Tailor made wedding or another same wedding???

[Micas de Miralls]

Hello to everyone , I am an Indipendent wedding planner working in the Riviera Maya in the past 5 years.

 

I am pretty new on this forum, and for this I thank Sol and Matt who suggest me this amazing forum!!!

 

As I said , I am an indipendent wedding planner, indipendent because we select personally every wedding location, we work in amazing places such as private villas, haciendas , beach club but we dont work in all inclusive hotels where weddings are just number ...it is not our style, and I know for sure that prices in hotel are not so cheap either...so i was wondering how couples decide for an all inclusive weddings versus a tailor made wedding....can you help me understand??'Thanks!!!

[wedding decor]

We are also doing customized weddings (that is why we provide decoracion to Federica for example!Welcome to the forum by the way!) and really don't understand why brides continue to select all-incusive resorts that are "wedding factories", where the bride can not select what she wants (hey it her day!!) unless she pays ridicoulos outside vendors fess.....oh well!

[brandonsbride]

Welcome to the forum! I prefer to have a custom wedding at a resort that only allows one wedding per day. I like that my ideas are heard and like communication back and forth. Good luck! This forum will be a great resource to you!

[mexbride83]

Here is a little about why I've chosen all-inclusive. For me, personally, I prefer not to do all-inclusive resorts when I travel. My fiance and I travel a lot and we always choose boutique hotels without meal plans (or with just breakfast) because we love to go explore the towns, experience different restaurants, etc.

 

However, most of our wedding guests are not as adventurous as us. In fact, a lot of them have never even left the U.S. So for them, it is very intimidating to go to somewhere foreign (and now many of them consider Mexico "dangerous") and have to leave their resort. I can guarantee you that 50% of my wedding guests will NEVER leave our resort during their stay. Because of this, it is much cheaper for our guests to buy an all-inclusive package than to stay at a hotel and pay for all of their meals and drinks at that hotel during the stay. So that is why we chose an all-inclusive resort.

 

That being said, our resort (Ceiba del Mar) is not strictly all-inclusive. It does have a European Plan as well. And it definitely is not a "wedding factory" type of resort. We chose this resort because my fiance and I wanted the type of resort that we'd choose to stay at (small, boutique), yet still give our guests an all-inclusive option. Also at Ceiba we can choose our own DJ, florist, decor, etc.

 

Also, I can say that many people choose the large all-inclusive resorts for weddings because of their wedding packages, which are a GREAT deal. I considered booking Dreams just because it is such a good deal, and everything is already done for you. That is very important to many brides. Hope that helps!

[lshaef]

Well said mexbride83.  We chose Ceiba del Mar for all of the reasons you mentioned.  Our family was not thrilled to hear we were planning our wedding in Mexico.  They see the news and think everywhere is "bad".  I also didn't want the "cookie-cutter" wedding. 

Good Luck with your planning.

[mmc1105]

Honestly, I would much prefer a tailor-made wedding, but didn't think I could afford it

[jenngene2011]

Well said Medbride.   I chose Dreams La Romana in Dominican Republic it was a personal choice for FI and our guests.  We have several guests who are to scared to go walking around DR and will stay in the resort.  The other thought was since our guests are paying to come to a resort why book a resort that will charge them more than what they booked.  An allinclusive resort provides room, food, ALCOHOL for one price.  I am not worried at all about the it being a "wedding factories"  since I have worked at several wedding venues here in the states for years I just feel all places are the same.  If I wanted a whole wedding customized I would have just done a wedding at home and had everything customized to what I want.  I think that reason we do destination wedding is for the experience of something new not something we could have done back home. 

[Elizabeth Medina]

Hola Federica! With so many fantastic options for venues, decoration, etc. I am sure that any Mayan Riviera wedding you ¨tailor make¨ would be a dream come true for the lucky couple! And of course for the photographer as well!

 

I do have to say though that I have photographed many weddings in all different kind of locations including some that could possibly be considered to be in the dreaded  Â¨wedding factory¨ category and the truth is that I have never, EVER seen a wedding that is the same as any other! Each and every wedding just seems to have its own very unique magic, energy and beauty!    

[adcarter41]

I agree with Elizabeth. It's a lot more than the venue and decorations that makes a wedding unique.

[snow88]

I'm not getting married in Mexico but I wouldn't choose an AI because I want something unique and I'm not big on beaches.  Why go on a vacation and just stay in a hotel?  I love to explore the countries that I visit.  I only have two families that was interested in AI.