Search the Community

Hello Everyone! My fiancé and I have been engaged for almost a year and we have just begun planning our wedding. We are getting married in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica; it is about 2.5 hours away from San Jose (the capital). We have a beautiful villa picked out that will serve as our accommodations and the location for both the ceremony and reception. I have been in contact with a couple wedding planners/coordinators that live in the area down there. We are leaning towards one in particular named Chelsea Brandau from Oasis Weddings. So far she has been great! Very detailed and fast with communicating back. I am wondering if anyone has gotten married in Manuel Antonio and/ or if they have used Oasis Weddings before. I plan a lot of events here stateside and for a moment I thought about planning the wedding myself and possibly hiring someone for the day of or doing a 30 day out package however I know the stress and needs that come along with such a task and I am not sure I commit such time. We are having about 40-50 guests attend. Our wedding is June 2019. We are in the process of creating and sending out the save the dates. Another question I have is how much information should we be sending out with the save the dates or in the next few months. Ive read so many different things online and now my head is spinning. Since we are not getting married at a resort and without travel packages, we will be the ones communicating with our guests about renting out other nearby villas that are managed by the same company. Our first step is getting a solid head count and to start booking other homes since the main one we are using for the wedding can only sleep 20guests (including ourselves). I would love and welcome any feedback on anythinnggggggg. Thank youuuuuu!

I know this topic is going to strike a chord with many brides… We are getting married in Riviera Maya. We decided to have no bridal party as our guests are spending a great deal of money to travel to Mexico and we don’t want our friends and family to spend more on bridal party costs. I’m inviting many of my girlfriends/sisters to join me in the bridal suite the morning of the wedding- a care-free and fun getting ready party for everyone! I know the resort provides a day of coordinator for the wedding. What I’m thinking is I may ask one of my best girlfriends to act as our day of coordinator, and be the resort’s “go-to” for all questions regarding our wedding. I have a very special friend in mind; she is coordinating with several other girlfriends are working together to plan the shower and bachelorette party and she keeps asking me “how can I help?” I’m not expecting this person to help me pee or fetch things for me or be my “bridal b*tch” – I would just be asking her to make some decisions or answer questions from the resort/guests if needed. My FI and I both totally trust this person to make decisions on our behalf and she’ll ensure we don’t get hit with any fees or surprises. And honestly, I can’t imagine there’ll be much since the resort has the whole ‘wedding day execution’ down pat. I am absolutely planning to give her an amazing gift, to thank her for her help and include her in the program. (I’ve thought about paying a portion of her travel, or something similar) I cannot handle the term “personal attendant” because she is not! She’s an amazing woman who we know can make calm decisions under pressure, who is organized, super friendly and just overall amazing. She’d be a Bridesmaid if we were having a bridal party, but that’s not an option. Has anyone done something like this in the past? Any ideas on what to call her?

Hello! My name is Kimmie, and I work for Discovery Studios - the in-house production company for Discovery Communications. We are making a pilot with a wedding planner duo, and are looking to connect with brides who would be interested in FREE day-of coordination! We are looking to film from April 11th-April 17th and April 25th-April 30th, 2017. If your wedding in those dates and you would be interested in the free coordination, please email [email protected] or call 323-308-3751.

I'm two months away from our big day and working out a few add on's with our planner (adding guests, changing some minor details) when she hits me with a $350 "beach cleaning fee". Our ceremony is on the beach that is in front of the restaurant that is our venue... I'm already paying a good deal of restaurant fees and also fees to set up chairs on the beach ($5/head) and now this? Moreover, we signed our contract nearly a year ago and it did not include this. She makes a flat fee, but has not exactly been easy to negotiate with- i.e. I tried to ask her to negotiate with the officiant, and she reduced $25, but said she didn't want to negotiate with him. I feel that all her prices are probably well padded but it's a destination wedding and hard to micro-manage. I'm pretty annoyed about this fee though, because it's a significant amount of money. Has anyone heard of a beach cleaning fee before? It doesn't seem like something typical when I googled it.

Dear Rachel (Infinity Weddings), Miguel and I cannot extend enough thanks to you for coordinating our wonderfully romantic wedding in Los Cabos. Your hard work and care ensured that our day was enjoyable and STRESS-FREE! All of your hard work did not go unrecognized. My guests are still raving about every aspect of our wedding and our welcome dinner (sunset cruise), they were exactly what Miguel and I envisioned catering to all our guests. Through planning in the early stages to every last scheduling and detail down to the minute was perfectly executed. You constantly reminded me of important details and due dates and stayed on top of vendors ensuring that they were on time and provided quality service. On the day of the wedding, Rachel and her team were onsite to be sure every detail (of which there were many) was implemented perfectly from start to finish. Rachel, you have all the qualities every bride would hope to have in a wedding planner - creative, detail-oriented, reliable, organized, compassionate, professional in every sense of the word. To say the least our wedding day was picture perfect thanks to you going up and beyond for us. Every part of our day truly exceeded our expectations. We are beyond grateful and blessed to have worked with you Rachel. You truly enjoy what you do and I did see it in your eyes and smile throughout our wedding day, it was a joy to witness that. Miguel and I would like to extend our utmost gratitude to you, Rachel, for your expert help in making our special day one to remember for a lifetime. She is THE BEST wedding coordinator in Los Cabos! This is her wedding coordination website: http://www.infinitycabo.com/ Claudia and Miguel Martin *Catholic Wedding / Cocktail Hour / Reception all held at Sheraton Grand Hacienda Del Mar. Please see pictures.

Our Dream Wedding in Puerto Vallarta, November 2016 After 1.5 years of planning our destination wedding, we just returned from Puerto Vallarta and it was the most flawless beautiful wedding I could have imagined. Upon our engagement in May 2015, I began researching wedding coordinators in Puerto Vallarta. With the type of wedding we wanted, I knew I could not organize it alone. We knew from the beginning that we wanted to have our wedding ceremony at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, and the reception at Vista Grill Restaurant…we just needed help making it happen. Of course being in Canada, we wouldn’t even know where to begin in finding vendors for the wedding either. After some research and referrals from friends, we decided to host our guests at the NOW Amber and Secrets All-inclusive in PV. It is an absolutely incredible resort, and the food is unbelievably good. Each meal is fine dining, some of the best meals I have ever had! Since we were not hosting the wedding on resort, we did not receive any special “wedding perks” at the resort, but we were okay with that, we just wanted a nice hotel for our family and friends to enjoy their entire holiday. I was very thorough in researching wedding coordinators in Puerto Vallarta. I contacted almost every coordinator I could find listings for, and requested proposals. Right off the top, I could tell some were trying to take advantage of us, as they were quoting insane amounts for the meal at Vista Grill, which I already knew the prices of the group menu, so I knew they were trying to make a kick back for themselves. This made it easy to cancel out quite a few planners/coordinators. When I found Eva and Michael at Vallarta Weddings, they were my instant favourite. They charge a flat fee for their services, and were incredibly up front about the costs of everything. In retrospect, I would actually say their fee is very low for all of the work they do! I gave them my ideal wedding budget, and they did everything they could to ensure I stayed within that! Eva and Michael’s compassionate approach to their work gave me instant trust in them planning our day. To be honest, I wasn’t very clear in my own “visions” of décor and what not for the wedding, but it was like Eva could read my mind, and would send me pictures of exactly what I liked! They gave us a rough time table of when we should be planning different things, and this helped immensely. After the initial venues were confirmed and deposits made, most of the detailed planning didn’t occur until the last three months before the wedding. Eva and Michael took the time to meet with my parents while they were vacationing in PV a year before the wedding, and also took the time to meet with our Priest who was vacationing in PV, and would be doing our ceremony at the church. This was all extra time and coordination for them, however they were happy to do it and went above and beyond in everything they did. The planning process was entirely smooth and I trusted all of Eva and Michael’s recommendations for every vendor etc., (which all turned out absolutely beautifully ). Two days before we left to fly to Puerto Vallarta, I received an email from Eva asking me to call her urgently, as the Mexican Government had just closed down our reception venue, Vista Grill, that day. I was absolutely devastated of course, and so worried that my wedding, which I had 82 people flying to Mexico for, was going to be a flop after so much planning. Eva was an absolute angel and rock through this, she was so compassionate and understanding I was blown away. Even though this was obviously not her fault, she was apologetic and vowed to do everything she possibly could to ensure our wedding was perfect. The day after we arrived, Eva and Michael picked us up at the resort and we embarked on re-planning our wedding reception. They spent probably 8 hours with us, showing us new venues, and then working out the details as we selected one. We ended up having the reception at the top terrace of the Grand Miramar hotel, which was the most beautiful place I have ever seen! Eva and Michael were also kind enough to take my parents to the venue the next day so they could see it as well. Everything works out for a reason! When times get tough, you really get to see peoples’ true colors… and Eva and Michael truly amazed me I cannot speak highly enough of everything they did for us to make our day perfect! I also can’t imagine the amount of hours they put in over those few days re-planning the wedding. When Eva arrived at our rehearsal the night before, she actually had gold spray paint all over her hands that she hadn’t even noticed, which was from her making my décor! They are some of the most hardworking people I have ever met. In addition to Eva and Michael saving our reception, they also saved my ceremony! Little to my knowledge, my brother’s guitar broke in transit and he was supposed to play the guitar while I walked down the aisle at the church. I found out after that Eva and Michael spent an entire day finding a rental and taking my brother to get it as well! The day of the wedding went so smoothly, you would never know we had so many bumps in the road. We had hair and make up done by Franc Gole and Jesus Avelar, truly the best pair you could get in Vallarta. I haven’t ever had make up done that good even in Canada! When we got back to the hotel, the photographers were there, the flowers were there, and the guys were already downtown with the assistant photographer. We had 10 passenger vans transporting all the guests and bridal party between the hotel, church, venue, and hotel again. Vallarta weddings organizational skills were flawless, it all went very smooth. Soko Sandoval was our photographer, and from the few photos I have seen so far, I am sooo thankful we chose her! She captures every moment perfectly and creatively. We didn’t like typical “posing” wedding photos, so she was great at getting candid and edgy shots! After the ceremony we walked through the streets of PV with her taking photos of us. Her eye for things was amazing, I am so excited to see the rest of the photos. When we arrived at the Grand Miramar and walked out on the upper terrace, I could’ve cried I was so happy. The sunset was beautiful to start, but everything was SO elegant and gorgeous. Beautiful white floral centerpieces with gold highlights, black and gold maraca favours, lights strung above…it was right out of the movies. The wait staff carried around appetizers and cocktails for our guests, the service was incredible. The meal was delicious as well. We had a three course dinner, salad to start, prime rib, and churros for dessert. Everyone commented on how great the food was here. Eva and Michael were still running around busy this whole time, making sure everything was flawless. I learned after that many guests approached them with their own questions (ie. Allergies in salad dressing, kids menu, etc.) and Eva and Michael assisted them graciously. We also had Michael as our DJ and I am so thankful we chose him! I was nervous as I didn’t have time to prepare a song list in the chaos of things, but we briefly told him the styles we like a few days before…and again it was like they read our minds! He played Mexican/Salsa light music during the cocktail hour, acoustic folk covers (think Jack Johnson type music) during dinner, and really got the party going after! We told him we wanted some stuff that was top 40ish for everyone, but with a majority being hip hop based for our younger crowd. He nailed it- I was amazed! He played really cool covers of Snoop Dog that I need to try and find now, blended with some oldies, and into some awesome classic hip hop to finish the night. Our wedding day was absolutely perfect, even better than I ever dreamed it could have been….and I can honestly say it was entirely because of Eva and Michael of Vallarta Weddings. A few of our friends who are not yet married asked us how much the wedding cost, as they estimated it to be well over 50 K Canadian. I am so happy to say that Eva and Michael helped us hold this beautiful wedding for under our budget of 20 k. I share this because I know when planning my wedding, I was always wondering how much things cost. I have no hesitations in referring anyone and everyone to Eva and Michael as I know they are the best you could have in Vallarta! If anyone has any questions please feel free to email me at [email protected]

My husband and I were married at Secrets Wild Orchid on February 2, 2016. Needless to say this review is long overdue. Originally I had planned to come home from Jamaica and write my review right away but after a year of planning our wedding I really just needed a break from “wedding stuff”. I did keep notes though during the wedding planning and our time at SWO so I wouldn’t forget any details when it came time to write my review. Hopefully other brides planning a SWO or Jamaica wedding at another resort will find the info in this post helpful as they plan their perfect wedding in paradise. If there is anything I haven’t covered just ask….BDW was a great resource for me when I was planning my wedding so I have no problem paying it forward. I will start by saying my wedding ending up being very different from where it started. When I look back the only two things that remained the same were the groom and the location When we first got engaged we knew we wanted to get married in the Caribbean and having already been to SWO in 2014 we knew it was the perfect location for us. This was a second marriage for us both and having both gone through planning a big wedding the first time around we wanted something simple and beautiful. Our original intent was to only bring one other couple with us to act a witnesses but as soon as we announced our engagement to family and friends they all instead they HAD to come. We ended up with 50 invited guests. For those of you out there who have already had your destination wedding or are close to your wedding date I’m sure you know what happened next…..as we got close to the resort’s head count deadline one by one the excuses started (can’t afford it, can’t get out of work, etc.) and to make a long story short – we ended up being just us and my grandparents as our witnesses. Having just one other couple with us is what we wanted originally but not gunna lie….I was extremely upset with all our friends and family that bailed on us. By the time we needed to provide our final head count to the resort I had already planned a big wedding complete with bonfire beach party and a steel drum band for the reception, gift bags, custom invitations…the works. Lots of money and time spent for people that HAD to come but then suddenly couldn’t make it….grrrr! Enough time has passed that I’ve forgiven most of them but have never forgotten - especially the good friend of my husband that told us at the last minute he couldn’t afford to come but then 2 weeks later bought a cottage. That’s ok, he got engaged recently and I have a feeling I will be busy on the day of his wedding I have to give a big shout out to @@acw271011. You were a true life saver in the final weeks of my wedding planning. You talked me off the ledge several times and help me find clarity when I felt like pulling all my hair out. Thank you again for everything my friend. Ok so onto the actual review. I really did love having my wedding at SWO and would highly recommend this resort to anyone for a wedding or even just a vacation. All in all they did a wonderful job and I would get married there again in a heartbeat. Throughout this review it may seem I was not happy with the resort but I just want to be honest about my experience to help other brides considering the resort. Every resort has good and bad points I wanted to be sure to cover both. I would have posted this to the Resort Reviews section but since I am also covering other vendors and my overall all Jamaican wedding planning experience I decided to post here instead. Warning - it is a very long post but I wanted to make sure to cover all the details. This review is actually so long that I have decided to break it down into 3 parts. This post is part 1 of 3. To make it easier for those of you looking for a specific topic I have broken the review down into the following sections: Part 1 Resort Overview Preferred Club Part 2 Wedding Coordinators Resort Hair/Makeup Resort Photographer/Videographer Misha Earle Tia Flora vs. Floral Fantasies vs. Real Touch Part 3 Bring Decorations from Home Ceremony (Minister, Cake, Violinist) Alternate Locations for Ceremony Private Wedding Dinner in the Gazebo General Suggestions/Tips RESORT OVERVIEW SWO is a beautiful adult only upscale resort. This really appealed to us since we don’t have children and didn’t want to go on vacation with other people’s children. If you need a kid friendly resort, then this place is not for you. Even if your guests with children stay at a nearby family friendly resort their children will not be allowed to attend your wedding at SWO. They are very strict about this policy and will not make exceptions. There are actually two sides to the Secrets resort in Montego Bay – Wild Orchid and St. James. They are the same resort. There is no difference other than the furniture style & decor and it doesn’t matter which side you stay on as all amenities are open to all guests (except for the preferred club which I will get into later). The Wild Orchid side is closer to all the restaurants and evening entertainment but even if you stay on the St. James side everything is still within close proximity. Both times we have stayed at the resort we stayed on the Wild Orchid side but would have been equally as happy on the St. James side. It is truly a beautiful resort and the staff really do try to go above and beyond to make your vacation memorable. There were even a few staff members that remembered us from our trip to SWO 2 years earlier. When you arrive at the resort for the first time you are greeted with a “Welcome home” by staff. On our second visit to the resort we were greeting this way again and we truly did feel like we had come home. The evening entertainment shows are probably some of the best I have seen at an all-inclusive resort. One show you really can’t miss is the Silver Birds steel drum orchestra. They are so amazingly talented! Their show is on Monday nights. The resort also has a Cirque du Soleil style show on Tuesday nights that is pretty good. Sunday night is their weekly “Ideal Couple” newlywed game which is hilarious. Since this is an adult only resort some of the questions are risqué and the answers given are hilarious. My husband and I were contestants the Sunday night before our Tuesday wedding. We didn’t win but had a lot of fun. On our final day there it was Super Bowl Sunday and the resort throws a huge party each year to celebrate it. They had a big parade throughout the whole resort with a big marching band and even setup a huge replica of the Golden Gate Bridge on the beach since the Super Bowl was in San Francisco this year. They also setup a massive movie screen with lounge seats on the beach for watching the game where they also served dinner and drinks right to your chair. My husband and I are huge football fans and even though our Packers were not in the Super Bowl this year it is still a memory we will never forget. How many people can say they experienced Super Bowl 50 on the beach of a luxury resort? Really cool ending to our honeymoon. One small caveat about the resort - for those of you that want a long beach you will not find it at SWO. The beach is man-made and small. My husband and I love to walk the beach every morning when we are on vacation but honestly the resort is so beautiful we didn’t even miss it. We did our morning walk around the beautiful resort grounds instead. Another warning for potential SWO brides - even though Secrets is supposed to cater to couples and romance it seems that in recent years they have been hosting more and more corporate retreats. When these companies come for retreats they are groups of several hundred people that travel the resort in big mobs and pretty much take over the resort. There were times when we couldn’t get into certain restaurants because of these large groups and the resort would even close some restaurants and parts of the beach for private corporate parties. This annoyed me because when we thought we were going to have a big group at our wedding we wanted to host private party at the restaurant by the pool the night before our wedding and were told the resort does not close restaurants for private parties no matter what as it is inconsiderate to the other guests. We were even asked to leave a restaurant one night shortly after receiving our dinner because a big corporate group wanted to eat there. When we complained the staff at the restaurant were very unapologetic. We found most of the bar and wait staff seemed to care more about the big groups then the other guests. I’m guessing they are just trying to protect their tips and they figure they will get more tips from a big group. If you are planning your wedding at SWO check with the resort to see if any corporate retreats will be there at the same time to avoid this annoyance. If you have any other questions about the resort (restaurants, layout, amenities, rooms, etc.) just ask having been there a few times I know it very well. PREFERRED CLUB All the rooms are great at SWO and SSJ but if you are looking for the next level of service then the Preferred Club, in my opinion, is worth it. With the Preferred Club you get a special black room card that gives you access to stay in a special building. This building is the closest one to the restaurants and evening entertainment and has the best views of the ocean. This building also has its own private concierge service, private pool and beach not accessible to the “regular” guests. The pool is a quiet zone so if you are looking to get away from the noise at the main pool this is nice option. Of course if you are looking to party you can head over to the main pool where all the action is. We also found that most of the big corporate groups had rooms in the regular part of the resort so when we wanted to escape them we headed over to the Preferred Club. In the Preferred Club lobby there are hot and cold hors d'oeuvres that is refreshed throughout the day and into the evening. In the mornings they serve a continental breakfast in the lobby which is nice option if you miss breakfast at the main buffet. In addition to the hors d'oeuvres and breakfast, the lobby also has a private bar where they have premium alcohol, bottomless bottles of prosecco and will make you any cocktail you ask for. Both times we stayed at SWO we stayed in the Preferred Club. Many people on Trip Advisor have said it is not worth the extra price since all people from the resort can walk over and use the Preferred Club whenever they want but I witnessed firsthand in February the staff checking cards of people around the pool and you need to swipe your card to get into the building. Security wasn’t as tight on our first trip in 2014 so it seems they have listened to the reviews on Trip Advisor and started the crack down on the gate crashers. The concierge staff in the Preferred Club really go out of their way to make you feel special. They always greeted us by name whenever we walked into the lobby and asked if there was anything they could do for us. They made sure I had a golf cart to drive me to and from my hair/makeup appointment on the day of our wedding which is something the wedding coordinators said they couldn’t do. This was very appreciated as the Spa is on the opposite end of the resort. The day after our wedding they called us down to the lobby because they said they needed to talk to us about our room. When we got there they surprised us with an upgrade to the Master Suite for the last 5 days of our stay. The Master Suite is the top floor corner suite and is larger than most people’s apartments. It has a separate bedroom, huge walk in shower, large tub, living room, bar, and foyer. Of course we were thrilled but as repeat guests and DINKS (double income, no kids) we knew what they were doing – they were giving us a taste of the “good life” so when we come back again for a future trip we would book that suite. It was still appreciated nonetheless and made the honeymoon portion of our trip extra special. This is it for Part 1 of my 3 part review. Be sure to check out my other 2 parts of this review for more details about SWO and my wedding experience in Jamaica.