Sheraton Hacienda del Mar review w/non-pro PICS

[thomalm]

Sheraton Hacienda del Mar - I had never been to Cabo and so I took a huge risk by deciding to have my destination wedding where I had never been. Cabo has tons of resorts to choose from and I did a lot of research. I honestly picked the absolute best resort in Cabo. The Hacienda del Mar rocked! Seriously, I am reasonably well traveled and I have never been to a more beautiful resort. The resort is not one giant building with a million hotel rooms but instead it is laid out like a community. I guess you could compare it to an apartment complex layout but with only like 2 streets and no parking spots blocking the view. The theme of the buildings is like mexican hacienda style. I just LOVE it! So much more character than a normal giant rectangle hotel. The grounds were the most beautifully landscaped I have ever seen. Every inch had cactus, tropical flowers and my personal favorite palm trees galore. I'm not just talking one kind of palm tree. Probably 100 different varieties of palm trees and they all make me smile. Is that the most amazing shade of tree flower or what! The hotel has pools all along the ocean front and a few hidden in the resort. There are has 10 places to eat (although during the day 4 of the places have the same menu). From the ugly number on the scale after the trip I clearly liked the food. Tomatoes full breakfast buffet is amazing (all you can drink mimosas and bloody marys). The golf club house has a great Sunday brunch (steak, lobster, all you can drink) but we did not know about it until after Sunday so I can’t really vouch for it. The 5-star diamond restaurant Pitahayas was actually a little disappointing. The food was very bland. I’m from Texas, I like lots of flavor. Maybe it was just too fancy for me. DeCortez was so good we went there twice. Both Pitahayas and DeCortez have the most amazing views. The Mexican restaurant, not listed on the Hacienda website, is called Girasoles. They have an awesome breakfast every day. Its all you can eat/drink off the menu (like $15 per person). The dinner was pretty good, but again, I like lots of spice and real Mexican is more bland. The sushi bar opens at 4pm and I ate there 3 times. If your whole group does not want sushi they will give you the Tomatoes menu to order from. Tomatoes food is comparable to Chilis. Not complicated food, fantastic pizzas, they have something for everyone. Although the Hacienda does not have much nightlife they certainly have good drinks. Every day the happy hour rotates bars and for 1 hour its 2-for-1 drinks. If you get frozen drinks go ahead and ask for an extra shot, it will be worth it. The wine menu is very extensive expecially at Pitahayas. If you thinking about the Hacienda for a destination wedding, do it! The food was great, the decoration/setting was amazing. They had another wedding the day of mine but we never saw the other group. One of our guests spoke to the brother of the other bride and said she toured every hotel in Cabo and choose the Hacienda for her wedding; that’s how wonderful the place is. We had both and ocean front and a ocean view room and honestly the property is so amazing you would be fine with even a garden view. The Hacienda has a internet area with like 15 laptops for anyone to use and you get like 90minutes free. The spa is beautiful and reasonably priced. I dont play golf but the course is beautiful. It is about a 10 minute cab ride from the Hacienda to Cabo and 15-20 to San Jose. Obviously, I am a huge Hacienda del Mar fan and I will absolutely be staying there again.

 

Ceremony - Our ceremony was on Tortuga beach and it could not have been more perfect and beautiful. Everything was set up exactly as I expected.

 

Reception - Palapa Fiesta - Such a fun location for a reception. I had 37 people and there was room for tons more. The setup of cocktail area and dinner area was perfect.

 

Bonfire - Personally, I think this was the best way to end the evening. I hate cake and love smores so having them at my wedding was super fun. All of the guests, especially the 5 little kids really loved it. We officially ended at 10:30 but people were sitting around the bonfire until at least midnight.

 

Rehearsal Dinner - Baja Cantina Beach - I thought this was the perfect place for a casual low key rehearsal dinner. Tables were set up right on the beach and we all ate with our toes in the sand. The mexican buffet was way yummy! They had the best tamale I have ever had. They offered a ton of variety of food, more than we expected. We only paid for beer and sodas but they gave everyone a complimentary margarita that I hear was way potent.

 

Wedding Planner - April, Baja Wedding - I had no idea what to expect when I hired a wedding planner but I was pleasantly surprised. In my head a destination wedding is suppose to be relatively stress free but had I not chosen to get a planner I would have been very stressed. I honestly really wanted to elope but the fiancé convinced me that friends and family would be offended if we did not include them. We compromised by having a destination wedding and I was quickly overwhelmed by the planning process. Once April joined the cause I was stress free. I would only need to make one decision per week and I had freedom to change my mind about anything up until just a few weeks before the wedding. I could pick from the options she provided or I was free to find something on my own and just send her pictures. It was really easy and my fiancé said my being stress free was worth every penny.

 

Hair and makeup - Suzanne Morel Face and body. Although at first, I was shocked by how much make up I was wearing I did love the way I looked. It was so hot that I did get shiny after a while but other than that I had no make up issues. My hair was exactly what I wanted at the start of the evening but the heat and wind caused the curl to fall. Fortunately I had a hair tie so I just pulled it back. If I could do it again I would still wear my hair down but I would have taken 5 min to go freshen up. Its my own fault that I looked a little disheveled by the end of the evening.

 

Photographer - The great Dino Gomez Home - Dino Gomez. Wedding Photographer in Los Cabos, Mexico Wedding Photographers! Really and truly I love my pictures. I was fortunate enough to not only have Dino for the wedding but we also did a TTD shoot (technically 2). Both Mike and I were completely comfortable around Dino and totally trusted his direction. An added bonus, we had a CD of our photos before we left Cabo and they were posted on Pictage for our family within 8 days of the wedding! I love so many of my pictures it will be very tough deciding which get displayed in my house. I may need to rotate so all my favorites time in the spotlight. Dino is also making the video of the wedding and I haven't seen that yet (wedding was only June 13). I will be sure to update the review once I see the video.

 

Flowers - I actually don't know what company did the flowers but they were AMAZING! Random hotel guest were asking April (the WP) where they came from. Because I did not do a site visit I just picked the flowers from a photo and they could not have been more beautiful.

 

Chuppa - I stole the design for the chuppa from wedding pictures I saw on BDW site. I love the chuppa and I am very sad they took it down so fast.

 

DJ -Pacific Sound - I don't dance, music was not important to me. The DJ was there and he played the correct songs for bouquet toss, cake cutting, etc. No guest commented on DJ.

[DTHSLove]

Love your dress. Your review make me feel as if I have sand in my toes. Love the feeling, can't wait to dig my toes in the sand.. CONGRATS

[sunstarsmoon]

congrats and thanks for the review. I love the detail on your dress its so beautiful.

[NJ Hunnie]

Congrats!!!

[JOSIE]

Looks Beautiful!!!!!!!! Congrats!

[jmiranda]

Congratulations! Thanks for sharing.

[dinogomez.com]

Thank you for your wonderful comments!! It was a delight to work with you and had the chance to share with you, your family and friends such a special moment!! So happy to hear you like your photos!! I truly put a lot of passion in what I do!

 

I've posted a few photos of you here: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t44446

 

Here's some others:

 

 

Best,

 

d!no

[JGAMMAGIRL77]

What a great review!!! Dino did a good job with your photos.!!

[BlakleyBrideToBe]

Congrats and thanks the review! Your pictures are beautiful!

[spazycat6454]

Congrats! You looked beautiful and I love your dress.