roxyg Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 So, I'm trying to find the location to our wedding. We are having a destination wedding in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Initially I had found the perfect location, until price came in to play! I'm at a loss, nothing I have been shown seems to fit what I want. Any ideas? Have any of you guys been to Puerto Vallarta? Any help would be much appreciated! Link to post Share on other sites
bab Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 So, I haven't been there, but I just went to a destination wedding in Hawaii. We drove around a few days before and found a beautiful beach that was realtively secluded. ($0) The wedding party brought their own officiant, (brother was ordained online), so we all just walked up and had the wedding. After finding the site they found the nearest nice restaurant and made reservations for the 14 of us, we ordered off the regular menu, so the price was in normal restaurant prices. It was absolutely perfect. My parents would flip out, but otherwise, I'd be doing a similar thing. The whole event was fun, but not at all stressful. Could you do something similar? How many people are going to the wedding? Good luck!! Link to post Share on other sites
Becoming Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 Best wedding I ever went to was in the middle of a river in the middle of nowhere. The pastor wore hip waders. The bride and groom were in tie-dyed Tshirts and cut offs. We witnessed from riverside, then everyone enjoyed a sit-down picnic with kids fishing and swimming. Totally inexpensive and so much fun. It wasn't Mexico, but still . . . just let nature do her stuff in a pretty setting on a public beach and have fun. Link to post Share on other sites
Author roxyg Posted January 19, 2006 Author Share Posted January 19, 2006 We have fifty guests, more or less; the thing is, we can't just go to Mexico have a wedding and call it good. There are too many laws involved, as well as guests. This is supposed to be not only a wedding party and whatnot, but also vacation for some people. I plan to go down there this summer, to make my final decision. I'm in the process of talking to a wedding planner, but I'm a little shaky on whether or not I want to deal with her. I was hoping someone would shed some light on locations. Thanks for the suggestions though! Link to post Share on other sites
Becoming Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 Sorry roxyg, can't help with that. Just trying to help you not stress over it all so much. (Easier said than done, huh?) Link to post Share on other sites
BeFree Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 There are quiet a few destination wedding web-sites out there, you may want to look into that. Did you price the Crytsal in P.V.? It's beautiful and on the water. You could even get married on that beach and have your reception by the pool there. Link to post Share on other sites
Author roxyg Posted January 19, 2006 Author Share Posted January 19, 2006 Thanks Becoming! I can't help but stress over all of this! It's so much harder not being able to go see the place, and just pick it! BeFree--well I've looked into several sites. The only problem I stumble into is cost. I'm not looking for a $20,000 wedding, not even $10,000. I want it to be nice, but not overpriced! I'll check out your suggestion. Thanks! Link to post Share on other sites
magda Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 I wanted a destination wedding myself. Our guests were coming from all over the US anyway so I felt I should pick the best, most enjoyable location (I thought Hawaii initially). There are a lot of package deals. Weddings are a huge business in Hawaii. The problem I ran into that changed my mind was costs for my guests. Unfortunately I would have to expect my guests to pay their own airfare, hotels, and all the other expenses of their unchosen vacation. When you're considering a guest list of 50 people, you can probably expect a number of those people to not be able to make it when they all have to travel. The older family members are especially likely to decline. I still opted for the more expensive wedding on a boat, and it was beautiful (so I heard) but it was over so fast I barely noticed and I wish I'd picked the easy, cheaper spot that was easy for everyone to get to with cheaper options for accomodations so that more people could spend more time. Most people came for a 3 day weekend, some only for the weeekend. Plus I was beginning to feel like a travel agent coordinating with everyone to make things easier for the guests. Some vacation! People say, "do whatever you want, it's your day" but you're really doing it for your family. If your family and friends have a hard time attending, save the exotic location for your honeymoon. Then you will be in the tropical location without the worry of everything working out. I wish I had had a cheap wedding and saved the wedding money on a killer honeymoon. Link to post Share on other sites
Author roxyg Posted January 19, 2006 Author Share Posted January 19, 2006 It's actually not that bad, and we may not even have fifty guests! Our reasoning for doing this is to keep the wedding small and intimate. Our families both love the idea, and yes we will have older people attending, i.e. grandparents. The only problem I'm running into is finding the right wedding coordinator and the location that we both agree on! $7000 is our wedding budget, and we are within limits as of now. I think it is where you go, and how you do your planning that in the end will cost everyone. Link to post Share on other sites
Becoming Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 People say, "do whatever you want, it's your day" but you're really doing it for your family. If your family and friends have a hard time attending, save the exotic location for your honeymoon. Then you will be in the tropical location without the worry of everything working out. I wish I had had a cheap wedding and saved the wedding money on a killer honeymoon. Amen, sister! I hardly remember my wedding, either. Everyone else told me they had a good time. And that's basically what we wanted--an opportunity for everyone to get together. That's really what matters. So regardless of what happens, it'll all be ok as long as you're all together. Link to post Share on other sites
Befree Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 should have thought about this before since I am in the hotel business. Sorry. If you are on a tight budget, do not look into large hotels with ball rooms. Look for a hotel with meeting space or a nice atrium that does not have in house catering. If you do this they will let you use your own catering. You can find some fabulous caterers out there that will be very cost effective. Meanwhile hold the ceremony on the beach, then move to either the hotel or a resturant for the reception. If you use the smaller hotels like a Hampton or Holiday Inn Express you will still get great service but none of the cost of the food. The food is what gets expensive in the large hotels, even if they tell you other wise. I hope this helps. Link to post Share on other sites
Author roxyg Posted January 20, 2006 Author Share Posted January 20, 2006 Thanks so much! I was concerned about an outside caterer, we are looking into three different small hotel locations, and yes we thought it best if we just got married on the beach, cost wise anyway! Our budget isn't that rough, my parents are contributing a lot, and my grandparents offered a little for the cake. What do you think I could get out of $7000? Link to post Share on other sites
Befree Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 you can find a good caterer for less that 25.00 per person. Many will include a cake for this. for 50 People that will be about 1,250.00 for 50 people. You can rent a meeting space at a small hotel for 200-600 depending on times, location etc. You can buy your own wine and beer and hire the caterer staff memeber to serve it. 1,000 at the most. Make sure the hotel includes linens in the meeting space rental. Your officiant should not cost you more than 500.00. The rest will go to decoration and unexpected cost. also if you book 50 rooms in that hotel, they should cut you major slack on the space rental. This is very do able. Know exactly how much you are willing to spend on catering before you contact them. Good luck, I'm here if you need help. Link to post Share on other sites
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