Playa Fiesta Weddings

[Bunsie3]

For those of you trying to decide if PF is the place for you but are a little worried about the cost, I will share some of the things we have done to keep things affordable. We chose PF because it is beautiful, private, and offered everything we were looking for. I did not want to get married and celebrate aftwerwards with a bunch of strangers watching. PF offered us the privacy we desired and the opportunity to customize our wedding to match our personalities and wants. We were worried about the room costs, if our guests would think it was too much, and if we would be able to meet the required room minimum. We called around to our families, bridemaids and groomsmen to inquire about their availability and the cost and were pleasantly suprised at the number of them who thought it was a great idea and good price. We then took a trip to PF with my parents to make sure it was as gorgous in person as in pics, fell in love with it and Adam and Lindsay, and signed on the dotted line. We let everyone who we were inviting know the date we chose as soon as we signed the contract so that they could mark it on their calanders and start saving if they needed to.

 

We also chose a weekday wedding package, guests arrive on Monday and will leave Friday. We are getting married the week of Thanksgiving and the wedding will be Wednesday. The room cost was cheaper for our guests but the airlines tickets were more b/c of the holiday. I would recommend also considering airlines costs when you are picking your date. The reason we chose that weekday package was that I desperately wanted my neices and nephews to be able to come and they are off of school for the whole week and we had to take into account people being able to get the time off of work and figured around the holiday would be easier.

 

Once we sat down and looked at the wedding day costs, we knew we would need to cut some of the things we had invisioned. Lindsay is absolutely wonderful with making helpful suggestions to cut costs and with not pressuring you into anything. I agree with Kate's idea of ribbon and other little ways of customizing your event that have a small price tag. I am bringing ribbon to put on the cake(black), wrap my napkins(white), and for the bouquets (white and black). Our colors are black and white with hot pink accents (mostly via the flowers). Im making black and white table cloths (well to be honest my mom and aunt are making them), found black cloth napkins for under a dollar a piece, and I found a great vendor on ETSY (great site btw for invitations and other wedding purchases) to make coordinating menus and placecards at a great price!! I have spent endless hours on the internet searching for ways to customize our wedding at a good price so if any future or past PF brides wants to compare ideas or prices on things I would love it.

 

The flower costs are high, but I agree that there are definately ways to lower the costs and that having the piece of mind that they will be there, ready and beautiful, on your big day is very important!! I chose white rannunculus for my bouquet and hot pink ones for the bridesmaids. Since I have seven bridesmaids I am using the jr size for them which is a little smaller than the normal bridesmaid size and is cheaper.

 

For my flower girls I am getting hot pink carnation pomanders with black ribbon. I know carnations have a neg connotation as being cheap and I am included in those that scrunch there noses at the very thought of them. But I went to a wedding recently and there were these gorgeous pomanders hanging everywhere and I loved them so much that I had to ask what kind of flowers they were. To my shock they were carnations. When they are tightly packed, like in the pomanders, they look great and I was ecstatic at the price the PF florist qouted for them! I am also using hot pink carnations to create a place card bed.

[Bunsie3]

Hi wsarah2107, I will see if can explain the D&E packages for you as I understand them. You should def talk to Adam and Lindsay about them, they are great with answering any and all questions.

 

The cost of the package you choose is for that number of dinners per person during their stay, food or bev station(s), and entertainment choice(s) for the nights of your choice (excluding the wedding night) per guest. You chose the nights you want to have the dinners, food or beverage station(s), and entertainment. It is per guest, not per room. Does that make sense??

 

We chose package number 1 which is two dinners from category 1, one food or beverage station, and one entertainment selection from category 1. Since we are paying for it, we went with the most affordable package. We are in a four night package so the cost is $12.50 per person plus tax and tip.

 

We are using the two dinners for our Welcome Dinner (Mon night) and Rehearsal Dinner (Tues night). We are having the fried ice cream stand as our food station after the Welcome Dinner and the slideshow with music during the Rehearsal Dinner as our entertainment selection.

 

Let me know if that does not make sense

[Mel&B]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bunsie3 For those of you trying to decide if PF is the place for you but are a little worried about the cost, I will share some of the things we have done to keep things affordable. We chose PF because it is beautiful, private, and offered everything we were looking for. I did not want to get married and celebrate aftwerwards with a bunch of strangers watching. PF offered us the privacy we desired and the opportunity to customize our wedding to match our personalities and wants. We were worried about the room costs, if our guests would think it was too much, and if we would be able to meet the required room minimum. We called around to our families, bridemaids and groomsmen to inquire about their availability and the cost and were pleasantly suprised at the number of them who thought it was a great idea and good price. We then took a trip to PF with my parents to make sure it was as gorgous in person as in pics, fell in love with it and Adam and Lindsay, and signed on the dotted line. We let everyone who we were inviting know the date we chose as soon as we signed the contract so that they could mark it on their calanders and start saving if they needed to. We also chose a weekday wedding package, guests arrive on Monday and will leave Friday. We are getting married the week of Thanksgiving and the wedding will be Wednesday. The room cost was cheaper for our guests but the airlines tickets were more b/c of the holiday. I would recommend also considering airlines costs when you are picking your date. The reason we chose that weekday package was that I desperately wanted my neices and nephews to be able to come and they are off of school for the whole week and we had to take into account people being able to get the time off of work and figured around the holiday would be easier. Once we sat down and looked at the wedding day costs, we knew we would need to cut some of the things we had invisioned. Lindsay is absolutely wonderful with making helpful suggestions to cut costs and with not pressuring you into anything. I agree with Kate's idea of ribbon and other little ways of customizing your event that have a small price tag. I am bringing ribbon to put on the cake(black), wrap my napkins(white), and for the bouquets (white and black). Our colors are black and white with hot pink accents (mostly via the flowers). Im making black and white table cloths (well to be honest my mom and aunt are making them), found black cloth napkins for under a dollar a piece, and I found a great vendor on ETSY (great site btw for invitations and other wedding purchases) to make coordinating menus and placecards at a great price!! I have spent endless hours on the internet searching for ways to customize our wedding at a good price so if any future or past PF brides wants to compare ideas or prices on things I would love it. The flower costs are high, but I agree that there are definately ways to lower the costs and that having the piece of mind that they will be there, ready and beautiful, on your big day is very important!! I chose white rannunculus for my bouquet and hot pink ones for the bridesmaids. Since I have seven bridesmaids I am using the jr size for them which is a little smaller than the normal bridesmaid size and is cheaper. For my flower girls I am getting hot pink carnation pomanders with black ribbon. I know carnations have a neg connotation as being cheap and I am included in those that scrunch there noses at the very thought of them. But I went to a wedding recently and there were these gorgeous pomanders hanging everywhere and I loved them so much that I had to ask what kind of flowers they were. To my shock they were carnations. When they are tightly packed, like in the pomanders, they look great and I was ecstatic at the price the PF florist qouted for them! I am also using hot pink carnations to create a place card bed.

Wow! Everything sounds beautiful.

[wsarah2107]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bunsie3 Hi wsarah2107, I will see if can explain the D&E packages for you as I understand them. You should def talk to Adam and Lindsay about them, they are great with answering any and all questions. The cost of the package you choose is for that number of dinners per person during their stay, food or bev station(s), and entertainment choice(s) for the nights of your choice (excluding the wedding night) per guest. You chose the nights you want to have the dinners, food or beverage station(s), and entertainment. It is per guest, not per room. Does that make sense?? We chose package number 1 which is two dinners from category 1, one food or beverage station, and one entertainment selection from category 1. Since we are paying for it, we went with the most affordable package. We are in a four night package so the cost is $12.50 per person plus tax and tip. We are using the two dinners for our Welcome Dinner (Mon night) and Rehearsal Dinner (Tues night). We are having the fried ice cream stand as our food station after the Welcome Dinner and the slideshow with music during the Rehearsal Dinner as our entertainment selection. Let me know if that does not make sense

Thank you that helps a lot!! Thats how I kinda thought it was--but wanted to make sure One last thing to clarify--the price is per person per night, so does the $12.50 pp get charged to you once for both your welcome dinner and rehersal dinner, as it includes 2 dinners. Or is it $12.50 one night and $12.50 again. It just seems much more affordable than I thought it would be so I want to double check, ya know!! Of course, we will again clarify all of these things with them if we decide to go with PF--just trying to plan costs first!

Thanks again for all your help!!!!

[Mel&B]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wsarah2107 Thank you that helps a lot!! Thats how I kinda thought it was--but wanted to make sure One last thing to clarify--the price is per person per night, so does the $12.50 pp get charged to you once for both your welcome dinner and rehersal dinner, as it includes 2 dinners. Or is it $12.50 one night and $12.50 again. It just seems much more affordable than I thought it would be so I want to double check, ya know!! Of course, we will again clarify all of these things with them if we decide to go with PF--just trying to plan costs first! Thanks again for all your help!!!!

I'd double check all of this with Adam & Lindsay. I had D&E package #1 and the cost was considerably higher than what you guys are talking about. The "per night" cost applied to each night of the stay, not just the nights of the dinner. For example if it's $10 per person, per night, the total cost per person is $50 for a 5 night stay. If the cost went down, that's great, but I'd still make sure to get the info direct from PF.

[DB2B]

Mel, I think you're right - whichever D&E package you choose, the additional cost is per room per night, no matter how many dinners are included. We are staying for four nights, and we chose the D&E with 3 dinners, 3 food/beverage stations and 3 entertainment choices, so it's pretty close to an all-inclusive stay (sans lunch), and I think it tacked on $25 per person per night (or $100) - which is still pretty good for all your dinners! You should definitely ask Adam, but I think before you sign the contract, he sets your rate and you will see the total cost for the stay, and can figure out the cost per night (with the D&E), unless you're paying the D&E for your guests. I think the D&E options are great though! We are having a mexican buffet as our welcome dinner, with a margarita bar and the mariachi trio - fun!

[DB2B]

Bunsie3 - your plans sound gorgeous! I am also someone who generally doesn't like carnations in bouquets, but oddly enough, I love arrangements of all carnations tightly clustered - it looks completely different and beautiful! We're using ribbons too - I'm weaving them to make centerpiece mats for the candles. THey're such a great option because they're affordable AND easy to transport down there! I'm glad to hear I'm not the only bride with guests (who technically don't have invitations yet -- oops!) freaking out about the swine flu already - it's 6 months away people!! We're hoping it will work in our favor with cheap airfare and maybe cheaper hotels for our before/after stays!

[kate.com]

Bunsie! Awesome plans... I love tight packed carnations for a modern and hot flair! rannunculus are my fav but weren't available durning January... roses were actually the most affordable. Go figure. There are definately ways... just be creative and search around before making final decisions. And we are here to help!

 

wsarah, where in MN are you from? I live in Excelsior (near lk Minnetonka).

 

Melissa! Can't wait to see those pics!

[Bunsie3]

Thanks guys!! My name is Lindsey by the way. I just use Bunsie, a nickname, b/c it is never taken.

 

DB2B, love the ide of woven ribbon for the tables. What is your color scheme?

 

Mel, did you end up getting your makeup done? If so, how did it go? Can't wait to see your pics, bet you looked gorgeous

 

Kate, thats weird you could not get ranunculus in January...makes me nervous because they are usually available from November - April or May. Guess we will have to just go with all roses if the rannunculus are no gos at the last minute. Did any of you use or plan to use flowers from a bridesmaid bouquet for your cake flowers. I want hot pink ranunculus for my cake and I dont see the point in paying $60 for them if I can just use some from one of my 7 bridesmaid bouquets. Do they do something special for the cake flowers?

 

One more ques...anyone hit up Costco or Walmart in PV? I want to get some snacks and things for my Welcome Bags.

[kate.com]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bunsie3 Thanks guys!! My name is Lindsey by the way. I just use Bunsie, a nickname, b/c it is never taken. DB2B, love the ide of woven ribbon for the tables. What is your color scheme? Mel, did you end up getting your makeup done? If so, how did it go? Can't wait to see your pics, bet you looked gorgeous Kate, thats weird you could not get ranunculus in January...makes me nervous because they are usually available from November - April or May. Guess we will have to just go with all roses if the rannunculus are no gos at the last minute. Did any of you use or plan to use flowers from a bridesmaid bouquet for your cake flowers. I want hot pink ranunculus for my cake and I dont see the point in paying $60 for them if I can just use some from one of my 7 bridesmaid bouquets. Do they do something special for the cake flowers? One more ques...anyone hit up Costco or Walmart in PV? I want to get some snacks and things for my Welcome Bags.

Sorry, I knew your name was lindsey but was having a brain freeze last night, ha.
We were planning on using flowers from the ceremony site on our cake, Lindsays idea and I loved it! A family friend actually brought down a fondant bow and handmade seashells for my cake as a suprise so I never did it... but I think it's the way to go! Def use bridesmaids flowers! No one would ever know or care. Way to be resourceful!
We went to Walmart... Lindsay suggested this over Sams Club, I think she said it was more economical. I dunno. We just took a cab and had the guy wait for us, and drive us back. It was only $30 total so a deal.
REMINDER: NO NEED TO BUY WATER, PROVIDED FREE AT PF. This sounds dumb, but she said people have come back with it, forgetting since it is the 1st day.