peachykeen159

No problem! Good luck with the planning. So glad I found this website so I could speak with other people going through this process!

No worries, so hard to find brides that went through WestJet! From when we secured pricing, our guests had 2 weeks (technically 3 but our agent wanted the additional week to sort things out). So we actually did the passport invitations and had those done in November one we were 100% sure on the location and just didn't put pricing in them. We created a website and put that in the invites and went live with it as soon as we got the pricing. Once we secured it we had all the invites ready to go and most people got them within 1-3 days of us securing pricing so they could maximize their time to get the $200 down. Anyone we knew wouldn't be getting the invite until the second week, we sent them the link to the website. Yes Westjet gives people less time to get the deposit down, but I don't believe the other airlines give you that much time to pay the rest of the balance which i think is what people are more concerned with. I went to a destination wedding 2 years ago and they used Sunwing, basically they got pricing and the entire balance had to be in April 1st (We found out end of January/early February) so there was a big rush to get it all in even though we weren't going until end of November. The other thing to keep in mind with Westjet is that you do need to have a good rough idea of your numbers since they aren't a chartered airline. When we got our quote we had to have the approximate numbers of each location. We ended up having more people than we expected coming and ran out of Saskatoon seats so 6 of the guests are paying $300 more than everyone else because they were last to sign up...So my advice on that would be going with higher numbers if it could be a possibility but obviously not too crazy because when they price things out, they were average the price of all the numbers you give them. If you are going to go with Westjet, you do have the time to start giving people a heads up on pricing and how quick the deposit will be needed so I wouldn't worry about that part. @@Chawrela

@@Chawrela Yes, we had to wait until January to get our pricing. We could have got it in December but I didn't like that the pricing online hadn't been posted yet. Air Canada would have been reasonable but didn't have the flight times I wanted. We have people coming from Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, Kelowna, Ottawa and Halifax. So everyone is able to fly to Calgary and we fly to PV together. I also liked that people didn't have to pay the balance until 90 days before we leave so it gave everyone 7 months to save up. Let me know if you have any other questions!

@@Chawrela I'm actually getting married November 2015 and staying at Secrets Vallarta. What airline is your agent using? We actually went with Westjet because they were quite a bit cheaper than Sunning. We secured the pricing in January 2015 and everyone is paying between $1750- $2100(Depending on the city they fly out of).

Thanks ladies, this is really helpful! I think that's right around what I was planning on spending on them. I just want them to know how much we appreciate them coming out to support us.

How much are you guys planning on spending on your bridesmaids? I feel like because we're having a destination wedding and the wedding party is spending money to join us, we need to spending a little more.

Yeah the photography is taking up a big chunk out of the budget...but I'm hesitant to go with someone else because you also have to pay the additional $500 for bringing someone else to do it and I feel like if you have any troubles, you won't have anyone to back you up. I had looked into transportation elsewhere but got scared at the possiblity of them running late or not being there when the boat arrives at the marina. From what I understand, Vallarta Adventures would be in contact with the bus driver to let them know when the boat is arriving and departing. As for decor, it would be nice to have a picture of what everything would look like if you didn't get any extras.

I agree, the little extras and Las Caletas definitely add up. It's looking like we're going to have between 70-80 people coming and we wanted to do the extra hour but now looking at the price, It just seems crazy. I've ben trying to figure out way to cut down on costs but it's difficult when you imagine trying to get everything on a plane and getting it to Las Caletas on the boat. Are you guys using them for transporting your guests to the marina?

I'll be using Adventure Weddings because I just feel it will be a lot easier. With photography being so expensive in general, I would hate to have to pay the $500 outside photography fee.

I wasn't planning on tipping mine just but I do like the idea of a gift basket for their hard work.

@@yuniedo Good choice picking Dreams Riviera Cancun! I did a site visit last January when I was still deciding and absolutely fell in love with the resort. Guests won't be disappointed!

Did anyone not use the bus offered by Adventure Weddings to pick up and drop off guests at the Marina? It's looking like we're going to have around 80 people at our wedding which means at $13.50 USD a person, we're paying over $1000 just for a bus which seems crazy to me? Maybe that's normal for that area? Did anyone else find another economic way to transport their guests? Thanks!

The best advice I got was "you're going to lose people at every price point, so just pick what you want". Our guests are paying a range of $1750 to $2200 depending on the city they're flying out of and surprisingly enough, the people that wanted to be there are making it work regardless of the cost!

They did a beach wedding then the reception was by the gazebo. The dance floor was pretty much on the gazebo. It was just nice that the beach area was a little more private than the gazebo would have been for the ceremony.

@@chantel333 Congrats on picking your date! You made a good choice with Dreams Huatulco. Went to a wedding there last November and it was amazing!