Budget-YUCK!

[mrskatieperry]

My fiance and I are just getting started in planning a destination wedding.  We would like to have it at an all incusive resort in Mexico.  One of the things I'm curious about is how people handled the budget for their guests?

 

We wanted to go with Moon Palace, and when we threw "$1800/per couple for 4 nights" to our friends, it did not go well.

 

Most people traveling with us want to go for more nights and they won't be able to extend it much at that rate. 

 

Did anyone have similar issues?  What were some tricks you had to help with cost?  What resorts are good for group rates? 

 

We contacted a wedding planner yesterday who can hopefully help, but after reading all the info you all have,I thought I'd give it a whirl;)

 

Any imput/suggestions are welcome!  We are lookign at June 2012, so a decision has to be made fairly soon.

 

Thanks! 

Katie

[kellygrrrl]

hey katie - the average cost per couple for 3 nights at our resort (the Royal Playa del Carmen), including airfare from most US cities and hotel transfer, is about $2K. so far no one has complained about budget, except to say they simply can't afford a vacation, which I completely understand.

 

I think this is a critical part of the destination wedding - i.e. people can't simply show up and expect to be entertained as they would locally. but we're inviting people on a FAB vacation, not asking them to donate a kidney. whether they can't make it for financial reasons, physical reasons or any other myriad scenarios is just the name of the game. if it truly upsets you, and you're losing critical people, I'd suggest getting married nearer your family and friends.

 

otherwise, just decide to have the wedding you want and enjoy the people who can make it! : )

 

ps - we gave people 1.5 yrs notice hoping they'd have enough time to save money, and honestly it hasn't made a difference. I don't mean to be down about the whole thing, I'd just caution against sacrificing what you want in order to accomodate others.

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrskatieperry 

My fiance and I are just getting started in planning a destination wedding.  We would like to have it at an all incusive resort in Mexico.  One of the things I'm curious about is how people handled the budget for their guests?

 

We wanted to go with Moon Palace, and when we threw "$1800/per couple for 4 nights" to our friends, it did not go well.

 

Most people traveling with us want to go for more nights and they won't be able to extend it much at that rate. 

 

Did anyone have similar issues?  What were some tricks you had to help with cost?  What resorts are good for group rates? 

 

We contacted a wedding planner yesterday who can hopefully help, but after reading all the info you all have,I thought I'd give it a whirl;)

 

Any imput/suggestions are welcome!  We are lookign at June 2012, so a decision has to be made fairly soon.

 

Thanks! 

Katie

 

[Allie2012]

Hey Katie,

 

I have a little bit of a different stance than Kelly. We did sacrifice what we wanted in order to accommodate our guests. I had my heart set on Azul Sensatori in the Riviera Maya, but it would have cost about $1800 per/person. I felt that this was just too much money to ask people to spend to come to our wedding. We ended up choosing Dreams Puerto Aventuras in the RM, and the cost is $1500 including flights and taxes leaving from Toronto, Ontario. So far we have 38 ppl booked (expecting about 10 more) and I figure that it will be a blast because of the company, not the resort. Not that I feel that there is anything wrong with the resort, it is just on the small side. You may want to check out other Dreams resorts as they have great wedding packages!

 

Goodluck with the planning and I'm sure that whatever you decide on will be the right choice for you

[X-Chan]

I'm the same as Allie. I just didn't feel right asking people to spend too much money on a vacation to come to our wedding, especially my friends since I know a lot of them don't have much disposable income. In the end I chose a 4 star resort that had great reviews and was #2 on trip advisor for its location. It was only around $1050 for a week for those coming from Ontario/Quebec and like $1400 from BC. The people who couldn't come mostly said they couldn't take the time off, I don't think anyone complained about the price but I did have a few guests that kept trying to find better deals online although I assured them this was the best we could get. We have about 60 people booked in total.

[mrskatieperry]

Thanks, girls!  We got some prices and compared them, and we decided against Moon Palace and are deciding between Now Jade and Dream Riviera Cancun! 

 

Moon was about 360 more per couple for just the Resort stay for 3 days....i thought that may be a make or break for people, and anyway we LOVE the other two!  Now the hard part is deciding which one!!!

 

Thanks for your input--nice to know others understand and feel the same ways I do about feeling "kinda bad".

 

I think it'll all  be just fune though!

[X-Chan]

That's great you found other resorts you love at a more affordable price. For me it was more important to be able to have more of my family and friends there with us. And anyways my favourite part of going down is the beach and the beach is the same whether we're at a 5 star or a 1 star. (but we decided 4 star was compromise enough )

[chrisdior]

Thanks for sharing your prices, I'm getting married in 2013 ad hope to find rates like that as well for my guests. Does it matter that we'll be flying from New York? I'm looking at the Now Jade and waiting for the new Paradisus's Resorts to open at the end of the month. Cant wait to book already!!!

[mrskatieperry]

Hi Chris,

 

Our rates for Dream and Now Jade were the same without airfare.  We have people flying from different places, so the easiest thing for us to do was to get a Resort group rate and then do the airfare seperately.  We are going to look into a wedding group rate from American Airlines, as the flight from Florida to Cancun are really good on there, so we can get most of our guests to use them.

 

The hard part about booking flights with it (especially for you becaus eof 2013) is that you want to nail down your dates at the Resort, but the air fares go up and down depending on how close you are to the time you're traveling. 

 

I love our travel agent--she's originally from New York, but lives here now.  If you end up wanting someone, but don't mind if she's not local, PM me and I'll be happy to give you her info.
 

Originally Posted by chrisdior 

Thanks for sharing your prices, I'm getting married in 2013 ad hope to find rates like that as well for my guests. Does it matter that we'll be flying from New York? I'm looking at the Now Jade and waiting for the new Paradisus's Resorts to open at the end of the month. Cant wait to book already!!!