un4gitabl

Okay, the site has changed since I was last on here so I am replying to two recent posts I think. I got married in November at SMB and it was FABULOUS!!!! I have not posted my review yet because we immediately went in to holidays and then started buying a new house when we got home so it's been a bit a of a whirlwind. So overall, let me ease your mind, your wedding will be beautiful! Cecilia knows what she is doing. I made a bunch of last minute chnages once I got down there and she accomodated them all. I will get in to that in my review, but I wanted to say I had 38 people and the best decision we made was to add a DJ last minute. I can see that a JAMBOX would work, but it was so nice to not have to worry about music during the reception! We used a JAMBOX for our bonfire on the beach the night before and since it was a VERY windy night we couldn't really hear the music. I do have pictures of the wedding food, but not on the computer that I am on. I am going to try to remember to get on here tonight and upload some pictures when I am at home. Happy Planning and again, I promise, your wedding will be beautiful!!! :-)

I'm struggling to find individual servings of Pepto for an affordable price. Anyone have any suggestions?

I just bought our cake topper and I'm loving it!!! Bought it off Etsy from a store called LoRustique ( http://www.etsy.com/shop/LoRustique ) It was great! It did take a few weeks because I believe she is rather busy, but as long as you plan ahead you can get it in plenty of time. She was super nice too!

Hi G9genine, We didn't use a group rate because we didn't want to be responsible for paying if people didn't book (& I will tell you that the hotel is sold out for our wedding and some of our guests are going to have to stay at neighboring resorts, but we got our families booked and that was the most important thing for us). To me I feel like that may be a bit high if you are booking further out, but not by much. Have you tried to see what prices would be if you just booked it now and didn't use the group rate? I would compare that and go with what fits you best. We have about 40 people who have booked, but when I originally started this I was told by our friends and family that a lot more were coming. If we had done a group rate we would have been stuck paying a lot more. Congratulations!! Quote: Originally Posted by g9genine I've been quoted the following group rate for secrets Maroma; and am wondering your thoughts, average, high? etc. are these group rates negotiable at all? Has anyone negotiated their rates? What are the pros and cons in comparison to guests booking elsewhere on line? 4 nights $975.00 per person double occupancy 7 nights $1650.00 per person double occupancy Ocean View 4 nights $1020.00 per person double occupancy 7 nights $1725.00 per person double occupancy Junior Suite Swim Out 4 nights $1060.00 per person double occupancy 7 nights $1800.00 per person double occupancy Preferred Club Honeymoon Suite 4 nights $1865.00 per person double occupancy 7 nights $3210.00 per person double occupancy

Good Morning Ladies!!! Two months from today I will be walking down the aisle!!! eek!!!! I CANNOT WAIT!!! I am waiting for Cecilia to respond and that is a bit frustrating. I put off discussing decisions that I made a while ago with her until closer to the wedding thinking that she would respond more quickly. I was wrong, FYI, discuss things as you go. BUT either way we will end up married in the end so whatever! Ok, but my real question is what did previous brides do about people who did not send their RSVP's? I am astounded at the number of people who have not sent their RSVP or even submitted one online. At this point the hotel is sold out for our wedding date (another note to future brides, if you are getting married around a holiday let people know that they MUST book early or they will not have a room! We have at least 5 guests who didn't book early enough and now are scrambling to figure it out). I assume that the people who have not RSVP'd are not coming, but should I reach out to them to confirm? Is it rude to reach out? A lot that didn't RSVP are my FI family and I really don't want to be the neurotic new in-law. :-) Would love opinions. Thanks!

Did anyone include a welcome letter? if so what kind of information did you include? Thank you!!

P.S. the Beach Gazebo setup thing may be a language barrier because in my understanding they are two separate places? Like you can get married on the beach or you can get married at the gazebo. May not be it at all, but I thought I would throw it out there :-) Good Luck!!!

Hi Melissa, I am going to do my best to answer questions that I can. So far I’ve had some guests say that they are staying off site and my understanding is that if there are more that 3 or 4 that SMB requires a CC to guarantee the price, but not that they couldn’t come. That sounds silly and I’m sure that you could talk to them. I know that is easier said than done b/c they are super busy. Also, if you select the Ultimate package then your guest fee is $70 per person as opposed to $100. I have a travel agent and she can definitely get better rates than what is on the SMB website! I didn’t do a room block with her, but she is an Apple certified or specialist or whatever it is so that she works with Apple frequently (Apple is a parent company for SMB so a lot of times they get better rates). All of our guests have just called her when they wanted to book & she gives them the current rate that day. In my experience it has been significantly lower than those on the website. We are using an offsite photographer b/c I felt like I was getting the run around with their photographer situation (I now understand that they were changing their relationship with Juan, but it was confusing a few months ago). Plus I really liked the pictures of the photographer we went with (Sascha Gluck) and his pricing was simple and straight forward!

My thoughts exactly!!!!

Thank you!!! I am thinking I will include some kind of OTC pain meds & Pepto for sure! Did you include Bandaids and did you feel like people used them? I was thinking maybe I would put 2 in each or something like that.

Unfortunately, I am not! I am going to go in blind! :-) Well kind of blind, one of my bridesmaids actually went there for work a few months ago (How lucky is she! She gets to travel to beautiful resorts and be PAID!!) and while she was there she and her coworkers took pictures and asked around. They came back and said out of all the Secrets resorts that they toured that Maroma Beach was by FAR their favorite and absolutely the best one to get married at. I think they toured 6 properties in the area and they all agreed that SMB was the best.

I had not thought about using a space bag! My dress is tulle at the bottom, but my hotel does steam it. I will have to talk to my seamstress and see what she recommends. Thanks!!

These are super cute!!

I am still slowly but surely trying to reach 150... Hope you all are having a fabulous day of planning!!!

Congratulations Melissa!!! This site is absolutely super helpful!!! So our wedding hasn't happened yet so I can't answer all your questions, but I wanted to say that I have Blanca written down as a good hair person at their salon. I have hair that can be rather difficult as well so I am planning to do a test with her on Tues when we arrive to make sure that we are on the same page before the big day. Not sure if that is an option for you. Happy Planning!!!