Making A Decision With Resort- How Did You Pick ?

[calgarybride2015]

This is the hardest part.  I had to cross fantastic resorts off my list because their wedding packages were either sub par or they were to expensive. 

 

if you wanted to hold out and wait until Sept I don't think that is a bad thing - lots of places don't like to price until a year out anyways and it may take away some of the stress seeing it all in person.    We didn't do a site visit, but after we chose our resort it was unreal how many people we knew who had been to this resort and a few had even married there/attended a wedding there.  

 

We were strongly driven by price point as we didn't want to price our guests out of coming.  But also the pricing of the weddings and the quality of the resort based on what we wanted.   Trust me, it left many tears and my head was spinning, but you will get there.

[TinkerSofi]

@@racht33 I agree that this is the hardest part. I also liked a lot of resorts but their wedding packages just weren't what I was looking for. Others, sometimes you ask for information and they send you nothing. 

 

I think you also need to find a combination between everything you want. Sometimes you might have to give something up since no resort is 100% perfect. For us, the prices for trips were $100 over the budget we had, but we thought it was worth it

 

If you can wait until September and it would make you feel better to visit a bunch of hotel before deciding I think it's a good idea. You have plenty of time. We didn't visit the hotel we booked but it has such amazing reviews, and other people have been to weddings there and said that it was beautiful, and their weddings are really well put together, so we're happy with our choice. 

Edited February 17, 2015 by TinkerSofi

[TaraMarie33]

Hi everyone! I am SO happy I found this thread - because I have been having the same hell of a time. My fiance and I went to Mexico for several days in November 2014 to pick the "perfect" wedding resort! We are planning to get married January 7th, 2016. Our week (January 2-9th) is stuck, mostly because our family and friends are unable to attend most other times of the year. 

We narrowed down our choices to 2: 

 

The Dreams Tulum & The Azul Sensatori 

 

We were FINALLY ready to commit this week, when my TA sent me outrageous prices. From Toronto, roundtrip we were quote over $2200 for both places all inclusive with flight. This quote blew my mind!!!! $2200 a person seems outrageous to me. I cannot ask a couple to pay out almost $5000 to come watch me get married. 

 

So, I am back to the drawing board. I have been starting to look at other resorts, and now feel like I am literally back at square 1. I don't know if I should wait it out, and hope the prices drop. Or if I should change resorts completely. I have done extensive research and priced out the Dreams packages and the Azul packages .. do you ladies have any advice on some reasonably priced wedding packages out there? At this point, the pricing for my guests and the wedding package is my biggest concern - seeing how prices jumped $500 per person in just a few weeks. 

 

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with starting all over. Any help and advice on packages and rates would be REALLY appreciated. We only have about 1 or 2 children coming to the wedding, mostly adults. I want a beach ceremony, and I will be having about 50 guests. Trying to pay less than $10,000 for our wedding .. not sure if that is doable. 

 

Also - a tip from myself  to you guys! .. I noticed a few of you mentioned the "Now" properties as good options. When my fiance and I went to visit the Now properties in November, the wedding coordinators were HORRIBLE! I mean, the worst. They didn't have our confirmation for a site visit - although I had confirmed twice with them. They didn't know how many people could fit at each ceremony location. Their answer to all of my questions were "its possible". I would never put my wedding in the hands of someone who doesnt even know where I can have my ceremony on their property. Beware of the Now properties!! They are too new to operate like some of the others out there. 

Anyway, looking forward to seeing what you guys think I should do. Kenny and I are beyond frustrated with trying to pick the right place, for the right price! Its sooooooo hard! 

[AllieH]

the high price is probably due to the week you picked unfortunately. I'd ask your TA to price a couple of other properties for comparison purposes, but I'm not sure how much different the results will be unfortunately. 

 

Hi everyone! I am SO happy I found this thread - because I have been having the same hell of a time. My fiance and I went to Mexico for several days in November 2014 to pick the "perfect" wedding resort! We are planning to get married January 7th, 2016. Our week (January 2-9th) is stuck, mostly because our family and friends are unable to attend most other times of the year. 

We narrowed down our choices to 2: 

 

The Dreams Tulum & The Azul Sensatori 

 

We were FINALLY ready to commit this week, when my TA sent me outrageous prices. From Toronto, roundtrip we were quote over $2200 for both places all inclusive with flight. This quote blew my mind!!!! $2200 a person seems outrageous to me. I cannot ask a couple to pay out almost $5000 to come watch me get married. 

 

 

[TinkerSofi]

@@TaraMarie33 Oh i get you 100% because we were on the exact same boat a few months ago, the two resorts that we had picked didn't work out. We had also gone to visit them and I felt so discouraged, back to square 1. I felt like we had totally wasted that trip visiting hotels. 

 

I think your best resource here will be your TA, that's how we ended up at AF. She suggested a couple of resorts to us in our price range and we picked one. Jan 2-9 can still be high season. We traveled at that time last year and we paid 1500 for a hotel that was probably 4 stars, maybe 3.5, so just keep that in mind. 

 

What about Grand Sirenis? @@calgarybride2015 was really happy with them

[TaraMarie33]

@TinkerSofi 

I have just asked my TA to get quotes for the Riu Palace and Grand Sirenis. 

 

I can't decide .. either to just wait a few weeks/months and see what happens with pricing - or just ask my TA to give me her best price. My fiance and I decided, we know what the beaches look like - we now know the areas, all the resorts are going to be comparative in food and rooms, etc. Its all about the price for our guests. I don't want them to pay $2300 and be disappointed... ya know? 

 

Anyway, thanks for you advice! I am going to keep trekking. I wonder how you found AF, we were so set on Azul Sensatori until it came at $2200 haha. 

[TinkerSofi]

I've been to a couple of the Riu resorts in Cancun and they were good, the food was good . I wouldn't say super amazing but I wasn't disappointed. The wedding venues at the ones I've been to at least weren't too private but I don't know what they're like in their other resorts. That was the reason why we didn't go with them. 

 

Maybe ask your TA whether she thinks prices will go down for that time of the year? We're traveling in August so that's we we got a really good price at AF, even our TA said so when she got the quotes back, so we booked. So far I like it but I've never visited, I'm just going by what other people have said. 

[TaraMarie33]

Wedding update! 

 

We just got a great rate for the Grand Sirenis. Thank God. $1730 from Toronto with transfers. I think as soon as I can confirm they have our wedding date available I will book it ASAP. 

[TinkerSofi]

Wedding update! 

 

We just got a great rate for the Grand Sirenis. Thank God. $1730 from Toronto with transfers. I think as soon as I can confirm they have our wedding date available I will book it ASAP. 

I'm sure you won't regret your choice. That's an excellent price for the time of the year you're traveling in! 

 

So I went back to notes I had when I first got in contact with my TA. She actually recommended the Grand Sirenis to us along with Azul Fives when our first choice didn't pan out! haha I've only heard good things about this resort.