My wedding was better than I could have hoped for.  I did a lot of research using this site, tripadvisor and a few other websites.  I looked for the best value that I could find in Cabo and I am positive that this was it.  For 2 people my guests paid $230 for a room and some people even found better package deals on travelocity.  The resort was all inclusive which we definitely got our value from the pool and tequila bar drinking.  I am so glad all our guests stayed at the HE.  We loved running into them throughout the week.  Our guests came from all over the world, so spending time with people I only see every few years was priceless.  I didn't hire an outside wedding coordinator so I had to do the leg work on my own. The day of the wedding though Edith, the WC, handled everything and I didn't have to worry about anything except enjoying my day.  

A few tips though- get everything in writing and save your emails.  Sometimes they promise something and then forget that they promise it to you.  

We are Catholic so we had to get married in a church so I found la Iglesia de San Lucas in town.  The priest (Padre Antonio) was great to work with and he spoke excellent English.  The church was built in the 1700's and was adorable.  

So here is the breakdown-

Friday Night/ Welcome Dinner- We had this at Las Marias.  This was the low point of the whole experience.  We had to pay extra for our guests to sit together despite food already being included in the all inclusive fee.  They made a really big deal about moving tables together so we could all sit together. The day before though they promised that we could all sit together and they would push the tables together.  When I got there, all the tables were separate in seatings of 4.  This is where I had my only meltdown of the weekend.  My fiance handled it though and insisted that they rearrange everything.  They did, sorta.  In the end there was one big table of 25 and 3 other small tables.  Ehhhh....  Drink service was also SO slow.  We had to ask the waitstaff 3 or 4 times in a 20 minute period for drinks.  They also did not serve everyone appetizers.  It just seemed really unorganized.  The frustrating part was that we paid extra on top of the all inclusive price so I would have thought that it would have went better.  At the end of the night though, everyone had a really good time so it wasn't all bad.  

Saturday/ THE WEDDING/- This went off without a hitch. The bridesmaids and I got our hair done.  We then met everyone at the church which was a beautiful ceremony.  We went back to the hotel for wedding pictures.  The backdrop at the HE is gorgeous so there are so many photo opportunities.  The cocktail reception started at 5:30.  I paid extra to make the whole night 5 hours instead of 4 so I was not happy when practically all my guests showed up after 6.  In retrospect, I should have told my guests things started at 5:15.  The cocktail was in a beautiful terrace overlooking the water with a trio playing keyboard, harp, and drums.  It was perfect once everyone showed up.  

At 6:30 we went upstairs and did our first dances.  Then dinner came. I consider myself a foodie and the foot really wasn't that great, but honestly everything else was so wonderful that it didn't really matter.  The food wasn't horrible either, just average (although the tres leches cake was above average). After the cake was cut, the Mariachi Band showed up and that was probably the highlight of the night.  People started dancing and singing to the band while mixing tequila shots.  The band played for an hour and then the DJ played until the hotel made us turn off the music before 11.  All the youngish folks met up afterwards in the giant hot tub and hung out until we were too tired to stay awake.  It was absolutely wonderful!!!

Vendors

Cake/ Mexican Wedding Cookies/ Sparklers- Donna from Cabo Flowers and Cake.  She was great to work with.  She was very easy to email and suggested some ideas.  I am glad I got sparklers for the first dance.  The pictures looks great and the kids had a blast with them.  The cake was stunning.  I showed her a picture and it looked exactly like the picture.  The cake was slightly dry, but still pretty good.  Cookies were really good too.

Claudia from Rayen Flowers-  She was the best price after I contacted 8 florists in Cabo.  The centerpieces were better than expected and looked beautiful.  They were quite large too for the price I paid.  She messed up the colors on my bridesmaids bouquets, but I am not that picky so it didn't bother me. 

DJ FunkleRon- [email protected] He MC'ed and played music.  He had some flashing colored lights and large speakers.  I sent him my playlist and he played exactly what I wanted.  He was super easy to communicate with and emailed back quickly.  I highly recommend him and he was the best price for DJing that I could find in Cabo.

Mariachi Band-  These guys might be hard to communicate with if you don't speak Spanish- The DJ said that it was the best Mariachi he had seen at a wedding.  They charged $500/ hr for 10 piece band and they looked pretty good playing as well.  www.mariachinuevojalisciense.com

Transportation to and from the church- Nice Ride Cabo.  We hired them round trip for a 50 pax bus for $400.  They were easy to communicate with via email.  They also patiently waited while we took pictures after the church.

Sunday Night/ Thank you dinner- I organized it at The Medano Beach Club which came recommended from this site.  They were great to work with.  They are really laid back too.  Open bar plus a wonderful buffet dinner came to $1100 for 17 people.  I thought it was a wonderful deal and they had us under an awning in the and with a semi private setup.  We took the free shuttle from the HE to get there. 

Things I would have done differently- Told my guests an earlier time for the cocktail reception, negotiated a cheaper room rate, 

Overall-  I highly recommend the Hacienda Encantada for weddings.