Westin Los Cabos brides post here!

[Doc2B&LosCabosBride2B]

I'm sorry you guys have been having trouble with the Westin..I too suffered with that but I don't think I've been impacted that much by their slowness. Becuase of all the crap I have going on with med school now and residency (match day is this thursday and trying to move, etc. I ended up

hiring a wedding coordinator in Chicago to do all of my corresponding with the Westin. Between her and my mom, things have gotten done. She's also coming with me in three weeks so I know that she'll be on top of things making sure the weekend goes smoothly. I also worked with a travel agent in the states to negotiate my group rates, etc....so, between the TA, my mom and my WC at home, they all are fiesty women and when things were slow lets just say they lit a fire into some folks at the Westin.

 

Unfortunately, with some of my other friends who have gotten married in Mexico, they report the same sort of slowness in communication. I don't know if that is a culture thing with respect to how business is done there vs. here in the States, especially chicago and new york (where I'm hoping to do my residency) things are done very quickly and things are fact paced.

 

Anyway, I've noticed that I haven't answered questions:

DJ is DJ Joaquin...we are just using him for the reception and using our IPODs for the other events we are having. We're also using the saxaphonist. He is amazing. I heard him play when I went down for a site visit in December...He is amazing....I remember sitting at the bar thinking to myself, there must be a KennyG CD hidden and playing somewhere because I can't believe this guy is playing live...He was that good.

WC is Maira

Ceremony locale is the beach right in front of the pool deck....decorations are by Del Cabos Designs

Cocktail hour is on the pool deck

Reception is Arricefes and yes I did have to do the buy out but by the time you have 150 guest and a sit down dinner for them and alcohol you reach that buy out price....but for that amount of people, I still came out cheaper than if I would have done a sit down dinner with liquor in Chicago.

Flowers: Mazarte Florals

 

Things are crazy now with the wedding in three weeks but if anyone has any questions please let me know and goodluck gals....

 

I'll keep you posted with where I match next week for residency.

[Maura]

westin brides, anybody got updates?

[marip123]

No updates right now. We've decided to go with Cabo Flowers. I'm trying to get everyone to tell me yes or no right now, so we can give the hotel an exact count for food and finalize the menu. I did ask about a cake, light blue, seashell cake, and they actually gave me a decent price. I think it was $5 per slice? We've been out of town, and have dedicated this weekend to the wedding. It's now less than 2 months away. Yikes!

 

How is your planning going? What did you decide for ceremony location?

[Maura]

Quote:

Originally Posted by marip123 No updates right now. We've decided to go with Cabo Flowers. I'm trying to get everyone to tell me yes or no right now, so we can give the hotel an exact count for food and finalize the menu. I did ask about a cake, light blue, seashell cake, and they actually gave me a decent price. I think it was $5 per slice? We've been out of town, and have dedicated this weekend to the wedding. It's now less than 2 months away. Yikes! How is your planning going? What did you decide for ceremony location?

eek $5 a slice? that is effing expensive! thank god we arent doing cake. you may want to call jennifer hatton, the cake diva, to see if you can get a better price than what the westin is quoting you. i heard her prices are much more reasonable and her work is beautiful.

we still havent decided on a ceremony location -- i knew someone elses wedding was 2 weekends ago, so i didnt bother maira because i didnt wanna take her away from the wedding she was doing. i have to call her this week though to decide a ceremony location for sure. i am tired of still not having that pinned down, and my wedding is 4 months from today. we had to order the invitations to just say "westin resort & spa" and live with the fact that we have to do a welcome booklet and have signs to direct our guests to the right places. we at least for sure have restaurante la playa booked for the reception for SURE.

do you mind me asking what kind/how many flowers youre getting and what you were quoted from cabo flowers? we still have to pick a florist for the arrangements for the church and for our centerpieces and i havent had much time to research that. my FMIL would gladly just have the westin take care of finding a vendor, but i feel the westin overcharges for everything so i would rather try to save my FMIL a little money if you know what i mean!

[marip123]

I guess we didn't think 5/slice was too much because it will only be for about 35 people.

 

 

 

Bridal Bouquet

Coral roses, coral gerbera daisies, light blue delphinium and a few dyed blue roses (deep blue color), Stems wrapped with royal blue ribbon (no bow).$95.00

Bridesmaids

 

1Same as bride but smaller version and the ribbon coral color.$55.00

Boutonnieres

 

6Coral roses ( added 1 small boutonniere for ring bearer)$75.00

Corsages

 

4Wrist style corsages of coral roses and mini gerbera daisies.$100.00

Ceremony

 

 

 

 

2 urn style arrangements of coordinating flowers,

To be moved after ceremony to the reception area.$200.00

 

Other RequirementsAdditional 2 gerberas for mothers and 2 gerberas for hair flowers $12.00

 

 

Sub total$534.00

Delivery/setup$150.00

IVA 10% 68.40

TOTAL$752.40

Deposit

Date: $200.00

Balance$552.40

 

We're not using anything flowery for the table, but we will have a "remembrance table where we are putting the larger flower arrangements. My originally quote had a canopy in it for 450.00!!! We couldn't justify it for 20 minutes of use. At least with the larger flower arrangements we can enjoy them at the ceremony and the reception. Basically, the Westin will charge you double for EVERYTHING. Francine was very easy to work with.

 

Hope this helps!

[Maura]

oh great thanks steph! those prices are def more reasonable than the quotes the westin gave my FMIL!

[marip123]

I was thinking of Doc2Be there this past weekend getting married! How exciting. It was our 2 month countdown yesterday!

[bshortzie]

Hi Everyone,

I am so excited to hear there is a Westin thread for Cabo. My wedding will be june 29th. I can't believe how time flies! My ceremony will be on the beach and my reception dinner at La Playa's patio. We have chosen to have a buffet. My wedding planner is Lorena as well.

 

I have a few questions that you might be able to help me with. Are you having your hair/makeup done by the hotel or using someone else?

 

Also, I emailed the Mariachi group and he quoted me $350 per hour for the trio and said that has been the price since last year. Anyone have any more information on that?

 

I look forward to chatting and hopefully helping each other out through all the stressful planning!

Barrie

[Maura]

Ok, I dont know about you girls, but I am really pissed about something right now. 1) I have not heard from Maira Gallegos, who is supposed to be my go-to person for planning, in 8 weeks. 2) My FI just informed me that his mom has called Maira EVERY DAY this week, left messages, and Maira has not returned a SINGLE call. One day she called, whomever answered DID NOT EVEN SPEAK SPANISH and therefore couldnt even take a message. my FMIL speaks some english but she wanted to talk to someone in spanish and the idiot who answered the phone did not even have the decency to transfer her call to someone else who could help. WTF.

 

I just sent an email to Karina Jajan to request a different person to handle my wedding because Maira is clearly not competent. She has been totally unclear on any question she has ever answered to the point that Karina or someone else higher up had to step in to give us answers.

 

Karina called me within 2 mins of receiving the email and has apologized profusely, said she would personally call my FMIL and take care of whatever she needed and that she would talk to Maira about this immediately. I have to compliment Karina though, because for how pissed I was, she really made me feel better that she would take care of it right away. I found out also that there is a wedding the day before ours but she assured me that they will in no way interfere with our wedding and they are a smaller group and it wont effect my rehearsal or anything. I told Karina, if it doesnt get better within a week, I want a new planner and she said that was not a problem. she assured me that she wanted my planning to go easy and she would do whatever necessary to correct things on the westin's end to make sure we were receiving the service we deserved.

[Maura]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bshortzie Hi Everyone, I am so excited to hear there is a Westin thread for Cabo. My wedding will be june 29th. I can't believe how time flies! My ceremony will be on the beach and my reception dinner at La Playa's patio. We have chosen to have a buffet. My wedding planner is Lorena as well. I have a few questions that you might be able to help me with. Are you having your hair/makeup done by the hotel or using someone else? Also, I emailed the Mariachi group and he quoted me $350 per hour for the trio and said that has been the price since last year. Anyone have any more information on that? I look forward to chatting and hopefully helping each other out through all the stressful planning! Barrie

your wedding is coming up so soon! my reception is at La Playa too.

i am NOT using the westin salon because another member told me that the salon was not very good, and that it was overpriced. i am using a salon outcall service to come to the hotel to do my hair. i am not getting my makeup done. if you want to pm me with your email address, ill send you their pricelist. the salon is MexSun.

which mariachi group did you contact? we arent using one but i did look into it awhile back so maybe i can help.