Distressed And Discouraged

[SimpleBliss]

Hello everyone!

 

I am very glad to join the community here. I am in the midst of planning my own wedding set tentatively for April 2016 in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.

Duration of our stay would be 5 days and 4 nights as my fiance cannot get anymore days off. Not planning to have anything too formal and all-inclusive resorts are not our thing. Our top two priorities are Food and Photography. Decor would be minimal, especially when you have the ocean as your background.

 

Through my research and price quotes I am getting discouraged that planning a destination wedding with under 20 guests is not possible for my small budget of $5000 - $10000. (Everyone is pretty much paying their own flights and accommodations to get there).

 

Just  wondering if any other brides were able to pull this off with that amount. I am looking to have a semi-private to private beach ceremony.

The reception could either be at the same venue or at a villa where my family and I would be staying at (this means we would need to hire catering)

 

If not we could all just go out to a nice restaurant to have dinner?

 

Any feedback or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Edited August 3, 2015 by SimpleBliss

[snswedding2016]

@@SimpleBliss Welcome and congrats on your engagement! Is your $5000-10 000 budget including travel costs for you and your fiancé? Are you completely opposed to having it at an all inclusive? My resort budget for 60 people for just the wedding was $6000 and we're definitely under that so it is possible but I know you mentioned the all inclusive thing isn't really your first choice.

 

There are definitely other options too though (I unfortunately don't have any experience in that department however) with beach clubs, boat cruises and restaurants...not too sure on the range of costs there. @@acw271011 may be able to give some words of wisdom as she's planning a small reception off site.

[Moments That Matter]

Welcome to our forum community and upcoming PdC wedding, SimpleBliss!!! you'll find lots of great resources here to help with your planning decisions, so well done on getting off to an excellent start

 

Wishing you happy research, and all the best with your plans - cheers!!! team MTM

 

....for some added inspiration, here are some magical wedding moments that matter Linc captured in our magnificent Mayan Riviera - enjoy! .......from our Timeline Photo Album:

 

 

[SimpleBliss]

@@SimpleBliss Welcome and congrats on your engagement! Is your $5000-10 000 budget including travel costs for you and your fiancé? Are you completely opposed to having it at an all inclusive? My resort budget for 60 people for just the wedding was $6000 and we're definitely under that so it is possible but I know you mentioned the all inclusive thing isn't really your first choice.

 

There are definitely other options too though (I unfortunately don't have any experience in that department however) with beach clubs, boat cruises and restaurants...not too sure on the range of costs there. @@acw271011 may be able to give some words of wisdom as she's planning a small reception off site.

 

The $5000 - $10000 budget does not include airfare costs (which is probabely going to be $700/pp coming from Calgary/Toronto/Edmonton)

 

The reason why I don't like All Inclusives Resort because I feel I won't be staying on the resort much to benefit from their amenities. We are big foodies and prefer to go out to town to eat and try new things and like going to the odd hole in the wall restaurant that serves awesome delicious food! In addition, I heard many resorts push you to have their own photographers+make up artist and would charge you for outside vendor fees. 

 

I would prefer to have control over using my own photographer of choice as pictures are very important to me and my own make-up artist.

 

I am amazed that you managed to have $6000 budget for AI and 60 guests attending!? I would love to see your budget breakdown on your wedding because it's giving me a glimmer of hope that mine might be doable.

[calgarybride2015]

Welcome!!

 

I also had an AI wedding with 45 people and the wedding itself was around $5500. With photography I paid around $7500. We paid our AI package over and above that cost plus my dress, decor, favors, etc.

 

Sooooo I'd say it's totally doable!!!

 

I've only researched AI but hopefully @@acw271011 jumps in as hers is off site. Another bride used the Venado Beach club (sorry if I spelt that wrong). Good luck.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited August 3, 2015 by calgarybride2015

[snswedding2016]

@@SimpleBliss we're not big all inclusive people either and we are also foodies! My ideal vacation is wandering and exploring a city but that being said after attending my cousin's DW a couple of years ago, it totally changed my mind. The cost factor alone was a major thing, especially for our guests. It huge to be able to tell our guests "yes, you're paying all this money up front but you won't have to spend anything else while you're there unless you really want to" (i.e. excursions etc). I don't know if you have any kids attending your wedding but it is a huge plus for parents to go to an AI for a family vacation, there is no stress of when the kids eat, how much and if they are wasting money/food etc. We have 8-10 kids coming so that was a big consideration especially having it at a resort that could keep them entertained.

 

When we went to look for our resort our top "must-haves" were:

-Good food (we're foodies plus my future brother in law is the head of the culinary school in PEI-no pressure)

-Family Friendly

-Affordable

 

 

This is not to try and convince you on AIs but just my experience as AIs were not always my first choice either.

Not sure how it compares to having it offsite but I think with 20 people your budget is totally doable especially if you're keeping it simple.

 

My wedding budget (just for the ceremony and reception) ...at the moment we have 51 people

 

Ceremony package - $950

Decor - $270 (I'm bringing some things from home as well and it is not included in this number)

Outside vendor fee - $800 (for photographer)

Food - $810 (3 course plated meal)

Sound equipment rental - $250

Set up fee - TBA (probably around $300 so that would be added to the total below)

 

Total - $3080

 

Outside Vendor:

Photography $1100

 

 

From home:

Real touch flowers - $100

OOT bags- $150-200

Other decor - $300-350

 

Of course this doesn't include travel, attire and gifts. I hope this helps! Happy planning!

[beckys98]

I would agree with @@snswedding2016 - Balancing what we wanted for our wedding and what was best for our guests was a big factor in deciding our location. In some ways, our guests were more important to us than we were to us! My husband is from Jamaica so having it off resort would have been amazing, but with most guests staying only 4 nights we wanted to make the whole experience as easy for them as possible. We also wanted to maximize our time with them so having everyone in close proximity to each other with max relaxing time at an AI was the right choice for us. We did plan 2 optional excursions with our guests as well (not formal tours) which was perfect for some off-resort access to authentic food and adventure.

 

I didn't do any research into non AI options, but we had 66 adults and 3 kids. Our resort tab for the wedding was under $6,000 and we didn't skimp so I think your budget is doable! Mexico is typically less expensive than Jamaica as well. We hired an outside photographer for about $2,000 - the photographer paid the vendor fee. Our resort salon had excellent reviews from past brides so I felt comfortable using them and I was very happy with my hair and makeup.

 

Once you do get your venue figured out the planning gets MUCH easier! It is the hardest part. Don't get discouraged!

[acw271011]

We have a super small group and I found the resorts aren't great with small groups but we ended up going off resort to Grand Coral Beach Club and it has worked out great so far! I'm looking forward to it.

 

Joyce at Dream Weddings has the contact info to deal with Grand Coral. There is also Blue Venado Beach Club which can accommodate a pretty good size group and the reviews that I've seen have been great!!

[dreamweddings]

Hello everyone!

 

I am very glad to join the community here. I am in the midst of planning my own wedding set tentatively for April 2016 in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.

Duration of our stay would be 5 days and 4 nights as my fiance cannot get anymore days off. Not planning to have anything too formal and all-inclusive resorts are not our thing. Our top two priorities are Food and Photography. Decor would be minimal, especially when you have the ocean as your background.

 

Through my research and price quotes I am getting discouraged that planning a destination wedding with under 20 guests is not possible for my small budget of $5000 - $10000. (Everyone is pretty much paying their own flights and accommodations to get there).

 

Just  wondering if any other brides were able to pull this off with that amount. I am looking to have a semi-private to private beach ceremony.

The reception could either be at the same venue or at a villa where my family and I would be staying at (this means we would need to hire catering)

 

If not we could all just go out to a nice restaurant to have dinner?

 

Any feedback or advice would be greatly appreciated!

@@SimpleBliss what are your dates in April?  because some of the off resorts location can offer you a great deal when getting married on a week day.

 

 

Please feel free to reach and I will be happy to help!

 

Joyce

[Kari26]

We have a super small group and I found the resorts aren't great with small groups but we ended up going off resort to Grand Coral Beach Club and it has worked out great so far! I'm looking forward to it.

 

Joyce at Dream Weddings has the contact info to deal with Grand Coral. There is also Blue Venado Beach Club which can accommodate a pretty good size group and the reviews that I've seen have been great!!

Hello, 

I just want to let you know that i wrote you a private message because i have questions about your wedding if you would like to help us

Thank you very much

Have a great day

Karina