Wedding August 2012 - Cabo San Lucas!! I have no clue where to start! Help!!

[brittmcfarlin]

Congrats and welcome to the forum!! There are so many awesome ladies on this site who share amazing ideas!!!  People think, "Oh, you're having a destination wedding, that must be so much easier than a traditional wedding!".  Little do they know it's like double the work.  But, all I can say is that it is you and your fiance's day.  Plan what makes you happy Soooo...happy planning!!!!

[bondgirl0072010]

Congratulations paulastuart! Cabo is absolutely amazing. I've been several times although I had my wedding in the Riviera Maya (prior to making our first trip to Cabo). There are a bunch of options when it comes to hotels that are right on the only swimmable (it's amazing) beach, Medano Beach. Hotels range from swanky like ME by Melia to more timeshare/condo hotels all the way down the beach (Pueblo Bonito Sunset, Rose, etc). If you have any specific questions, feel free to let me know. I understand you're planning on bringing everything in yourselves and there was a recommendation about the Pedregal area. Pedregal is absolutely gorgeous with multi-million dollar star-studded homes built into the rocks as well as hotels and villas. Getting a travel agent who specializes in destination weddings (especially since I assume you'll have an international crew booking) might be a very helpful start to help you get pricing aligned. I know it's overwhelming at first but a TA can help provide options, photos, etc. without you having to contact a million different hotels and rental companies. Cabo is so gorgeous and I know you'll love it! I'll leave you with a few pics from my last trip in May!

 

Medano Beach panorama

 

 

Marina area (beauuutiful)

 

 

Bar on the beach...with swings!

 

 

 

Across from Medano Beach is Lover's Beach. This place is incredible. It's a boatride away (be ready to literally JUMP out of the little fishing boat to get to shore) but it's where part of Planet of the Apes was filmed (on the opposite side called Divorce Beach). This is such a magical little place...a nice little romantic (inexpensive $10 boat ride to get there) when you want to escape the party scene on Medano Beach for an hour or two!

 

 

Lover's Beach

 

 

 

Originally Posted by paulastuart 

Hi everyone!

 

My name is Paula and I am newly engaged.  My fiance (I just typed boyfriend and then remembered thats not quite the right term anymore!)   I am from New Zealand originally and Alex is from St Louis, Missouri.  We wanted to get married somewhere in the middle as a compromise for our families and I have always wanted to go to Mexico! 

 

I would so love any help/advice/guidance from you all.  I have quickly skimmed through the posts on here and everyone is just so helpful with great tips.  Its also especially important as we won't be able to get to the venue or to Mexico until the week before we marry, so recommendations are crucial for us.

 

We would like between 60-70 guests and we are thinking about a beach front ceremony.  We would then like to have the reception and party afterwards in a villa, unless anyone has recommendations for other ideas!! We are trying to keep costs down by bringing in our own caterers and buying our own booze, and I think we thought that hiring a villa would allow us to do this.  However, I have seen some amazing venues and just want to get some ideas from you all really!

 

Thanks so much and I hope you can help me out, I can't say enough how much I would appreciate it!

 

Thanks

Paula

 

[vallartafotos]

Hi Paula,

Congratulations on your engagement! I can see you are very excited about getting married on the beach in Mexico! I've been to Cabo San Lucas on the Baja peninsula twice & really like it, but now I live in Puerto Vallarta. If you are considering quite a lot of people flying in, I think it might be easier to fly here as it is a more international airport. If you were are all coming from Los Angeles or Canada you could get direct flights to Cabo, but lots of flights from many countries can fly directly here to PV. I am a wedding photographer here and can recommend any of the resorts or hotels, there are so many! You have so many different areas, the Hotel Zone, Nuevo Vallarta, then up the coast to the more exclusive resorts in Punta Mita, where a lot of celebrities go to have a good time without a lot of crowds. Check different places out, if you want any more avvice from me please let me know, I will try to help in any way I can! A lot of weddings are arranged by wedding planners here, & it is not feasible to bring caterers or booze, all the vendors in Mexico are experts at it & is not worth the expense to bring them in - also you are prohibited from bringing certain things into the country.............my email is [email protected], tel: 01152 322 109 4885, Facebook Janny Fieldhouse fotosatthebeach. Good luck in your adventure!

Janny

[paulastuart]

WOW Thank you all so much for your help and tips!! I have honestly found this website invaluable for our wedding planning!!

 

We have changed our minds on a few things in relation to our wedding now.. because we are coming from London and will only be in Mexico the week before the wedding we decided to get married at a resort - Sheraton Hacienda Cabo!  We signed the contract last week and Viviana has been fantastic with my many questions about the package and the hotel itself.  I feel really confident from all the reviews of the Sheraton on this website that we have made the right choice. 

 

The photographs of the day are really important to me also so we are flying our photographer over from New Zealand to take the pictures for the day!  She is amazing and I so look forward to her joining us in Mexico.  I was wondering if anyone on this site would be able to give us some tips on great places to get photographs taken on the day?  We will obviously utilise the venue for some photographs but thought it would be worth checking if there are any other places worth getting photos done in Cabo!

 

I am thinking about booking quite a few of the vendors I require myself and wonder if anyone out there has any tips or recommendations for the following:

 

- car rental in Cabo

- florist

- hair stylists

- best Mariachi band in Cabo?

 

Thanks all, you have been SO helpful!!!!

[vallartafotos]

Hi Paula,

 

I can understand your concerns and would like to put your mind at rest!

 

All wedding professionals here in Mexico have an enormous amount of experience in this part of the world, it is just difficult to understand when you are far away!

 

The best plan is to hire a Wedding Planner, search for a photographer yourself or depend on recommendations by the planner. The planners though do get extremely busy in the high season here in Mexico & some at the resorts will take longer to get back to you so I would recommend one that is not affiliated to the hotel or resort, others have more options and better prices as they choose vendors according to your budget and style. One wedding planner I know is Jo Ann Mundy at Miamorwedding.com.

 

I am a wedding photographer here in Mexico, right now in Puerto Vallarta but it is easy to get to Cabo from here so that is not a problem. I am on Facebook as Janny Fieldhouse and fotosatthebeach, & I am working on my website right now. I will give you an excellent price that will assure you the whole day coverage from preparations to the first dance or longer. I have been photographing weddings in the US, UK & Mexico for many years & have great ability to understand people & put them at ease in front of the camera.

 

If you could please write back to me at [email protected] I will reply to you asap.

 

Good luck with your plans & let me know if you still need any help at all!

 

Janny

0152 322 127 2122

[Pucca]

 

Originally Posted by paulastuart 

WOW Thank you all so much for your help and tips!! I have honestly found this website invaluable for our wedding planning!!

 

We have changed our minds on a few things in relation to our wedding now.. because we are coming from London and will only be in Mexico the week before the wedding we decided to get married at a resort - Sheraton Hacienda Cabo!  We signed the contract last week and Viviana has been fantastic with my many questions about the package and the hotel itself.  I feel really confident from all the reviews of the Sheraton on this website that we have made the right choice. 

 

The photographs of the day are really important to me also so we are flying our photographer over from New Zealand to take the pictures for the day!  She is amazing and I so look forward to her joining us in Mexico.  I was wondering if anyone on this site would be able to give us some tips on great places to get photographs taken on the day?  We will obviously utilise the venue for some photographs but thought it would be worth checking if there are any other places worth getting photos done in Cabo!

 

I am thinking about booking quite a few of the vendors I require myself and wonder if anyone out there has any tips or recommendations for the following:

 

- car rental in Cabo

- florist

- hair stylists

- best Mariachi band in Cabo?

 

Thanks all, you have been SO helpful!!!!

 

Congratulations on settling on the location and the resort! 

 

I recently had my wedding in San Jose del Cabo so I thought I'd chime in a few things. :-) 

 

Car rental: I recommend that you do it online and pick up the car when you arrive at the airport. Most of the big name companies are right in the terminal. If you happen to go with a smaller company, make sure you ONLY look for those people wearing the company's shirt (and most likely they'll have a counter once you exit the baggage claim area or enter the lobby-type areas. We booked ours through Yahoo but a friend booked hers through Hotwire. 

 

Florist: I recommend Claudia from Floreria Rayen. You can do a search for her here on this forum and PM her; or PM me and I'll get you her contact. She's great to work with and I loved the job she did for our wedding. 

 

I wish I would have gotten the contact for our hair stylist as he was great! But he was referred to us through our wedding coordinator. I can try to get his contact if you aren't getting other recommendations. Plus his prices were pretty good I thought!

 

As for a mariachi band, sorry I can't help you there. 

 

Let me know if you have any questions or if I can be of any further help! Good luck and happy planning!