Newbie planning on a Playa del Carmen destination wedding

[khowell15]

Hello there! I have been struggling with a location for months, but at this point have narrowed down my choices to the Playa del Carmen area. My fiance and I are thinking about the Royal, but have made no specific plans or set a date so far. We are hoping June 2009 so I guess we better decide soon. Our biggest concern is being able to afford it without stressing about it. Is this possible? I feel so overwhelmed with each resort having so many stipulations or requirements about the number of people who have to stay there or the extra charge for non-resort guests. My biggest fear is committing to a place and then finding out down the road hidden fees or more stipulations that end up costing us more $$. Have any brides who have had their wedding at the Royal found themselves stuck with additional or hidden fees? Any suggestions or advice would be great!

[NotYourAverageDW]

and happy planning. I don't know much about the location and venues that you mentioned...BUT if you run a search of the forum...there is a recent thread about paying for your wedding without going in debt.

 

There is also another thread about hidden fees with Travel Agents, Planners, and hotels.

 

Hopefully someone can source the threads for you.

 

Anyways, you'll find a lot of help and information on this site. Good luck!

[O'Driscoll Photography]

Congrats and welcome!

 

Hope your planning goes smoothly!

 

Tod

[Mrs.Captain]

Congrats! You've picked a beautiful area to get married in and you are in the right place to search out answers to your questions. Sorry, I didn't research the Royal when we were picking our place, so I can't help you. But yes, it is possible to plan a wedding on a budget and stick to it. Some resorts are more flexible than others with what is included and not. I found the best place to start was to determine what is really important to you. Good luck with your planning!

[TATrisha]

Welcome! I don't know much about the Royal, but I was worried like you were. Turns out I budgeted for the high end and it was $5,000 less than that in the end! That made me REALLY happy!

So basically, I would say set a budget and then figure out the cost of staying there on the high end. If it's still within your budget... then you've found your resort. If it's not, then there are plenty of resorts in the Playa area.

Good luck!

[Shay2679]

Quote:

Originally Posted by khowell15 My fiance and I are thinking about the Royal, but have made no specific plans or set a date so far.

Well, we are getting married at the Royal next May 2009, and ... there have been some fee changes ... but overall, our WC Micaela has been really wonderful about notifying us up front about the cost of things.

First thing...you need to set a budget, and, you really have to stick to it. That has been hard for us, but if we don't do it, things would just get WAY out of control! There was a point where we just did not think we would be able to afford doing even a destination wedding...but...with some perseverance, LOTS of research, and reality checks here and there (do we REALLY need this or that?)...its all coming together and then some. To give you an idea of what we're spending, we are NOT paying for our guests to go, they are paying their packages themselves. Including our flights/hotel and all the wedding trimmings (reception extras, actual wedding package, minister, blah, blah, blah) we'll spend about $10,000. I would say this includes our OOT bags that we are doing for each of our 10 guests, a two hour catamaran charter for our Thank You Welcome thingy, my MOH dress, all the guys suits (4), and the Luxury Package.

There is an awesome thread in the Riviera Maya section of the Forum...http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t17108

If you take the time to read through it all (and its a lot), so many of your questions will be answered, and most of us have posted costs affiliated with "extras", policy expectations, etc. The biggest thing with the Royal right now, is they have posted what their rates for 2009 are GOING to be...so my first suggestion to you is...don't delay. Book sooner than later to secure the rates of today, before you get dinged with the increases. If you have to cancel or whatever later, fine...but for now, just make sure you have an agreement or something, so you can secure those prices. Go from there.

You can always PM me or the other girls, or post in that thread I mentioned, as we're pretty religious about checking in!

Good luck!

[Danniellou]

Welcome to the forum! You will find a ton of info on here that will help you with your budget planning.

[*Casey*]

and Congrats!!!

[Kathie]

Welcome to the forum

[MsSunshine]

Welcome to the board