did you give each vendor? I'm trying to make the most of my time but I dont' know how many hours to put down for each.. Any advise?

i just wanted to give my input about arranging a meeting with Juan. my site visit is Nov 9-12 and i sent him an emailing just to let him know that i would be there just IN CASE he wanted to meet up but i assumed i wouldnt meet with him because there really wasnt much to talk about. but he immediately emailed back and set up a time just because he wanted to meet us! which i thought was really sweet. any-whoo you could just email him and let hom know- to see if he wanted to jsut meet with you for any reason (even if its just to meet for a margarita and peruse his beautiful pics) if you have enough time

Hi Tammy - I spent about 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours with each hotel. We ate at the restaurants so it was probably that amount as well. We spent 2 hours with Maye.

On our second site visit, we focused on restaurants for the welcome dinner and meetings with the hotel coordinator. Our meetings with her were about 2 hours each (one on each day). One of those was to taste food (we saw Kash there) and the other was to work out some major issues that we had with the hotel at the time.

I would say we spent 35-40 minutes walking to area where the wedding was going to be held going over set-up and discussing details about the type of alcohol, etc.

We did not bother meeting with florists or other vendors because Maye was handling and we had no need to.

Here are some restaurants to think about:

-Don Emiliano in San Jose. We opted for an informal (our guests pay their own way) dinner with them on Thursday night. Great food, really pretty environment, and it's nice to get to San Jose vs. Cabo which is a bit too party-oriented for the portion of our crowd with kids. It might be nice for you to go to Cabo one night and San Jose the next.

Janet - you are also eating at a good restaurant in San Jose - I'm spacing on the name right now...

In Cabo, I would look at:

-Mi Casa (there are two) - fun, festive environment for a group your size and GREAT food.

-Lorenzillos - if you like lobster you'll love this place. It's also pretty - it's on the second story of a building that's at the tip of the marina so it has a nice view. Plus, after you can walk to a lot of bars. My favorite are the Nowhere bar and the new bar that I'm also spacing on but you can't miss it. It's on the marina, ultra modern and plays movies on the wall.

Also, Baja Cantina would be a fabulous place to go one night. Maybe not on your wedding night, though.

OH! You know, for your wedding night, you might consider dinner at the nice restaurant at the Sheraton, it's called D Cortez. It's in a beautiful building (you walk across a bridge to get to it) and the outside terrace is RIGHT on the beach and they light up the waves at night. It looks and sounds stunning. PLUS, they will cordon off a section for you AND it's already decorated. You won't have to worry about candles and such. They have a trio that plays at night as well. That is a great way to save some money.

I recommend reserving a private table for 10. Don't tell them it's your wedding or they'll pull out the special menus and start talking to you about open bar! Let people order off the menu (we've eaten there twice - it's really good). Even if it costs a bit more, not paying for flowers, candles, musicians, etc. will save you a ton (you'd be shocked actually).

Tammy,

I have no advice to give on what to do or who to talk to but...I'm so excited for you. Youre going to be so happy you went. It makes such a difference to put a mental picture in your head of everything and everyone you talk to.