txbrideinmexico

Thanks for the update! That's good to know that the chapel is available when there are no weddings. My WC told me $400 to reserve it for the rehearsal. Since my wedding is on a Monday and they won't do Sunday weddings in the chapel, it's nice to know I can just show up and use it real quick for the rehearsal. My plan B is just to do the rehearsal on the beach - I think everyone can figure out what to do Can't wait to see pictures and hear more reviews! Congrats!!

I think a lot of it depends on what you want and how many people. At first I booked the Classic Catholic (I don't know if this is still an option) but I ended up having so many guests that I realized it was a better deal to upgrade to the Royal package. It includes more people at the discounted rates for the reception plus bride's hair and nails and a couple other things we would have paid for al la carte. It ended up so that we didn't save much money (the two were very close with our guest count) but got some things thrown in that we wouldn't have splurged on otherwise like a couples massage. Also keep in mind that if you upgrade, you lose the value of the included item. I.e. If you want the luxury bouquet you don't get to subtract the price of the $100 standard bouquet. Not a huge deal, but something to keep in mind when you run your cost analysis.

As you can imagine, the response back on the fee was basically a diplomatic "Deal with it" Oh well. On to more fun things! What ceremony muscians did yall choose? I cant remember if we've discussed this yet but I'm torn. I'm highly debating the mariachi mass. They are supposed to be beautiful. But it seems risky because it is so different than what people are used to. And I know this is NOT the tex mex restaurant type of mariachi but I'm a little nervous I'll be walking down the aisle and they will bust out that "Ay yai yai yai" song! haha, I have no idea how to spell that... but it makes me laugh to think about it. =P Harp is a little too formal for our style and flute doesn't seem to fit the beach setting in my opinion.

I use the base camp program to communicate because she is a little quicker that way. My WC is Claudy and sometimes she is very prompt and we can email back and forth a couple times in one day. Then other times she is less responsive, or only answers some of my questions. She seems very nice, and maybe she is extremely busy? It will be worth it to get married that amazing chapel!

Haha,I made my Mom and fiance approve it

Ugh. Nasty response sitting in my outbox about the $5 bag fee, but I'm not sure if I should hit send. (The only reason I knew $5 before was from this board. Obviously I had to ask the question more than once to get it answered by my WC).

As an update for you girls, I'm sure you will not be surprised to hear that there was no budging on the cake ($15 per person quoted for a not too complicated custom cake). My WC's response was basically "I undestand, but it's custom. Do you want it or not?". Not a huge deal, it's just a cake, but it adds to the frustration... @billandstina I'm glad you got the guest passes waived. That makes me wonder if I can get anything by stomping my feet a little more... I just want to choose my limited battles carefully. I'm consideirng the welcome bags as one of them. Come on... $5 each to pass those out when people are paying to be guests of the hotel? Umm, not just no, but HELL NO!

The reviews on this website are great to find a photographer. If you go back a few pages many people names who they are using. I booked Sascha Gluck, but Del Sol is one of the others I remember looking into and Claudia. All the photographers I emailed were about 100x more responsive and helpful than the resort. I'm also having a good friend who is trying to break into wedding photography do some extra portraits and stuff for me, but I am definitely not mentioning this to my WC, lest they try to charge me! @billandtina, I'm also curious as to whether that helped. I'm waiting on reply to my note, but I don't think she will do anything about it.

Exactly! I usually try to be nice when I'm working with difficult people because it obviously gets you further than being a jerk, but yesterday I actually wrote a message back basically saying that was an unacceptable quote and that I am offended by it considering the amount of business I'm bringing in to the resort. Also, I'm considering depending on their response, pointing them to this thread and how much business they will lose out on if potential brides are reading these posts. At this point I would definitely not recommend working with GCR. I don't expect to be given anything free of charge or any special treatment, but we don't deserve to be taken advantage of either. Of course you also don't want to make people mad if they are responsible for your wedding, so they have us stuck there too....

So I got a quote back from the resort on custom cakes and was told $15USD per guest! That is over 3x the outside vendor quote. I was expecting it to be high, but that is just obnoxious. Ugh.

I asked my WC if I could make hair appointments through her or the spa and she said the only way to do so is to turn in the entire planning form (excel spreadsheet). Maybe she misunderstood that it was more than just me getting my hair done? It's a little frustrating because I don't plan to turn in that form until I have a final guest count, but I would like to go ahead and make appointments... Did you get a quote for the hair styling? I guessed about $70 - I think that was from the resort's wedding website where you can add things 'a la carte' to kind of build your hypothetical wedding package.

Interesting... Actually I had priced out the baker on my own and asked my WC how much GCR would charge to make the cake and if they even could. So my plan was to wait and use the outside baker if she tells me that no, they can't make it... Thanks for the heads up!

So far the only vendor I'm bringing in from outside is the photographer and this is because I just wasn't crazy about the one at the resort. I had a bad experience where I didn't like my engagement photos so we aren't taking chances! After reading the recent comments, I may bring in a florist and pick up flowers outside the resort to avoid the fee. I don't know that I'll save much money doing that because I want pretty basic florals, but hopefully I'll get slightly nicer bouquets for the same price. Honestly I'm not sold on the trouble of this just yet because flowers aren't on my short list of importance, but I just want to see what else I can get for the money. I might also use an outside baker. I really want a custom groom's cake with the theme of our favorite football team, and am waiting to hear if the resort can make it for me. If I have to pay for an outside vendor for one cake I may as well have them make mine too! Here is the baker I'm considering www.arteenpastel.com. Linda has been very responsive and patient while I figure out what the resort can do and will charge. I have been upfront with all the outside quotes I've asked for that there is a big fee they are competing with. I will be getting my hair and makeup done by the hotel. We have enough guests coming that it was worth it to pay for the Royal Catholic Wedding package instead of Classic, so it's included anyway.

Here is Sascha's website: http://cancunphotosblog.com/ And examples from GCR: http://cancunphotosblog.com/category/grand-caribe-real/

I don't know if anyone else has figured this one out since it wasn't communicated very well, but for an extra $10 per person you can get a buffet menu for the reception. It appears to have a lot more food. This is the same as the extra charge to do soup and salad so if there is as much food as a buffet usually has it should be well worth it. I know some prefer plated dinners, but we wanted to go with variety and quantity and don't mind people serving themselves. Also the cocktail hour thing is BS, but I think since we have open bar coming right up I'm going to opt to save the money there. Half of our guests will be taking pictures at that point anyway... Also, for photographers we booked Sascha Gluck. He has great reviews on here and the examples of his work in the the chapel are gorgeous! I guess I shouldn't post his price here but I thought it was pretty reasonable. He charges by the hour and you get a certain number of prints for each hour with that price. I also priced out Del Sol and while they do lovely work it was a bit out of my price range.

This is really annoying but not at all surprising. $5 for welcome bag delivery, $5 for an open bar, seems like there is a hidden cost on everything... I could understand a small charge to set up the bar, but not even letting you do a signature cocktail is just crappy. I wonder if they would let you do something in place of sparkling wine.... I'm sure it's crappy stuff anyway... Starting to get really frustrated with this place. We are up to 65-75 people coming to the resort for our wedding and they wouldn't even give us a couple free day passes ... I feel like I've tried asking for things and have no power because it's not like we can move the wedding. Has anyone been successful in negotiating and what was your strategy? I negotiate a lot in my job and usually everyone is willing to help you out a little bit when you are bringing them tons of business. I hate to go that way but I feel like the next approach will be to basically pitch a fit about how they have been completely inflexible and I will be making sure my reviews reflect that. Especially when it takes me a week to hear back about anything and my wedding is now within 100 days... It's taken a lot of the joy out of planning a wedding because I am so nervous about hidden charges. Sorry to vent, girls! I don't want to stress out my mom or my fiance, so it's better to vent on here instead

Emily, I was just reading an older GC thread and saw that yall are getting legally married before you go. We are only doing the religious ceremony in Cancun, but haven't decided whether to do the legal before or after. Will getting married before the Catholic ceremony cause any issues? I.e. is the priest making it a convalidation ceremony rather than a wedding and is there a difference?

I think you can add the priest to make it just an extra $400. But if not, see if they will give you the "Classic Catholic Package" instead of royal... it's 1200 or 1600... I can't remember and it includes much less of the unnecessary things.

Can't wait to hear about the wedding! Don't forget about reporting back to us once you are in marital bliss

Is anyone having a videographer? I've asked to see examples of the one the resort uses and havne't heard back yet (of course). At first I didnt think I needed one but of course now I'm second guessing that... and doesn't it seem like the perfect way to blow my tax refund? If so, who are you using and how much are you paying?

Nina - Thanks for the tip about Luxury Mall! I was hoping to snag some little things like that for favors and welcome bags... perfect! Speaking of welcome bags, I think we will go hand these out door to door rather than pay $5 a bag!

@refreund My date is May 27... thanks!

I actually contacted a baker for a grooms cake. We were going to do it for the rehearsal cocktail hour so I'm thinking about meeting her outside and trying to avoid the fee. When I explained the fee to her, she suggested that most resorts don't charge this anymore and that I should fight it. She even suggested it might not be legal... Well I'm sure it's not illegal, but it certainly is frustrating... But I do feel like there is nothing we can do about it. Also, my WC contacted me because she said the DJ had been trying to email me and his emails keep bouncing back, and could I please respond to him... clearly if they are bouncing back I'm not receiving them... so if you need me to contact him then his email address would be helpful! Ugh, sorry, just needing to vent!

I love those bouquets! Looks like a Hobby Lobby trip is in order this week... Is anyone shipping things down ahead of time? I was told by my WC there is no way to do that. I'm not convinced though. I used to do trade shows for work, and for a fee you could always ship a box or two to the front desk ahead of time... At this rate my suitcases won't have room for clothes!

I should have mentioned my wedding is on a holiday weekend. I don't know if that has affected our rates...