Horror stories and things to beware - Mexican destination weddings

Many current WW couples say it's not cheaper when you have to piecemeal vendors, and host more weekend events because guests give more time and more $ to travel for you. You also will have a lower turnout. But, if the location is sentimentally significant to you, this should not deter you. I would give others ample notice.

Safety is a big concern right now, with all the new travel advisories and cartel action. And then there’s the whole “Montezuma’s revenge” (aka, stomach cramps and diarrhea) that tons of people get when in Mexico.

Other things to consider about DWs in general are that a "cheap" destination wedding isn't really cheap at all, it just transfers the costs on to your guests. You can't consider a DW to be a vacation for others when guests are being asked to spend extra time and money on a destination that you chose. Lastly, DWs can discriminate against guests with financial and health issues, sometimes unexpectedly and at the last minute. I know someone whose grandmother could have attended a more local wedding but not a DW after breaking a leg.

View Quoted Comment This is a good point! There’s a pattern of semi-scammy packages that are cheap or free for the couple, but require the guests to book a certain # of nights at their resort (which are often $300-400/night). I’m screening out any venues with those kinds of packages. Unfortunately, all of our grandparents are dead and we don’t have aunts/uncles, so our guest list is pretty young and healthy. I haven’t heard of any other Mexico-specific dangers, so we may be good to go!

So, I spend a lot of time in Cozumel. I have been there at least 12 times, usually for 2-4 weeks at a time. I love the destination and I feel safe there. I take Dukoral before I go to try to keep my gut safe. I eat at all the local restaurants and have had street tacos/food. I've never been sick there, and I travel solo there all the time. I don't do all-inclusives.

But that's me. That's what I like to do. It's hard to know what everyone in your world would like from a vacation. A destination wedding is a wedding for you, but it turns into a holiday for everyone else, so you'll need to keep that in mind. For those that have negative feelings about travel/Mexico, you will lose people and have lower attendance, so that's a factor too.

My friends attended a wedding at the Allegro in Cozumel and it went very well, but one of them got sick, probably from all-inclusive food/buffet.

Mexico on the whole to me feels safe to me, but there are some areas I spend less time in than others. If you want information on Cozumel specifically, feel free to DM me.

Not cheaper for your guests. My brother had a wedding in Dominican republic and the hotel rooms for peak wedding season were $425 a night!! But cheaper for the couples to host you can have about 60 people. Also note on childcare. Local wedding would make it easier for anyone with young children to come. Either you are okay with them not coming.. OR you have to be prepared for a bunch of your guests to travel with their kids and make it a family vacation. Right now allllll of my cousins have children under 2. So just be mindful of that and where most of the people in your life are at. In the past we didn't have this issue because all of us were younger with no children

It was a beautiful and fun wedding. But some things: hair and make up was not easy to find in the resort or it was not good. They just give you whoever they have in the resort. Luckily my SIL had one of my aunt's there who was a stylist and make up artist. So also hard for the guests to get ready too if they tend to need salons. My mom (mother of the groom) was crying because she couldn't get her hair done. And the island weather was making it hard to manage. These are dumb little details but this is some of the things that happened lol.

View Quoted Comment Thanks! Sorry that your brother’s wedding was so tough. I haven’t heard about any specific scams, but we’re probably moving away from the Caribbean overall.

View Quoted Comment If wasn't super tough!! Just some watch outs. The wedding was beautiful. But...it's very expensive for the guests.

View Quoted Comment Yeah, we would never make our guests stay at a specific resort for that reason. It seems like a lot of Mexican wedding packages require that, so we’re no longer considering that destination.