Bringing stuff into Cabo- Help!

[stelladiver]

This question goes mainly to the brides who have already had their weddings or anyone who's maybe researched the issue. Did any of you bring your favors, decorations, and other stuff with you from the U.S. into Cabo? And did anyone have any trouble at customs?

 

I've heard some horror stories about customs stopping people at the airport because they think that they are taking the goods into Mexico to sell. I contemplated shipping the stuff, but I've heard that customs will stop shipments and require you to pay crazy taxes on it. So, for instance, if you send a box of favors that you plan to give out at your wedding and it's worth $200, you may end up paying another $300 after paying taxes. To avoid this, I want to take the stuff with me on the plane, so I can at least try to explain if there's an issue at customs. In the context of other discussions, some other girls on the board have mentioned bringing boxes of stuff with them. Any advice would be appreciated. In case you're curious, the stuff that I plan to bring with me include, for example, tote bags that I'm using for welcome bags.

 

Thanks in advance!

[nicolelee]

This post is older but i would like to know the same info!!

[JGAMMAGIRL77]

I'm getting married in about three weeks and I plan on taking wedding favors, etc. I'm a bit worried about customs but I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that I don't have any issues. I will let you know how it goes.

 

Jess

[diamondpooch]

I've decided that carrying everything with me (not shipping) is the safest option. This where if there is any confusion I'm there in person to deal with it and I know where everything is!

[mich999]

Hi ladies - please review this thread, it is extremely helpful. Following these tips I had no problems bringing all my welcome bag items and other decorations into Cabo.

 

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...-thread-41422/

[stelladiver]

Hi ladies,

 

I posted the original question above and have since had my wedding, so I can help with the answer. We carried our stuff with us through customs and had no issues whatsoever. As you go through customs, there is a button that you hit before you exit. If the button is green, then they let you through. If it's red, they stop you and search your bags. When we hit the button, our light came up red, but they just motioned for us to walk through without being searched. I assume it's because I was carrying a giant garment bag which very clearly contained a wedding dress.

 

Because of the volume of favors and other stuff that we had to transport (we had over 100 guests, so that meant over 100 beach towels which we gave as favors and 100 canvas totes that we used as welcome bags), we divided the stuff up among our family members. Some of them literally had a suitcase full of beach towels, but no one had any trouble going through customs. In an abundance of caution, I made sure each of the family members carrying the goods had: (1) a copy of the wedding invitation, (2) a copy of our wedding program which bore the same monogram that was embroidered on the towels and tote bags, and (3) the cell phone number of our wedding coordinator in case there was an issue with customs. I had intended to type up a letter in Spanish saying that these items are gifts at a wedding and not intended for resale, but I never got around to it. As it turns out, all of these precautions were unnecessary anyway. I was very paranoid about this issue, but it ultimately was a non-issue. American weddings are such a big industry for Cabo that if they give people a hard time, it will deter that industry and hurt the town economically.

 

Good luck! Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any specific Q's I can answer.

[mich999]

I agree that they don't go out of their way to give people a hard time (at least when I went through), but the law is no more than $300 pp in goods can be brought in (to avoid people brings stuff in and resellign them without paying taxes). We divvied up things among family members and we carried a lot on ourselves. One of our suitcases was searched and along with clothes for vacation, we had about 30 disposable underwater cameras in it as well as our welcome bags, but once I said I had receipts and showed them the value, they waved us through. The link I posted above gives tips on bringing your receipts or even creating receipts if you don't have them. I also followed the tip to put paper in our suitcase in spanish saying items were for a wedding. I think it's better to be a little paranoid and prepared - you never know when you'll run into that person having a bad day! Having the receipts gave me a lot of comfort.

[nicolelee]

Great info everyone, sounds like if your prepared its a non-issue. Thanks!

[adevilbi]

We just were married in Cabo two weeks ago. We had absolutely no trouble getting through customs. I had two full suitcases full of favors and decorations for the wedding. We ended up paying the "extra baggage" rate which ended up being $75 total. We would have paid four times that much if needed to ship things...plus it needed to go out at least three weeks ahead of time.

 

Carry stuff with you if you can.

[shiplandsafish]

These are some great ideas. I plan on doing a combination of things: having family take some items, carrying on as much as I can and wrapping the rest really well. I too, figure that the wedding dress in hand will make it quite clear we're there for a purpose!