Hedra68

I kept my costs down by looking for midrange good resort like Villa Group Resorts in Cabo. My guests spent about $750-$850 per person with airfare and hotel. We stuck to ten thousand for wedding ceremony, reception, photographer, hotel and airfare for a group of 32 people.

Hi, Congrats on your wedding! We used the wedding coordinator from Villa del Arco, where our wedding was taking place. I interviewed several outside wedding coordinators and realized that we had to pay an additional $3500 for something that our Resort WC would take care of as part of the package. We chose against the outside wedding coordinator and realized it was worthwhile. Most hotels and resorts are very accustomed to dealing withe major events and will do everything they can to make sure your wedding is perfect.

Villa del Arco definitely!!! Very close to downtown and it's a lovely resort.

Hi Stacie, We were married in Villa del Arco and everything was great. I posted a thread " My Wedding at Villa del Arco" where I provided a summary of everything including how to save money and still have a fantastic wedding. Look it up! Overall working with Mina was fantastic, you practically get a Wedding Coordintor for free and she did an outstanding job at working within our budget and making everything extremely elegant. Hedra

Ladies, My husband and I were married on June 19, 2010 at Villa del Arco Hotel and Resort. I spent many days researching resorts, photographers, reading blogs and comments from the Cabo Forum. I didn't find as much information for Villa del Arco when compared to other resorts. Regardless, my gut instinct said to go with Villa del Arco because it provided everyhting that I was looking for: a nice calm beach for our guests, views of Land's end and most important that the wedding package fit within our wedding budget. I hope that my summary can help out future brides that are considering this place. I had the opportunity to work with Gretel Aguilera and Mina Fano from the Villa del Arco event planning group. I chose Villa del Arco because it was the nicest of resorts that are part of Villa Group. However, to save some money, my guests and us stayed at Villa del Palmar. We were able to book at $100/nt. The hotel gave us a fanstastic room facing the ocean and Land's End. There was a shuttle that transports all the guests from one resort to another and we were able to visit both hotels and take a swim. Given that there are many beaches that are a little rough to swim in when it comes to the hotel corridor area, we chose Villa del Arco because of th great views and the more calmer beaches. Once we got to the resort, we met up with our Wedding Coordinator at La Perla Restaurant (Villa del Arco), where are reception took place. We were amazed at the amount of food and variety dishes that were going to be served. We were a group of 32 people and the dinner buffet could pretty much feed 100. The food was delicious. We weren't expecting much but were pretty impressed. Our rehearsal luncheon took place at Baja Cantina on Medano Beach. It was a 10 buck cab ride from the resort. We had appetizers, margaritas, beers, a great meal and dessert for only $35 per person. Service was outstanding and the views were lovely. Prior to the ceremony by bridesmaids and I went to the Desert Spa and we were assigned a beautiful suite with a jacuzzi and two massage tables for free. I can't believe this was included in the package!!!! Our wedding ceremony took place in the garden area next to the main pool at 6pm. We wanted to enjoy some sunlight prior to sunset. We still faced the ocean and the beautiful scenery of Land's End. The ceremonies that are normally held on the beach are not as private given all the vendors and random people hanging out by the beach. Our minister was Rev. Marco Arechiga and he did a great job at holding a touch felt ceremony and incorporating a sand ceremony within our wedding. Once the ceremony was over, we took pictures and walked over to the Buchaneer Ship (a boat in the middle of the main pool) for cocktail hour. It was extremely fun. My suggestion for appetizers are the fish ceviche and the guacamole with chips. The bartenders had sangria and margaritas waiting for us. La Perla restaurant was reserved just for our group so it felt like we had a wonderful banquet hall all to ourselves. We decided to save some money and rent two speakers and hook them up to our Mac Book Pro. We wanted to select the music to ourselves and created a great playlist that kept us on the dance floor all night. I can't emphasize how beautiful everything was and how well organized. We thought that by going with a different resort other than Dreams, Cabo del Sol, Fiesta Americana, etc. we would be sacrificing quality. That was not the case. Our pictures were lovely and captured a wonderful moment. We went with Gilda Badillo and were not disappointed. Not only did she take us to Old San Jose del Cabo art district for a separate photo session, she also took us to a private beach to catch a glimpse of the beautiful rock formations. All of this was part of the 7 hour package. Our first photo session was 2 hours and then she focused on the wedding the remaining 5 hours. Suggestions on how we kept our ENTIRE wedding (ceremony, reception, rehearsal dinner, wedding favors, hotel, airfare) under ten thousand dollars: 1) Mina allowed us to purchase our own liquor at Costco. We paid a corkage fee of $40 per person for the night versus $80 since we wanted to ensure that we had top shelf liquor. 2) We selected 3 appetizers for the cocktail hour versus 5 and were only charged $9 per person 3) Our incredible meal was only $38 per person versus $60 at other hotels (I am comparing it to other quotes that I received) 4) We stayed at Villa del Palmar but our ceremony was held at Villa del Arco (a little more upscale and newer resort) 5) Our ceremony package was $1650 total which included my spa suite, hair, make up, mani+pedi, ceremony decorations, violinist, flowers for bride and groom, a welcome gift. Overall we had a great time. Hope this information was useful! Hedra

Hello, I am looking for an affordable rehearsal lunch option in Cabo for about 15-20pp. Given that is is lunch and I don't plan on including alcohol, I am looking for a good meal between $20-25 pp. I have seen some recommendations such as Puerta Vieja, La Golondrina, Panchos, etc, but think these places overcharge as soon as you mention rehearsal. My vote is to book it as a group lunch period. Any suggestions are welcomed. Thanks!

Hi Everyone, We are considering holding our wedding ceremony and reception at Villa del Arco. My friend has a timeshare there and she didn't care too much for the food. I am worried that the catering portion of this will not be up to par. If you have been married at any of the Villas, can you please provide some recommendations on which type of buffett or dishes were good?

Thank you!!!! I love the forum already and have learned so much from everyone's threads.

We decided against a long engagement and will plan for a Spring wedding instead.

Thank you all for the great feedback!

Hi Sabrina, Thank you for posting such a great review. I am also considering working with Gretel and planning my wedding at Villa del Palmar. We are extremely picky about food and since you mentioned that food was awesome, can you please tell me what buffett of plate did you choose for your reception? I am also looking for a DJ, was it possible for your guests to dance? I come from a family that loves music and hitting the dance floors which is why I ask. Thank you in advance.

Hi Folks, I am stuggling with choosing wedding dates. My fiance and I normally visit Cabo in the summer Jul or Aug and we think it's too hot for a wedding. We are starting to consider October. Hopefully it doesn't rain that much and hurricanes have already past by. Any recommendations for October?

Hi Everyone, I'm Maritza and I plan on getting married in Cabo next Oct 2010. I have tons of questions and can't wait to learn so much from this forum!