SMB bride 2012

baririce · September 6, 2011

His pictures look good, but some of the reviews on how he forces you to buy pictures makes me nervous. I have heard that he purposely picks 50 pictures for the album and leaves out very important ones so you end up buying the CD with all of them. If I could pick my 50, then I would for sure go with him. You may want to ask him about that and let me know what you find out.

bpokatie · September 6, 2011

I invited 20 people, but right now only 12 have booked. It's gonna be a small wedding. As of right now, we are not going to have a reception. After the ceremony we are going to do the cake, and then everyone can just go eat dinner where they want, and then meet up at one of the bar areas after dinner. We may be having a reception when we get home so I just want to keep it simple in Mexico.

The photographer said he can customize a package if you want something different than his packages on SMB. We are thinking about just getting the CD with all of the photos, and then print off what we want when we get home. This way we don't have to worry about flying back with the prints. So if you email him he should be able to customize a package for you.

Originally Posted by baririce

His pictures look good, but some of the reviews on how he forces you to buy pictures makes me nervous. I have heard that he purposely picks 50 pictures for the album and leaves out very important ones so you end up buying the CD with all of them. If I could pick my 50, then I would for sure go with him. You may want to ask him about that and let me know what you find out.

baririce · September 8, 2011

Thank you so much! That is very helpful and I will contact him.

bmilliken0730 · October 11, 2011

Hi ladies! My fiance and I are getting married at SMB on 8-25-11. We are booked and ready to go... already lol! We have decided though to go with an outside vendor for photography/videography. We are looking at Octavio Montes or Blue Lens Caribe. Both of them are verrry affordable compared to what I have seen. Both of thier pictures are goregous and they have rave reviews! I just want to get the most "bang for my buck" so to speak. There will just be the 2 of us so photography and videography are VERY important to us... I hope this helps you!!

P.S. There is an abandoned mansion about 5 minutes south of the resort that I heard is breathtaking for photos!

Funkydoll · November 7, 2011

Congrats to everyone who's gett'n married at SM on 2012!

I'm new to this site and it's a-lot of readings to go through on the "Secrets Maroma Brides" Thread. I'm so glad that someone had started "SMG Bride 2012" so that we can exchange more up-to-date information.

I've got a couple questions and hopefully someone have the answers:

(1) Anyone knows if there's extra charge to have a Wedding Ceremony performed on a Saturday or Sunday?

(2) Anyonoe using/had used the in site salon for their wedding date Hair & Makeup? i would really wanna know if they do a good job

(3) Do they allow you to bring your own wedding decorations?wedding favors? i

baririce · November 9, 2011

So, we are trying to cut costs with out being tacky. We may have up to 60 guests coming and I had a question about the cocktail hour........ Is it needed at an all-inclusive resort? We would rather spend the money on extras for the reception. Can't the guests just go to any bar and drink for free anyway for 45 minutes, instead of being stuck drinking the type of alcohol that we choose for them? Also, did anyone do a mexican fiesta buffet dinner for their wedding, instead of the offered dinner packages? We just want a big party.

Alobaidis · November 9, 2011

Hi all,

My fiancÃ©e and I want to have a destination wedding in Rivera Maya, Mexico or Jamaica. So far we have changed our minds few times before we decided on El Dorado Royale. But with a little intervention from my future mother-in-law, we had to change the place and we fell in love with Secrets Maroma Beach resort and decided to pick that place.

We were really excited because SMB looks breathtaking from the pictures and the reviews were awesome until we found out how much everything will really cost.

So, weâ€™re nervous that SMB might be too expensive for us. From the looks of it our trip PLUS the wedding â€œstuffâ€ is going to run us almost $10K. I think $42 / person for dinner for our reception is a little bit too much for an â€œAll Inclusive Resortâ€. We emailed the wedding coordinator to ask if we could just have the same food that is being served at the restaurant to bring cost down (i.e., no special menu) but she hasnâ€™t answered yet.

If we need to look to another option, we think Iberostar Grand Rose Hall would be the next best option. Itâ€™s also smaller (under 300 rooms) and according to trip advisor, is rated the #1 all inclusive resort in all of Jamaica! The wedding prices are MUCH more reasonable â€“ from what the website shows itâ€™ll only cost us about $400 out of pocket ($18 per guest over 8).

I wanted to get your input on how much you think youâ€™re wedding is going to cost. I know that the estimates might be somewhat rough now and what is â€œexpensiveâ€ is very subjective from one couple to another.

I also want to know if any of you have looked at the cost of the having a wedding in any other resorts and what you didnâ€™t like about them. Is it worth spending the extra $$$ and Have the wedding at SMB? And How can we (or how do you think youâ€™re going to) cut the cost as much as possible.

Some information about our wedding details: we are planning to have 20-30 people, the resort has to be Adults only-All inclusive resort (No kids). We also have to have a beautiful beach for everyone to enjoy and actually go in the water (some beaches are too rocky to swim in) and the size of the resort is very important to us too. We donâ€™t want a crowded place (over 450 rooms) because we donâ€™t like the idea of being crammed in a place with a lot of people. We also donâ€™t want a very small place.

Thank you for reading my long post but we are in desperate need of any input/advice. I really appreciate any ideas, thoughts, experiences, and comments on our concerns. Planning this wedding has not been easy and we are a little behind schedule.

Thanks again.

Salam

bpokatie · November 9, 2011

Hi Alobaidis! I'm getting married at SMB on May 12th. We are only having about 16 people, maybe 20. The wedding isn't costing us too much. We have decided to just use the complementry wedding package. So the only thing we will be paying for is the photographer, my hair, and an extra bouquet for my bridesmaid. We have decided that since we aren't having too many people, we will just allow people to choose which restaurant they want to eat at, and then meet us up after dinner at the lobby bar or club for celebrating. I was also going to see if there was a way to reserve a group of tables in the buffet restaurant for no extra charge.

I stayed at Iberostar Grand Rose Hall earlier this year and it is beautiful! The resort, rooms, pool, and beach are all very nice. This resort is connected to Iberostar Beach and Iberostar Rose Hall. The Grand is the best, and is adults only. The other two allow children. We walked down to Iberostar Beach and the beach and water is not as nice as the Grand Rose Hall. But if you wanted to rent any other their water equipment you had to walk down to The Beach Hotel.

One thing that sort of bugged us was that you had to make reservations in order to eat at any of the restaurants. We got there a Thursday, and the had to "squeeze" us into spots for the weekend which was at 8:00pm or later. We also didn't like that we had to wear wrist bands the whole time there. I know that you dont have to do either at SMB.

We really did enjoy our stay at Iberostar Grand Rose Hall. If you choose to stay there you will not be disappointed. I guess it all depends on the little things like I mentioned above. We chose to have our wedding at SMB because we met a couple while we stayed at Iberostar Grand Rose Hall, and they told us SMB was there most favorite resort they've stayed at. They liked it a lot better than Iberostar. So we are trusting their opinion and the great reviews on trip advisor

I know how you feel. It is a very hard decision. We are also on a tight budget, but we really want to go to a beautiful place. I don't see the point of having to pay for a reception or cocktail hour when we are paying for an all-inclusive hotel. To me eating together isn't that big of a deal. I asked some of our guest what they thought and they didn't care either, as long as we are all together for the ceremonry. I hope this was some what helpful. If you have any more questions let me know. I also have pictures from our trip at Iberostar Grand Rose Hall, if you wanted to see them send me a message.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alobaidis