Wedding in Cabo - Budget questions

[sallytrip]

I am getting married in Cabo next March and our thought is to stay at Dreams Los Cabos. My fiance and I stayed there before and loved it.

 

This seems to be the place to ask for tips. We are a little budget conscious and are concerned about things getting too expensive. I know certain things are really affordable down there. How is it when planning a wedding?

[TammyB]

Do a search on Dreams, we have SO many brides and bride to be's getting married there. How many people do you plan on attending and tell us about the type of wedding you want and what your thinking you want your budget to be and we'll try to help.

[sallytrip]

We think we may have about 50-75 people. We like the idea of a small wedding because neither one of us like to be on stage. We are thinking about having somewhere on the beach or at least with the ocean in the background. Because it will be close family and friends it doesn't need to be too showy if you know what I mean.

 

Hope that helps.

[TammyB]

Send a PM to Host (her name is Tammy) she can help you with all your questions regarding Dreams. She is also a DW Travel Agent so she can help you there as well. I will give you one suggestion, photographers book up very quick in Cabo, so I would try to find one soon.

[deleted]

The nice thing about Dreams (if you are the host of an event) is that because your guests pay a higher rate for all-inclusive, your prices are lower. There are probably a dozen Dreams Cabo brides on this board and I know several have posted their budgets too.

 

This is just a total ballpark guess, but I think you could do it for $15K or less with that many people if you don't go wild on flowers and stuff. If you choose an expensive photog I'm guessing it would be more like $20K? Just an estimate.

[ajncooter]

you will love dreams.. we were going to do dreams but they dont have much night life and my family and friends are party people so we changed to riu but the weddings at dreams are less expensive and i think they are gorgeous...

[CourtneyV]

Ya, it really depends on how much you want to spend and where... you can really cut A LOT of costs. For instance, if photography isn't that important to you, that can be a massive $$ saver right there. For me, photography is super important and I'll be spending about $6000 on it. For flowers - well.. IMO, who needs so many flowers with such a beautiful backdrop? I'll be spending a very minimal amount on flowers - most people will be in awe of the beach setting anyways! I think receptions/cocktails hours etc. are about $22pp so you'll be spending $1000 - $2000 on that, but I'd say you could do it for $10k if you really worked on it, did a bunch of DIY projects and cut back on some of the bigger expenses like flowers and the photog.

[cheese_diva]

My wedding is at Dreams this October. I originally thought our budget would be at 10k with 35-40 guests. We're now at 15k and we didn't spend allot on photography or flowers. The 15k does not include our travel or stay.

 

Things tend to add up quickly when planning any wedding. It's a good idea to keep an excel spreadsheet or some form of tracking for any spending. It's helped me to not go over.

 

I believe the 2008 rates for Dreams is $24/pp per event, but that's still a steal!

 

The wedding coordinators at Dreams (or any Cabo vendors) seem to take a few days to a week to get back to you. Don't get frustrated. It's the norm and there's tons of info here including photos of the Resort.

[CourtneyV]

Angela - Would you mind to post more about your budget?? Now I feel like I'm forgetting something!! We'll be spending about $20,000 CAD including accomodations and travel for at least 3! That includes my photographer too. Ahhh *panic mode*!!!

[NHPT]

we are having over 85 people in June (less than 8 weeks away!) and ours is less than 10K- that does not include travel and hotel though