"Free" Wedding packages??

[Torrie11]

Hello!

I have been reading like a crazy person all I can about Cancun weddings! One of my biggest questions is about the packages... has anyone used or know anyone that has used the "free" wedding package at either Grand Oasis or Dreams? Every one I read used one of the more expensive packages and the one review I found that used the free wasn't the best review! haha... anyways money is definitely and issue for us, so we are trying to do something special but be able to be affordable too! Thanks in advance for any help:)

Torrie

[cougs]

seems like anywhere you go, the free package only works if you have less than 10 people (that's including the two of you!) and if you don't expect to have any sort of private dinner for yourself and your guests. also, the free ceremonies are only the symbolic ones. while they might include the services of a judge for a civil ceremony, there are translation fees and blood test costs to add on.

 

basically there's nothing free in the world. there will always be added costs, even to the more expensive packages. make sure you budget a little extra for the unexpected add-ons.

[Torrie11]

Oh thank you so much... you're absolutly right! Nothing is free!!! We are having a pretty small group going, just family and a couple of friends... and actually we thought we might like to splurge and go to the restaurant across the street from the resort if we chose the Grand Oasis... thanks for you help... your wedding looks fun, beer and taco fest! I love it:) Good luck, it is so soon!!

[cougs]

if i only had a few people going, we definitely would have done the free wedding package, and probably would have either treated them to a dinner out at paloma bonita (restaurant right outside dreams cancun) or taken them on one of the cancun dinner cruises.

 

thanks for saying my wedding seems fun ... my fiance called our wedding "beer & taco fest '09" in the initial email sent to everyone when we started planning a DW. it kinda stuck!

[egsarah]

Hey Torrie! The other thing that you kind of have to look out for is sometimes they make you do an upgraded room package to qualify for the "free package". You may end up paying more overall by the time you pay for upgrades. Just something to be aware of.

 

Good luck!

[SunBride]

I used the free package at Dreams Tulum. I did not have to pay for a higher end room, they offer a choice between booking 5 normal rooms (which just so happened to be the number of rooms for us and our guests) or a honeymoon suite. We booked 5 of the cheapest rooms (and I got upgraded free to a honeymoon suite!)

 

For us the free package worked perfect, and I was pleasantly surprised by everything it included. The only thing we had to pay was 150$ for the blood test and a small fee (I think 20$, the info is in my review) for the judge's transportation. Both of these fees were related to the legal ceremony. But even if you go for one of the deluxe packages you still pay these fees on top of the package fees.

 

At Dreams Tulum, the free package includes 10 guests, if you have more than 10 guests you pay 20$ per guest for those additional guests (i.e. if you have 20 guests you only pay 20$ x 10 people). That is for the basic menu though, if you want the special silver or gold menu then it costs more and you have to pay for all of your guests (even the first 10) because the free package only includes the regular menu for 10 guests. You would also have to pay an extra charge for champagne, I think it's 3$ per guests (again for 20 guests you would pay 3$x20). You also need to pay extra for more cake (although in reality everyone says the cake that comes free is more than enough for a lot more than 10 people so you can probalby get away with not paying that small fee).

 

Overall, I think the free package deal at Dreams is pretty good.

 

But I remember when I was thinking of going with the Paradisus, I was going to use the free package and the extra costs to add extra people were high, and the most crazy part was the extra cost to have a legal ceremony instead of symbolic, I think they were going to charge me almost 1000$ for that part.

[Torrie11]

Thank you so much Sunbride! That was helpful and definitely put my mind at ease... I was just so worried it was going to be a nightmare... I think i'm going to look into Dreams Cancun, I would think it would be similiar to the tulum Dreams...

[akbeach]

I think the free packages are great with a small number of guests. We decided not to use Dreams because it would cost our guests more to stay there and we wanted to chose a resort that was affordable for our guests even if the wedding itself cost more for us. We have about 45 people going down so it's much larger than your group. Good luck deciding!!