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I didn't have to book a room block at the Cabo Surf, but I think Christa's experience is more likely the case for 2007 weddings. I hope you like it there! I was able to do dinner for $40pp and 4 hours open bar for $42 (plus like $7 each for wine) so definitely ask them about working within your budget for food/beverage. (Again, I had 2006 prices, but the point is...ask)

You could walk around the town and check out all the little art galleries and fun shops. Eat lunch at the Tropicana Hotel. Or you could drive to the beach and go on a nice walk. Or go to the Mega Store and stock up on groceries.

Amber...I know you said you were looking into the Cabo Surf. Can I help you with that at all? What makes them appealing in addition to the great private-ish location, is that they have some of the most reasonable food/bev costs in Cabo. And the food is REALLY yummy too.

We registered there and it was my favorite registry (of the 3 we did). We just went in with a list of things we knew we wanted (dishes, glasses, silverware were the biggies) and then we also just browsed to see what caught our eye. I would recommend finalizing your registry over the period of a week or two. Maybe go to the store 2 different times before you release it officially to your guests. Then you can always make updates and changes online.

I think a few Cabo brides have done it. I considered it for awhile but in the end it was just a little too expensive for me. How many people are you thinking of? Check out Cabo San Lucas Vacation Villas, Resorts & Hotels, Los Cabos Mexico - try Villa Miguel or maybe something in the Pedregal neighborhood?

Seems like it would be cheaper to offer transport for your guests to wherever you have the wedding than to pay $1,500 for a site fee? Just a thought. But yeah, if a vendor is not excited about earning your business, I'd be reluctant to give it to him. I know that dealing with a wedding in a foreign country you have to pick your battles and sometimes you just get what you get...but maybe this place isn't worth it? But you should at least look at it on your site visit so you can get all the information you need to decide. Sorry I am not more help here!

yeah but what about with a room block? If you are giving a location your food/beverage/lodging business, then I would not pay a location fee. They need to be competitive with other Cabo sites that also do not charge fees (assuming you spend $ on their stuff instead). Just my 2 cents!

Quote: Originally Posted by A10CALGAL We are moving to another hotel after our wedding night. Some people are staying in Cabo up to 5 days after the wedding. We wanted our friends & family to make a vacation out of this, so we really encourage people to stay. While we will go off to our honeymoon hotel after the wedding, we still plan on hanging out some with the people that stick around. My BF's 30th birthday is happening while we are there, so we will definitely go hoot & holler with her. Christa that is just like us! Where are you two cuties honeymooning?

We went to another hotel for our honeymoon starting the night after the wedding. The longest people stayed was about 5 days after. I have to admit, we kind of missed them though...knowing that they were all together at the hotel and we were alone. But we got over it quickly I don't think there is any nice way to ask people to leave by a certain date, sorry.

My welcome letter is attached. I emailed it to guests about a week before the wedding. It's probably only useful for Cabo brides and was made from MariaElena's letter.

Christine, perhaps I am biased since I also did fruit centerpieces but I love it! Definitely stick with the grapes and save money on flowers. Also, I like Christa's idea of finding lots of silver platters, but mirrors would work well too. I'll keep thinking for other ideas too. How many tables will you have?

Although I loooooooooved La Panga, I think it's going to be too pricey for your budget. But you should eat there on your honeymoon! If you still want to contact them I think their website is La panga antigua restaurant & bar, San Jose del Cabo, Los Cabos, Mexico and they are really responsive.

That's about what I spent. If you want to get another small thing that makes the gift seem bigger what about a cute beachy keychain: Ribbon Watches, Ribbon Jewelry, Ribbon Belts, Ribbon Headbands and more!

Welcome Jennifer! I'm just down the road from you in DC. As for keeping your costs below $10K. The best way to do that is invite fewer people! After that....maybe consider an All-Inclusive resort. You might want to do a search for a Budget thread and see how other girls allocated their money.

We were cautious and put the rings (and cash and anything else important) in a safe in our room. I don't know if that's enough at all hotels though!

Welcome! My husband's parents have a house in Charleston and we love, love it down there.

Have you thought about Bradley Fraser? Cabo Wedding Photography, Los Cabos, Cabo San Lucas Photographers, Cabo Weddings Sorry I don't know his current rates. But they can't be as high as Juan's!

#1 way to cut costs at any wedding is having fewer people. DWs make that much easier than hometown weddings. Now, once you start having as many people to your DW as you would to your hometown wedding, you really aren't saving money. The other way to talk about it is in terms of VALUE. My sister had a wedding in our hometown for $20K. She had 150 ppl, decent food, and a 3 hour celebration. I had a wedding in Mexico for $20K and had 50 people, 2 nights of great food and drink, daytime activities, and 3 DAYS of celebrating. How would you rather spend $20K?

Quote: Originally Posted by BRENDASTAR Thanks for your input! So you mean like you had servers plating the food while you the made the choices and then they escorting you back to the table? Yes, although the people serving were a different group that the people escorting. But all restaurant employees. It was really classy, actually.

We got a buffet and I think it made people really happy because they could pick what they wanted and the boys all went back for 2nds. (Our welcome dinner was plated.) A few ways to make the buffet nicer: Ask what the tables will be decorated with. The Cabo Surf likes to use these Mexican rug things....my coordinator asked to just have white linens instead (thank goodness she was there for me!) Have servers scoop out the food for people. Nobody wants to touch a dirty serving spoon. Have waiters bring the full plate back to the table for you. The Cabo Surf does this and it was a nice touch. It still felt like you were getting served a plate of food...it was just food you picked out!

I also went without a veil, but I am not really a veil kind of girl. I also didn't wear white shoes/diamond earrings/etc. I was glad I put a flower in my hair at the last minute. It would have been boring without it!

Hey Andrea, Welcome back. I honeymooned at Casa del Mar and Natasha (NATASHA) got married there the same day so you should do a search for her posts. It's a gorgeous propery. Also, Ylan got married there last October so search for hers too. (YLANMUI) Good luck!

Oh yeah, the only gifts that people brought with them to Mexico were gift cards. Everything else came in the mail. thanks for the compliment too

I have to admit that even though we had a smaller wedding, we still got a TON of gifts! It's almost embarrassing, honestly. I would say about 2/3 of the people who attended gave a gift (even though I told people not to, and mostly the ones who didn't get us something are my poor grad school friends). But lots of people who didn't attend gave gifts, either at my shower or just sent us something in the mail. And we got a little bit of money. We also got lots of gift cards. Although I was prepared for smaller wedding = less gifts, i don't think this was the case. Perhaps this is because we invited 150 ppl and 55 people came?

(Sorry Tasha!) I made it using flickr toys: http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php So I think you might need a flickr account, although there has to be another way, I just don't know it. Thanks for all the compliments!