OUR TRIP TO PICK A WEDDING VENUE IN CABO
There are so many elements that go into planning a wedding. Not to mention a destination wedding! After Tony and I got engaged in Cabo, it didn’t take us long to agree that we wanted to return to our favorite place to get married! But we had no idea which wedding venue in Cabo we should pick.
We’ve stayed at so many amazing resorts over the years in Cabo, which made it hard to figure out where to even start. We knew we wanted to get married at a resort, but there were quite a few details we needed to solidify before narrowing down options.
Since I did a ton of research, planning, I thought it would be fun to share the process of picking out a venue. As well as all of the locations we considered, which spots we visited & a important questions we answered before making any decisions.
Whether you’re excited to see all of our wedding details unfold, or are considering a Cabo wedding, I’m putting together a full recap of our trip to pick out a wedding venue in Los Cabos, Mexico!
OuR Trip to pick a Wedding Venue in Cabo
First things first, I think it’s important to note that a lot goes into planning a destination wedding. There are a lot of similarities between planning a wedding in your home town or nearby, but there are a lot of factors that you need to consider and questions you need to ask when you’re planning a destination wedding.
As I’m writing this blog post, I’m realizing I should probably write a completely separate blog post in the near future about picking a wedding venue – in general. So stay tuned… I’ll put together a more comprehensive list of questions and checklists!
When you’re planning a destination wedding, all of the same questions apply, except you have to consider the fact that you’re potentially thousands of miles away and the destination may be in another country .
Rather than dive into all of the details, spreadsheets, questions, etc in this post, I’m just going to focus on the wedding venues we looked at in Cabo, as well as each wedding venue in Cabo we considered & a few we opted to skip at the last minute.
UPDATE: AUGUST 2021
As of August 2021, the wedding venue in Cabo we had chosen is no longer open. I originally hadn’t planned on sharing the location we were using. I’ll write up another post soon detailing the entire nightmare. Solaz literally closed overnight, indefinitely, 3 months before our wedding.
We have found a new venue in Cabo & I’ll create an update soon with all of the details!
All of the Wedding Venues We Considered in Cabo
Real talk: I looked at almost every single hotel, restaurant, vacation rental and potential location in Cabo San Lucas. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the location, Cabo San Lucas (shortened to Cabo) is a city at the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur.
Los Cabos is made up of two towns, San Jose Del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas. These two towns are linked by what’s called the “Cabo Corridor” and is basically 20 miles of beach-front resort properties.
Cabo San Lucas is known as more of a party scene, while San José del Cabo tends to be more tranquil. Pueblo Bonito Solaz Los Cabos – Luxury Resort in San Jose del Cabo Mexico, the hotel Tony & I stayed at a few years ago, is located in Cabo San Lucas. It’s not in the “party scene” near the marina where you’ll find spots like thee Cabo Wabo Cantina (it’s super relaxing), but is a quick drive into town.
The Marquis & Grand Velas are both on the Corridor (spots you might remember us sharing). And a few hotels I love (that I never shared) in San José del Cabo are Secrets Los Cabos & Hotel El Ganzo.
When we started researching wedding venues, we looked at hotels in all three areas. I started the whole process by googling hotels and wedding destinations. Let me tell you, it seems like there are an infinite number of options. We were able to narrow down our list (for the most part) by resorts only.
We really like the idea of spending a few days on vacation with our close family and friends. The whole point of having a destination wedding is to have fun, relax and celebrate with our favorite people in a beautiful location. For us as a couple and our idea of a “dream wedding”, The Los Cabos destination is perfect.
So, as beautiful as some of the vacation rentals, restaurants & other venues were, we decided to scratch them off our list. We don’t want to make all of my drunk family and friends get into a party bus after a long day of hanging by the pool. We want them to relax and walk out of their room when it’s time for the wedding!
That being said, a few spots that looked amazing that we didn’t consider (that you should check out if you’re more flexible):
+ Private Villas in Cabo – this link will take you directly to a list of villas that are narrowed down into spots that work well for weddings. A villa is a great option if you want privacy, value, flexibility and great amenities.
+ Wedding Yachts – you don’t have to be Beyonce to have a wedding on a yacht! There are charter services that are basically a one stop shop for wedding planning! Most of the time, this includes limousine transfer for all guests, food, drinks, decor, dj, etc. Unfortunately, I have the world’s worst motion sickness, so there’s not way I could get married on a boat!
+ Sunset Mona Lisa – OMG you guys, this place is SICK! It’s the most romantic restaurant nestled into a cliff, looking over the ocean. They have nine different terraces, so they can accommodate any size wedding.
This is going to make me sound crazy, but I opted to not include it on our list because… they don’t serve Mexican food. I know, I know. They probably have the most amazing Mediterranean menu. But I (and Tony to be fair), have always dreamed of having tacos at my wedding.
+ Mision de San José del Cabo Anuiti – This spot is gorgeous! It’s a mission/church founded in 1734, located in the heart of San Jose’s Historical District. If you’re having a huge wedding, this is place to go!
The List of Venues: Round One
+ ESPERANZA RESORT
+ WALDORF ASTORIA LOS CABOS PEDREGAL
+ THE CAPE
+ CHILENO BAY
+ ACRE BAJA
+ FLORA FARMS
+ SOLAZ LOS CABOS (UPDATE: AS OF JULY 2021 SOLAZ IS COMPLETELY CLOSED)
+ CABO AZUL
+ VICEROY LOS CABOS
+ MONTAGE LOS CABOS
+ PUEBLO BONITO PACIFICA
+ EL GANZO
+ SHERATON GRAND LOS CABOS HACIENDA DEL MAR
+ MARQUIS LOS CABOS
+ GRAND VELAS
+ CABO SURF HOTEL
+ SUR BEACH HOUSE
+ FOUR SEASONS AT COSTA PALMAS
+ ZADUN
+ MARRIOTT LOS CABOS
+ HARD ROCK LOS CABOS
Wedding Venues We Opted to Skip
Obviously the first round of venues was really long. We knew we had to narrow it down to a more manageable list of venues to actually tour. To start, we planned a trip with my dad down to Cabo for the weekend, knowing that we would spend 3 days looking at locations.
During our trip, we were lucky enough to work with Jesus Padilla of Vivolx transportation. I knew we wouldn’t want to drive around, trying to figure out the best routing and timing for different venues. So Jesus picked us up from the airport & was able to coordinate all of our transportation and timing of pick up / drop off when we went on tours.
It was really convenient and he was an awesome resource. He has a ton of knowledge on the area and we can’t wait to go back and see him again!
To start narrowing down venues, we started by asking ourselves a few questions:
- What is our general budget? How much are we willing to spend on the location + price per head (for food, drinks, etc)? Is there a venue fee? What’s included in the rate?
- How many people are we inviting?
- What vibe are we going for? Do we want something modern? More traditional? How do we envision the ceremony and reception?
- What time of year are we hoping to get married? How will this affect the availability of some locations?
- What are our guests budgets? How much will it cost for guests to stay at the hotel with us? Are there other options nearby?
- Do we want to have it at an all inclusive resort? Or would we prefer to work with a “standard” hotel?
I reached out the the wedding departments at each hotel and asked for a general overview of pricing. After we determined our budget, we realized it was important to not only figure out what the estimated price per person was, but what it would include.
It’s important to read between the lines: how many hours of open bar are accounted for in the rate? What types of food options do they have and how do choices affect the rate? How much do they charge per hour of food & beverage service, etc?
Our top priority was to make a spreadsheet and start noting all of the details. I broke everything down per hotel: room rates, venue fees, basic food pricing, bar pricing per hour, additional services resorts provide and the associated fees.
I also added a section that priced out the rate per guest at the discounted room rates the resorts offer + an estimate of food & beverage per night per person (to get an idea of what the guests would end up spending before or after the wedding).
The first move was to skip the all inclusive resorts. We love all inclusive vacations. But we realized it might cause a little “sticker shock” for some of our guests. Most of the time, the rate per night, per person is higher to take into consideration meals & drinks.
You can save a ton of money on vacations opting for an all inclusive spot. But I would rather give our guests the option to choose what they spend money on. Maybe someone doesn’t drink, or maybe someone prefers to eat at more restaurants in town.
The next step was to look at which venues were better suited for a small wedding. We’re having a really small wedding (think like 30 people). Some of the larger resorts are great for giant weddings. Or, if you want to “build out” the decor. We don’t want to have to decorate a ballroom or bring in a ton of furniture to make it feel cozy. So we stuck with hotels that had more private, intimate options.
Because we’re having a small wedding, we also wanted to stick with options that didn’t have a venue fee. Most weddings in the US all include a venue fee, ranging from $2,000 to $100,000. One of the major benefits of having a wedding at a resort in Mexico is that there are a ton of places that don’t have a venue fee.
Awesome right? Most of the resorts charge a minimum and that minimum is a lot higher if you plan on blocking out a whole restaurant or using a part of the resort that they will technically lose money on if you’re using it. I’m pretty thrifty, so it made sense to me to stick with an option that didn’t have a fee. That way, more of our budget could go towards fun stuff like food, drinks & surprises!
After spending time looking at Yelp & TripAdvisor reviews and photos of the remaining hotels, we were able to narrow it down even further. Knowing our vibe, we wanted something that was a little more on the modern side.
Some of the hotels we considered were beautiful and looked really cool, but didn’t work with our color palette. I’m thinking we’re going to stick with clean, black & white, with a splash of dark green. So, since some of the design and decor at resorts incorporated more reds and bright colors, we eliminated them. Normally that wouldn’t be a huge deal, but I want everything to be cohesive & want all of our photos to “make sense” / fit our vibe.
Wedding Venues We Toured
We were able to narrow our list down to the following resorts. We made appointments at all of them. Jesus was able to help us map out the best routing. Which spots were near each other, where we should take pit stops for lunch, etc.
+ ACRE BAJA – Acre Baja is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Honestly it’s one of my favorite resorts I’ve ever visited or seen. Not to mention… they have puppies! Yes, you can bring adoptable puppies to your room, the pool & anywhere around the resort. As much as I wanted to have our wedding here, the resort is really small, like 12 rooms. Since one of our top priorities was spending time with our guests, we knew this wouldn’t work.
There aren’t any other resorts nearby. If we opted to all stay at another resort together, everyone would have to caravan out to Acre and that just didn’t work with our plan. I can’t wait to go visit again though. I’m hoping we can stay in one of their treehouses the next time we visit!
+ WALDORF ASTORIA LOS CABOS PEDREGAL – Literally one of the most beautiful, picturesque spots in Cabo! They have a ton of options for locations depending on the size of your party. I fell in love with El Farallon, a restaurant tucked into the rocky cliffs, looking out over the ocean. So romantic. Cangrejos Terrace is perfect for smaller events and insanely picturesque.
I love that every location, whether on the beach or even the pool terrace, all look beautiful as is. They don’t require a ton of added decor and whatever you do use just ads to the understated elegance. You can also have a private dinner in their wine cellar at Don Manuel’s, which I thought would be a really fun way to spend a night pre-wedding with Tony!
+ THE CAPE – I knew I was going to love The Cape before we even got there. It’s my vibe. I want our house to look like every inch of the resort. The Cape is considered a boutique hotel and is part of the Thompson Hotel collection. The hotel has clean, contemporary lines and a relaxed 1960s Southern California meets Baja aesthetic.
If you’ve never seen photos of their exterior staircase, let me just tell you it’s a total showstopper. I love that every location for the ceremony has a view of El Arco. Everything is modern, luxurious and feels so detail oriented – from the architecture to the bespoke midcentury Latin American decor.
+ CHILENO BAY RESORT – Can we take a second to appreciate that they have a guy that floats around in the pool and brings drinks on a floating bar? For real… they had me at floating bartender. Not to mention the food. THE FOOD! Comal (their oceanfront restaurant) is the #1 restaurant in Cabo. And TnT their beachside taco bar fit every single detail of our dream venue.
I also love that they have vacation home rentals with full resort amenities. So if we opted to share a place with our wedding party for a night, we could all hang out together.
+ FLORA FARMS – Ok I know I said we wanted to have our wedding at a resort, but I couldn’t resist looking at Flora Farms. I’ve dreamed of checking it out for years and since we finally had a driver, my wish was granted!
The original restaurant, Café Flora, was the first organic restaurant in Cabo. The location is a combination of an organic farm, grocery store, restaurant, resort spa, cooking classes & private real estate.
You can actually buy one of their culinary cottages or hillside haylofts! When you live on the farm, you can pick your own produce, relax, swim, hike & enjoy all of the property amenities. barn in the Mango Grove, which is equipped with a private kitchen and bathroom facilities.
They have a ton of options for wedding locations: a barn in the mango grove, an herb garden amphitheater, lakeside lawn, and an enchanting potting shed for smaller groups.
+ SOLAZ LOS CABOS (CLOSED)
We were lucky enough to stay here the entire visit. It’s one of the newer resorts in Cabo and I actually remember driving by it as it was being built. The resort is made up of three levels of staggered terraces with views of the ocean.
The resort was designed in contemporary Mexican style using warm indigenous woods and tones, with a modern flair. Jesus pointed out that all of the vegetation and plants they incorporated into the grounds are indigenous plants you find in the area. Which is really rare for resorts in Mexico.
Most of the time, they use tropical plants that aren’t actually native to Cabo. We were greeted by an “Artisan Butler”, who was able to coordinate reservations and put some special custom touches on our trip.
We loved that every location (ceremony, cocktail hour, reception) was private. Meaning there won’t be any random people playing football on the beach behind your ceremony, or people watching as you dance the night away.
They have the largest venue at a luxury resort in Cabo, but also beautiful spots for smaller parties. The food was amazing. Service top notch. A beautiful infinity pool. And a museum (yes a museum) complete with a real hanging whale skeleton.
+ MARRIOTT LOS CABOS – Full disclosure, we had an appointment at this resort, but cancelled at the last minute. When I first looked into it, I loved that the Marriott had a modern vibe with natural colors and textures. The architectural details look amazing. They also have their own wedding planners, which is an added bonus.
After we had a looked at the other resorts, we knew in our guts that this wasn’t going to be “the spot”. Not because it’s not beautiful or the perfect place to celebrate, but because it seemed a little too “big”.
We realized that we really liked the smaller, more intimate feel of some of the other resorts. And since our wedding is going to be fairly small, it didn’t make sense for us to have it at a larger resort.
+ FOUR SEASONS AT COSTA PALMAS – Sadly, we didn’t get to visit the new Four Seasons resort in Cabo. We were actually supposed to stay at the new location for part of our trip, but there was a last minute issue on the property that forced them to relocate guests. The resort looks absolutely beautiful! It’s also the first marina resort in the Four Seasons family. Not to mention it’s one of the most private, secluded locations in Cabo.
They have 2 miles of untouched beachfront property on the Sea of Cortez. They have a swimmable beach, which is hard to find in Cabo! It’s fairly unique because most of the resorts in Cabo are on the Pacific Ocean side.
Really hoping we can reschedule our visit the next time we’re back in Cabo. We love the Four Seasons resorts and know Doug wants to check it out too! Remember the super beach dog bed he got when we stayed at the Four Seasons Punta Mita!?
+ VICEROY LOS CABOS – The nest! A lot of you guys messaged me when we were touring the Viceroy because you recognized their “nests” from Instagram! The main nest, Nido, is a ceviche bar that also serves cocktails. On the beach, Nidito is a smaller nest that provides pool and beachside drinks. I absolutely LOVE how unique this resort is.
The architecture is jaw dropping and every location would be a stunning backdrop for a wedding. One of my favorite aspects of the resort is the Cielomar Rooftop, where you can have a reception. They have a really cool open-concept wood fire pizza oven and open grill. It’s an awesome spot for non-traditional food stations, which is something we love!
Our Top 3 Wedding Venue choices
It was so hard to narrow down our top picks, but after visiting each resort and hanging out / talking with Tony & my dad, we were able to zero in on our favorite 3 potential wedding venues in Cabo. Here are our favorite picks for our destination wedding venue:
SOLAZ LOS CABOS
THE CAPE
VICEROY LOS CABOS
I would say that these 3 resorts are the most similar / have the most in common from both a vacation and wedding perspective. All three of the resorts are on the more contemporary or modern side. We liked that each of the resorts felt very private. Even though they were all at max capacity when we visited, you would have never known.
I noticed that there were plenty of open day beds by the pools, which is a major plus. I hate going on vacation and feeling like I have to wake up at 5 am to claim a spot by the pool.
Or, when I notice all of the spots are open but people left books and magazines on all of the prime real estate spots. All three locations beachfront resorts, so you can guarantee amazing views and photos.
Each Wedding Venue in Cabo has a ton of options for where you can have your ceremony, cocktail hour and reception. Whether you’re looking for an indoor event space, something on the beach or a view of the ocean. With scaleable options, making it easy to plan a wedding of any size.
They’re all similar price points as well. Each hotel has wedding packages that fit our budget, which is key. Food, drinks, service, etc all falls in the same price per head range. And each location has options that don’t require buyouts or any venue fees.
We’ve decided to keep the spot we picked a secret for now! But can’t wait to share all of our upcoming plans and adventures planning our wedding! We’ll be headed back down to Cabo in a few months to pick our menus, whip up some signature drinks & meet with our wedding planner! So excited for all the fun to come planning our big day!!
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