location decision help!

[jpkw]

hi girls, my fi & i are trying to make a blind decision on our location and i wanted to get some opinions from all of you cabo experts. we really want to get married this spring and we won't be in cabo for scouting until new years, so we have to make our location decision prior to our visit (aah!). we are probably going to have approx 70-80 guests at our wedding and we really would love a location where all of us can stay together. my fi & his friends all surf so ideally we'd like a beach where you can swim but otherwise, they'll just make their way to surfing spots each day. we'd rather be in the san jose or corridor area, rather than right downtown in cabo san lucas just to avoid crowds and too much of a scene. i have 13 nieces & nephews so we also need a kid friendly place. however, we really don't want the rooms to cost too much for our guests and we want to feel like we are in mexico, not a US resort.

here are the options (so far) that have dates available for us:

1) Dreams - why is there no swimming at this beach? is there beach/ocean access, i keep hearing mixed things and we're not sure what we think of AI idea...??

2) Marbella Suites en la playa (has anyone been here?)

3) Fiesta Americana - too expensive i think

4) Still waiting to hear about Cabo Surf & Casa del Mar & Hilton

 

any other fabulous suggestions of places i should look into...?? I really appreciate the input - this is such a hard decision! Jen

[A10CalGal]

Marbella Suites & Cabo Surf are in wonderful locations for surfing enthusiasts. Marbella is a cute spot & will probably be pretty reasonable as I know they've recently revamped & are trying to kick up business a bit. The only thing about Marbella is there are like a million stairs to negotiate all over the place - so if you have any elderly or disabled guests, this may not be a good place.

 

The whole thing with "no swimming" beaches is that the surf can get pretty violent, so people are discouraged from going out at non-swimming beaches. Read: your surfer friends would probably be in heaven!

[TammyWright]

hi jennifer,

 

we chose cabo because my dh and all his friends surf...the surfed a little in front of zippers (cabo surf hotel) but also rented a car and went surfing all over.

 

we had a large group with people of all ages...one of the best things about our DW was being able to share meals with everyone...at breakfast you knew where everyone was...we pretty much took over the restaurant...so an AI really worked for us.

 

a few questions to ask yourself:

 

1. how much do you want to pay for a room per night?

2. what is your budget for the festivities?

3. what is the demographic of your group? (mostly younger folks, family and grandparents)...

4. what do you envision as your DW?

 

hope this helps.

 

tammy

[-Kate-]

I recently had some of the same concerns as you about the price per room of Dreams but still decided to choose it. I figuered that for those guests on a tighter budget it would be easier to plan and save if they knew exactly how much all their room, food, and drinks would cost. Plus, Tammy made a good point when I talked to her about it: It keeps those guests with less $ from feeling that way bc they can eat/drink as much as other guests wo breaking the bank.

[amyh]

although I can't comment on each hotel on their own, I can say that AI is the way to go. My family has always gone AI when traveling through Mexico. Its so much better and well worth it. (especially considering how much food and alcohol can add up!)

[JENGONDA9]

Hey Jen-

If you are willing to look a little further up the coast, Todos Santos has great surfing and quite a few inns that are more traditional Mexican and much less expensive than the Los Cabos area. It is about a 45 minute drive. Personally I don't do all-inclusives b/c I like to be more adventurous with my meals and don't eat/drink enough to make it worth an extra premium of more than $100 per day... but your guests may love it. You might want to check with them about what they would prefer. I loved the Cabo Surf, but our quote was really high for the rooms and we just couldn't ask many of our broke friends to pay that much.

[REBECCA]

Hi Jen,

We chose Dreams because I really liked their wedding package. And we wanted to do AI because it acutally cut down the cost for us to throw our dream (no pun intended wedding. Our friends are drinkers and we knew our bar bill would be outrageous. But it worked out to be more cost effective for our guests too. It is a really beautiful location!

 

Regarding not swimming in the ocean. There is a very strong undertow and, basically if you try and swim in it, it pulls you straight out to sea. When we were there we had head about a child that had drowned (not at Dreams, I think in front of the RIU) because they were swimming in the ocean. So SAD.

 

You can walk down and put your toes in, but the waves crash really hard on shore. It sounds crazy but you can feel the power of the ocean. Once I saw that, I understood why you can't swim in there.

 

I think the only swimming beach is Playa Medano. But that is in the craziness of Cabo San Lucas and problaby not the best spot for a wedding?

 

Check out Villa La Estancia. They are condos, on the swimming beach, but in the quieter part of Playa Medano. If you have you wedding there, there are tons of other hotels nearby, of all price ranges. But, again, you are in Cabo San Lucas, not the corridor.

[gkashmira]

The Hiltopn has a swimming beach as well - it's sort of a protected area. There's also larger waves in the un-protected area that may work for surfing.

 

marbella en la playa is a good option for a more budget friendly wedding - room rates are quite low for being on the beach. It doesn't feel like a big resort at all. There's a really pretty place for the reception downstairs near the pool/bar area.

 

The rooms aren't great - though they are clean and perfectly fine. They all have sort of kitchenettes though I'm not sure if there's an actual stove or microwave in them.

 

Cabo Surf, Casa del Mar, Hilton, Dreams and Fiesta Americana are all pretty expensive for their rooms. I just booked some co-workers (unwedding related) at Pueblo Bonito Rose for a good rate. I know they have a swimmable beach (medano) but they're more in Cabo San Lucas than San Jose. I myself have never actually been there.

 

I think you should definitely check out the Presiendente Intercontinental. It's an AI and while it's very family friendly it's all the way in San Jose (on the beach). It is a resort but it's pretty lovely and the rates are also very reasonable - especially for AI.

[TammyB]

We had the same issue, we knew we wanted to be on a beach we can swim in so we opted to stay at a resort in the corridor, (were staying at Villa Del Arco, which is a sister company of villa del Palmar and Villa La Estancia) For us the beach area is WAY too busy for a wedding and the pools at most of the resorts were packed full of people (we even checked out Melia San Lucus) So were going to get married at the Sheraton but stay at Villa Del Arco (our wedding night will be at the Sheraton) This my be an option for you.

 

I fell in love with Melia San Lucas resort, the rooms were very nice and like I said it's on a beach you can swim in. However the only spot to really have a wedding is pool side and even then it would have to be a somewhat small ceremony becuase it's a thight spot. Wasn't the "look" we wanted for our wedding but its very pretty. I think Rebecca's suggestion of Villa La Estancia might be a good choice for you, it's a little pricy but might be worth it to get what your looking for.

[jpkw]

thanks everyone! we went through our guest list last night (160) to try to estimate who we really think will be there. we are at ~85-90 people who we think would be a definite (not counting 13+ kids!) - this is much bigger than i thought... hopefully it will end up being smaller! i have a huge family and he has tons of friends that he thinks all will make it... so, now we're thinking a smaller venue might not work for us anyway. we also need to work within our budget so we think Dreams may be the best choice. like rebecca said, our friends are big drinkers also so the bar tab alone might exceed our budget!

 

i did talk to someone who got married at Marbella Suites En La Playa and they were able to bring in alcohol themselves which would be a huge savings. they loved Marbella, however, would this place even be able to accommodate all of us?? they have 40 rooms, i just don't know how big the pool / reception area would be... i hate having to choose without seeing either place...!! i really appreciate all of the input!! we have to decide by the end of this week!!