Who's NOT getting screwed by their resort?

[Ana]

Quote:

Originally Posted by neen pardon the harsh title, but i'm sort at the end of my rope. we may be changing our wedding ceremony and reception choice from the Paradisus Riviera Cancun because their prices and fees are just getting totally unreasonable. It's also unrealistic for families with 2 or more children to stay there affordably for our wedding. Of course, the prospect of having to research and select a whole new location and site have me completely depressed, but what else can i do! so...i'm wondering which brides out there feel like their site and/or resort are reasonable in terms of their costs and fees...and who feels like they're not asking their guests to pay an arm and a leg to come to their wedding?

We felt the same way when we were originally looking at the Mayan Riviera as a destination. Then we started looking at the Dreams resorts and they are totally reasonable and affordable and do beautiful weddings. My fiance, Michael and I decided on Dreams Los Cabos as our destination. We wanted to have a private ceremony, and we were able to do that at the Church in Los Cabos. (the resort also has an amazing gazebo and they block it off for your ceremony). We also wanted an private outdoor reception and cocktail, we love the idea of palm trees all light up, tea lights around the pool etc... Dreams doesn't charge you extra for the meal either. They charge a $28pp set up fee to put the tables etc together....but the food, drinks etc are all included because after all its an AI resort! i don't understand all the other resorts that charge you extra for the food and the drinks when your'e paying to be there for a whole week! All of the Dreams resorts are the same too, if you want to stay in the Mayan Riviera then maybe look at the Dreams Tulum or Dreams Cancun (Cancun is amazing).

[Ana]

Quote:

Originally Posted by neen thanks everyone for your responses. we were initially against dreams because i really don't want to see any other brides on MY wedding day (i'm so selfish like that!), but we may have to reconsider. you've all given such great feedback...i'll start looking into your suggestions now!

Dreams doesn't usually book two weddings on the same day unless they really have to. Also, if you're looking at a location as Los Cabos, the resort is located 20min from San Jose Del Cabo which has a few (different denominational churches), there are also a bunch of other beaches and parks etc... around the area. Those would be private, and if you did run into another bride it might only be at the reception (although they would be booked on a different terrace).

[MissyR]

It all honesty it really depends on what you want. I think that every resort has it's advantages and drawbacks - It's interesting that we picked the Paradisus because the service was amazing - the site visit was awesome, they answer my emails the same day, with options. Yes they have higher prices and yes they have restrictions - but I think most AIs have some restrictions. If I can spend $10,000 on a four course, lobster steak dinner, and dancing beachside I would rather do that as would most of us then spend four or five times as much for a wedding in our home town.

 

It's funny how everyone has different experiences with each of the resorts. I know a lot of the girls on this forum have/will be getting married at Dreams Cancun and for us, it was a bad experience to do a site visit and a lot of other things that turned us off it. That's not to say it's any worse than any other resort - could have been the day we were there or a thousand other reasons. I think anytime you use the word "wedding" there are extra costs.

[shelleyf]

Very informative posting here ladies! I need to make up my mnd too - keep the reviews a comin!

 

(PS...hilarious thread title!)

[becks]

I think we've all been in situations where we contemplate changing resorts. There's always something - whether it's money, response time, service, quality of the beach, brand of shampoo in the rooms - there just is.

 

And if you look, you'll see a thread or two from me when I was frustrated with the Paradisus because I wanted things that were different. However, the WCs there have bent over backwards, found loopholes in policies, begged favors and moved heaven and earth for me so that I can have the ceremony and celebration that I want. Am I going to pay a bit more for it? Yes. Is it worth it? ABSOLUTELY.

 

No one wants to have their wedding at the Motel 6 Cancun. We all want the Ritz Carlton - at Motel 6 prices. The reality is that if that existed somewhere, we'd all be getting married at the same place. But it doesn't; so we all have to determine the trade-offs we're willing to make.

 

Having talked with, e-mailed and met with a variety of other WCs at a huge range of places, I'd rather have Elisa and Perla over any of them. [Well, the WC at the Fairmont Mayakoba was great, too, but they wanted $15,000 just to set up and turn on the lights for the reception (no, I'm not kidding).]

 

For me, the Paradisus just makes sense. The WCs get back to me, they go way above and beyond, they accomodate my off-the-wall requests (pinata, anyone?). And when it comes to money, if what I want is out of my price range, they come up with alternate ideas (for example, hiring a private waiter to run to the lobby bar rather than having a full blown private cocktail hour before our welcome dinner).

 

Personally, I couldn't be happier.

[tlomlad]

we went with dreams cancun for much of the same reasons as the other brides on here did our wedding is going to cost under $4000 and thats for everything and it also very kid friendly with its own area for children which is also supervised.

[aeroo]

We're getting married at the Gran Porto Real, sister hotel to the Royal. We chose this location because it is right in PDC town and our guests can choose from a variety of hotels, all within a few minutes walk to ours. We let our guests know that they could get clean and decent hotel rooms from $40 per night all the way up to the super expensive. We've done this before ourselves, so we know that there are good deals to be had, especially in May (low season). I love staying in the non-AI's, but ended up at an AI because it was just easier for my family that doesn't travel much. Most of our guests ended up booking at our AI, but told us they liked that they had a choice of where they wanted to stay.

 

Also, the Gran Porto is much more affordable than the Royal and they allow kids.

[SIMBASIM]

We chose Dreams Cancun because we have so many CLOSE family members with children. It was much more reasonable than many of the others I have priced and not to mention the site is PERFECT for a destination wedding...Good Luck!

[MsSunshine]

Thanks for starting this thread up...after reading several posts about different resorts of dislikes it makes you want to pull your hair out. It can be a money pit if you don't choose wisely. The resorts there are beautiful. I'm still researching around. Thanks everyone for your advice

[calyx6]

We were perfectly happy with our Dreams Tulum wedding. We were not nickled and dimed nor were there any other weddings on our day. I think they only double book during high season. The only complaint about costs I got was from one of my guests who decided to stay for a whole week instead of a long weekend.

 

-V-