destinationcabo

I found colored (orange, red, yellow, blue and pink) paper parasols at Hobby Lobby on clearance for 1.84 each! I packed some and my mother packed some and we had the wedding coordinator lay them out on every other chair at the ceremony site.

Hello Everyone! I know I am not very active on these boards and I truly apologize for that. But I do have to admit that this was THE best site for helping me plan my destination wedding! I had no idea where to start and once I discovered these boards-ideas started flowing! I was truly grateful for all of the reviews that were posted and I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t pay it forward by posting a review myself, so here it goes: WEDDING LOCATION: Casa del Mar, Cabo San Lucas WEDDING DATE: July 14th, 2008 To start, I need to mention our travel arrangments: We flew from Denver to Cabo on Saturday, July 12 via Frontier Airlines. We stayed at Villa del Palmar for most of the week, although for our wedding night, we stayed at Casa del Mar. In total we had 21 adult guests, 4 children (including my son) and 1 infant (2 months old!) FRONTIER AIRLINES Everything was fine with the airlines. The shop where I bought my dress told me to simply roll my wedding dress up and put it in a rolling suitcase, and that’s exactly what I did. Then when we got to Cabo, I just hung it up in the bathroom and all of the wrinkles came right out! VILLA DEL PALMAR I have always stayed at Villa del Palmar on all previous trips to Cabo and have no complaints. They have a kiddie pool which is great because my son refuses to take swim lessons. Most of my guests also stayed at this hotel so we would basically reserve a place at the pool and someone was always there to hang out and drink with! WEDDING! PHOTOGRAPHER – Gilda Badillo – A+ I hired Gilda through Maye by looking at her website. I never once communicated with Gilda until the day of the wedding. I chose to only have her for 2 hours and I think that was plenty. I didn’t want the getting ready pictures or any pictures of the reception, all I was concerned with was pictures of the ceremony and the bride and groom pics and I couldn’t be happier! She showed up with an assistant, just as I was ready to walk out of my room. She took before pictures of me with my parents, my son, and just by myself as we walked to the beach. Because we had so many little ones, there were some strollers at the ceremony site and her assistant went down and moved the strollers so they wouldn’t be in the pictures and I thought that was great they were thinking of that because I certainly wasn’t! During the ceremony I didn’t notice either of them shooting pictures-which was another plus. Immediately after the ceremony we took some group shots, then we took a quick beer/bathroom/water break, then we walked all over Casa del Mar taking bride/groom pictures. She was great at giving direction, she was wonderful at incorporating the shots we asked for, and she was just the absolute sweetest person. Our wedding was on Monday, and on Friday, she showed up at our hotel door with an album of around 100 4x6 prints, and 2 DVD’s with at least 500 pictures. I couldn’t have been happier with our photographer or pictures! WEDDING COORDINATOR – Claudia from Casa del Mar Claudia was fabulous and easy to work with! She sent me menu options and worked with me on a kids’ menu and the ever fluctuating number of guests. The day we met her we went over the little details and I was confident everything would turn out the way I had hoped. CASA DEL MAR To start, this hotel is GORGEOUS!! It was a little complicated to get everything figured out in the beginning because 1) we weren’t guests and 2) it was wwwaaayy over our budget. But we really, really, really wanted to have our wedding here and Claudia worked with us until we came to an agreement. So to start, we got a huge discount for having the wedding on a Monday, but to agree to everything else, we had to pay them a certain amount of money up front, and work backwards from there, which, in the end, was actually easier then adding stuff up! So after we deducted the cost of the location fee (which we had the ceremony set-up on the beach and we used the covered patio for the reception), decorations, and food and drinks for the 21 adults and 4 kids, we ended up with just enough money to reserve an ocean-front room for the night and it was one of THE best decisions ever! The room was beautiful and they treated us so well the entire time we were there. When I checked in on Monday afternoon (I went to the hotel with my mother, my maid-of-honor, her two daughters, and my aunt), we were greeted with a tray of margaritas and bottled water and led to my room. The room had a king-size bed with the best bedding, a Jacuzzi, a shower with a “raining” faucet, a large flat-screen tv hung on the wall, a beautiful balcony, and a little table with a basket of fresh fruit, a plate of chocolates, a bottle of Mexican Merlot, and a hand written card from Claudia welcoming and thanking us. At the end of the night, after the reception, my new husband and I went back to the room and were completely shocked to find the room filled with rose petals and candles! They laid out robes and slippers for us and even filled the Jacuzzi with bubbles and rose petals. My only complaint about our entire Casa del Mar experience is that after Claudia left the reception, about 8pm, the head waiter started over-charging us for the drinks, and of course, we didn’t notice this until the end of the night when they gave us a print-out of our bill! I still have it on my to-do list to contact Claudia about this, but it’s really not that big of a deal now that it’s over. For food, we had the Mexican Buffet option and it was FANTASTIC! Our guests all said it was the BEST food they had the entire time they were in Cabo! The kids all shared plates of nachos, spaghetti, quesadillas and grilled cheese (I let them pick their own food!) A beautiful picture of the reception location! Our free table set-up OTHER DETAILS I did my own hair, make-up and flowers. We brought our own iPod speakers and used them during the ceremony and reception. So there are no reviews for any other vendors! I provided parasols (which I found at Hobby Lobby on clearance for $1.84 each) for all the women and they were all very grateful they had them! I decided to have orange parasols to add some color, and I think they looked fabulous! The ceremony with a good shot of our orange parasols! I’m sure I’ve missed some details, so feel free to ask any questions! Happy planning to all of you who are in that stage and thank you to all who contribute to this site! Below are just a few of my favorite pics!

WOW! Everything looks perfect. Thank you for uploading your welcome letter, can I what type of paper you printed it on?

Thank you for posting! I have become way behind on planning my OOT bags and am glad to see you found some nice ones without having to order them!

I also wasn't planning on having a registry, but like you, we were told by friends and family that they would like us to have one. So two weeks ago we went to BB&B and my dear FI took the gun and scanned 18 PAGES worth of stuff!! So now it's my job to go through and delete the stuff we don't really need through the online version. I am leaving on the linens (I don't think they are too personal!), home decor, and kitchen items. I know when I am shopping from a registry I like to have tons of options available, both in price and items because for me, I base my shopping on how well I know the couple. So...while a nice aunt might buy some fabulous sheets, it would be great for a co-worker to be able to get away with some mixing bowls!

Wow! Everything looks amazing!! All of your jewelry is beautiful. I hope you have a fabulous wedding day!

That price is outrageous! We are having about 25 guests and opted to not rent any sound system for the same reason.

Oohh...Abbie, that is so beautiful! My son will be coming to the wedding but FI's son will not, so we decided not to incorporate anything beyond the typical legal cermony vows, but I really enjoyed reading yours!

Beautiful!

Good question! I didn't understand the daypass thing either. I'm getting married at Casa del Mar and nobody is staying at that hotel from our wedding or guest list. Thanks to those who cleared that up!

FutureMrs.Lunsford - thank you for posting this question - I'm still trying to figure out what is best. Vari - Thanks for your link to your past response! I'm not sure how I missed that one but that is a great way to break it down! I'm leaning toward open limited bar (beer, margaritas, soda and water) for the first hour, then pay per consumption for the rest - of course I still need to talk with the hotel to make the deal, but this is what I'm shooting for.

Wow! I haven't checked this board in about a week and I feel more behind now than I did then - but I'm not exactly sure why? Let's see here....my biggest stress was my guests.... After we sent our save the dates out, we heard that about 35-40 people were coming, but knowing our friends and family, we assumed it would actually be between 20-30 (which I am completely happy with this number of guests), with at least 4 of those guests being children under the age of 8. Well about 2 weeks ago - only 7 adults had booked (along with 2 children and 1 not-yet born infant!) so I was in a sort of panic mode whining to FI that we weren't going to have many guests and our ceremony would look "sad"... Since then 4 more adults have booked, 3 more told me they would be doing so by next week, and my sister/MOH (who has me the most worried), said her family will book their trip once they get their tax returns which they have already filed - so in all - I'm feeling much better! So now that I have a better estimate on the number of guests - it gives me more work to do. 1) I e-mailed the hotel wedding coordinator yesterday with the guest count so she could tell me the shape, size, and number of tables they will use so I know what kind and how many centerpieces I will need. 2) We have finally decided that we will just take 2 iPod's for the reception (double up just in case!) so now we need to shop around for iPod speakers because I am not paying $130 per hour to rent something! 3) We went shopping for FI’s ring last night and he showed me exactly what style and size he wants so now I can shop around for that. 4) I can finally shop for OOT bags and stuff to put in them now that I know how many guests are coming (and I’ve decided to give 1 per couple and each child a kid’s version). There are still many other things to take care of – but I’m certain it will all be done (what choice do I have)! I can’t believe July is less than 3 months away now!!!! I’m sure this thread will continue to grow and I can’t wait to read what you all have to post!!

Congratulations and Welcome!

Wow! You did a wonderful job with everything. I am so in love with your towels and cups - I just book marked the sites on my computer. Thank you soo much for sharing!

Hello and Welcome! I am also a Denver bride!! I'm sure you will quickly find yourself addicted to this site. Enjoy!