HELP!!! New with no idea where to begin!

[JanetandDan2014]

Hi everyone,

My fiance and I are newbies and just skimming the site... I'm Janet and my fiance is Dan and he has an 8 year old daughter.  We were engaged Christmas 2012 and are planning a beach wedding for April or May 2014. 

 

I am in the early stages here and have no idea where to begin on planning, picking a resort, etc.

 

We both have very large extended families and will be having a local reception at home (St. Louis, MO) in June 2014 for 225 people.  However, we anticipate 30-40 people to actually travel to Mexico for our wedding so we need to do a little more than just a quick free ceremony on the beach.  I don't understand how I can pick a package to share with guests when I don't really even know how many would attend.    Has anyone else had this problem? 

 

I am interested in hearing from couples who had approximately 20-40 people (a few kids as well) on a minimal budget. What did you spend?  What worked?  What didn't work?  Where did you go? 

 

Any info you can give me for a beginner will be helpful.  THANKS SO MUCH!

[Moments That Matter]

Congrats JanetandDan2014 ! and welcome to the forum......a great place to find so much info to plan the destination wedding just right for you! so you're already off to an excellent start!

 

Our MTM team has shot some gorgeous weddings at these family resorts.....

 

Grand Paladium White Sands.......

 

Grand Sunset Princess.......

 

Grand Porto Real Playa del Carmen.........

Gran Porto Real, Playa del Carmen.......

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Moon Palace........

Happy research for making the best plans for your Big Day, and Cheers

 

team MTM asst, Lynda

[karyc]

congratulations!
 

[Lyman]

Welcome to our forum community, Janet & Dan, and Congrats on your upcoming destination wedding.......wishing you all the best with finding everything you need to make the perfect plans for your Big Day! happy research, and enjoy the journey ahead.........Cheers

[DiggityDawn]

My suggestion is always to find a travel agent to work with. There are many that specialize in destination weddings. I was going crazy trying to pick my own resort out of the 100's of them in mexico. My TA helped me narrow down my search to the Riviera Maya region and then (understanding that I'm the kind to do my own research) he helped me by telling me which resorts he would not recommend for a wedding. It took a couple months working with the TA from start to the deposits and booking the rooms, but my TA helped IMMENSELY!!  I would still be trying to decide on a resort without him.

 

As for the wedding packages, from what I've learned, most resorts do have packages that have a maximum person count. But that doesn't mean you can have only that amount of people. It just means that is how many people the cocktail hour or the reception covers. If you have a package that has a max of 25 people, but you have 40 attending, then you will just have to pay their charge per person for the extra 15 people. Watch out though and check with the resort about the per person pricing for the packages because some are as high as $92 per person depending on your package.
 

[rosyvaldez]

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[dreamweddings]

Congrats Jan and Dan on your upcoming Destination Wedding !!!

 

I am a wedding planer here in the Riviera Maya and there are a lot of resorts in the area who offer wedding packages.

 

Feel free to contact me for more information and Happy Research !!

 

Joyce

[Yazmin De La Mora]

Originally Posted by JanetandDan2014 

 

Hi everyone,

 

My fiance and I are newbies and just skimming the site... I'm Janet and my fiance is Dan and he has an 8 year old daughter.  We were engaged Christmas 2012 and are planning a beach wedding for April or May 2014. 

 

I am in the early stages here and have no idea where to begin on planning, picking a resort, etc.

 

We both have very large extended families and will be having a local reception at home (St. Louis, MO) in June 2014 for 225 people.  However, we anticipate 30-40 people to actually travel to Mexico for our wedding so we need to do a little more than just a quick free ceremony on the beach.  I don't understand how I can pick a package to share with guests when I don't really even know how many would attend.    Has anyone else had this problem? 

 

I am interested in hearing from couples who had approximately 20-40 people (a few kids as well) on a minimal budget. What did you spend?  What worked?  What didn't work?  Where did you go? 

 

Any info you can give me for a beginner will be helpful.  THANKS SO MUCH!

Dear JanetandDan,

Congratulations!

My suggestion will be first to define your budget because from that you will be able to know if you can hire a wc and define the location that will suit your needs (beach club, european hotel, small hotel, all inclusive hotel or private villa or location).  Once you have the location you will be able to define all the rest such as vendors and details.

 

In the wedding tips section you can find the 7 steps to get your wedding started that might be of help for you to know where to start!

 

http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/a/7-steps-to-get-your-wedding-started

 

Happy planning!

[AnaSteele58]

I agree. Start with a budget then contact a TA. I hear the TAs from this site are phenomenal. There is a link somewhere on the website. I'm using the mobile version so I don't see a link at the moment. Maybe Tammy can swoop in and provide you some assistance. If not, the link should be pretty easy to find. I think it's Wright Travel.

[JanetandDan2014]

Oh my I realized I never responded to all of you!  Thank you so much for your input.  I actually did end up working with Wendy from Wright Travel.  She has been wonderful!  I started with a budget although have definitely blown the budget.  I think things will all work out in the end though.  I was so confused when I first started the process.  I guess I didn't realize that you worked with the resort separately for the wedding planning.  That completely makes sense but it threw me off.