Best Deals for parties of 50 or more

Krystina Hodges · January 28, 2013

Hey ladies, I just got engaged a week ago!!! My fiancÃ© and I have always discussed a destination wedding seeing as how he is from the East Coast and I am from the West Coast... we decided it would only be fair for everyone to travel to a beautiful island to see us say, "I do". I know it is still really new for me but because we want to do destination wedding, I don't want to wait too long to find a place to give all of our guests enough time to save up. I have a large family that is going to want to be at the wedding along with all of our fiends... will easily put us over 50 people. I am seeing a lot of the packages for 10-30 people, and was wondering if any of you have either had a wedding with a large party or are also planning a wedding with a large party. We would like the private dinner and reception service after the fact. Do I just need to contact the hotels to get this kind of information?? If anyone could help me, it would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you so much!!

Krystina

DP1andDP2 · January 28, 2013

Congrats!!!! Welcome to the world of destination wedding planning. Most large resorts will accommodate groups from 10-100 people.

Firstly, you can have a dream wedding at a resort--you don't have to compromise on anything. I am having tons of fun planning my wedding.

So here are a few things you may want to do:

1. Choose a country

2. Come up with a rough budget for you and your lucky man AND a budget for your guests. (For example we wanted our guests to pay no more than $1200 per person for 3 nights/4 days).

3. Look at resorts within your preferred price range (There are popular chains such as Sandals, Barcelo, Paradisus, Melia, Palace, Riu etc). These chains may have multiple properties in one city. Some properties offer higher end amenities etc. Once you choose a country, Trip Advisor may be your best bet. Scour the hotels, read reviews etc. and choose your top 3 or 4 resorts.

4. Begin contacting the wedding planners at each of your top resorts. There usually is a link on the website. The initial email should include the following:

--your full name, phone and email address (maybe an estimate of the number of guests)

--preferred dates (have a first, second and third choice) and TIME of your wedding

--request a a pdf of their wedding packages (includes ceremony info, reception info, cocktail hour)

--ask if there are special room rates for your guests. If so, to send that information and what free stuff you can get

--ask if they have a photo album you can view (see what their ceremonies look like, florals, cakes, resort locations etc)

5. Call travel agents that specialize in weddings. (My fiance and I called about 5 different agents to get a feel for the culture of weddings at the resort and we began requesting quotes for a block of rooms for our guests)

6. You may want to hire a wedding planner to do ALL of the planning for you. Sometimes resorts take a few days to respond to emails and that can be stressful. We recently hired a planner that used to work at the resort and since she is working for us she is saving us tons of money.

That's all I have in terms of first steps. Good luck and ask questions before you decide. Also, it's okay to change your mind--we changed resorts three times before deciding on the perfect one.

DP1andDP2 · January 28, 2013

By the way we are having our wedding at Paradisus Palma Real in Punta Cana. We are expecting about 50+ guests and we are having a welcome cocktail party. Our package includes the ceremony, 1 hr cocktail party and private reception. If you are considering one of the Paradisus resorts check out the threads.