Not really Cali. A few people had some stomach problems, but I don't think it was widespread enough for it to have been coming from a lack of a filtration systems. Honestly, I didn't even ask about he filtration system before I went, I just assumed it would be ok since it's a really toursity area. I personally didn't have any problems with it, but I travel a lot if that makes any difference.
Thanks everyone! Glad I could help.
I'm not sure what their policy is on the site fee. We knew we needed both villas anyway, so we tried to negotiate before booking and that was one of the things that we negotiated. There were also two other villas right near Celeste (vs. Azul, which was a short cab ride away), but they were a little more expensive. But if you have people paying for their own rooms maybe it won't be so bad, but we were really price sensitive since we were paying for the whole thing ourselves.
California10, you pick which 2 meals you want served daily and the time (included with the villa). We picked breakfast and dinner, assuming people would be going out during the day and could get their own lunch. There is a menu you can pick from, and the chefs will present you with a receipt at the end of each day for the groceries. I will admit, it was a little hectic splitting up the bill, so I would recommend doing a total estimate for the week and having everyone pay up front. Then just have one person settle the bill everynight. Jenna, it's my pleasure. I know when I was initially planning I really wished there were more reviews available, so I'm glad to help. Depending on the number of people you have you can definitely have it at the villa, it would be gorgeous. I just wanted to break mine up since we already have family staying at the villa and we were having the reception at the villa. I wanted a different background for some of the pictures. We had 32 people and it felt a little empty at Celeste because there was so much space. Besides splitting the bills amongst ourselves and our guests, there was absolutely nothing unorganized about the villa. The staff was excellent, they really took care of everything. We were able to tell them what we wanted stocked ahead of time, so when we got to the villa there were margaritas and guac and salsa all ready for us. It was really fantastic. We didn't have to wash one dish, pour one drink, or even call a taxi if we needed it. We never lifted a finger! But at the same time we didn't feel as if they were in the way. Bear in mind that you can't really walk from Villa Azul to Villa Celeste, so your guests will have to take a taxi if they want to get from one to the other. I was a little worried about this but it turned out fine, the taxi was always there within 5 minutes of us calling and the ride was very cheap. Our other guests staying at hotels didn't have any issues either, they actually hung out with us a lot during the trip.
We booked out villas through Vallarta Shores and they have a few other villas and they also have a condo hotel with 1-3 bedroom condos. I can't speak for all of them, but the two villas we chose were beautiful and averaged about 100/night, which was within our budget. We also had some other guests that were comfortable just finding their own hotel, and they were fine taking taxis to our place when they wanted to hang out with us. In total we had 32 people, including myself and my husband. I would recommend you shoot them an email with a brief description of what you're looking for, because they replied to me very quickly with a very detailed estimate. My original quote was under 7k for up to 40 people (it was closer to 6k, I can't remember the exact number). This didn't include the donkey, fireworks, cigar roller, or alcohol. It did include a guitar player for an hour. Also, this was with the 75/pp caterer, which I didn't go with in the end.
Hey California, We booked two villas through Vallarta Shores - Villa Azul, an 8 bedroom villa where me, my husband, and our wedding party stayed, and Villa Celeste, a 5 bedroom villa where our immediate family stayed. We saved a little money by booking early in the rainy season, with the hopes that we would get lucky with the weather (which we did). So all together we paid under 1,400/night for 13 bedrooms. The villlas were amazing and everyone loved them. And since we booked both for 5 days, we didn't have to pay an event fee to have the reception at Celeste. For alcohol, our wedding planner gave us suggestions of what to buy based on the number of people we had. We had a little left over at the end of the night, but it was ok for us since we still had 2 more days in the villa after that. But overall it was pretty reasonable. For instance, you can get a bottle of Jimador tequila for roughly $8 USD. For the wedding night, the staff cooked the dinner that was served but the tables, linens, etc. were rented from an outside company I believe. My wedding planner handled all of that so I don't have all of the details. But even with that cost added in, my final reception price per person was still half of the original quote I received from an outside catering company ($75pp). This also included waitstaff and bartenders.
Maracas - buy in advance or when we get there?
Cool, I'm sure they'll turn out great. We just got back from our wedding and the maracas were a huge hit...so happy I went with them.
Try Michael from vallartaweddings.com. I'm using him for my reception and his prices were very reasonable. I'll be able to give better feeback next month after the wedding.
I'm actually getting married at Villa Celeste, the same villa that Taquito posted. And since chef service is included with the Villa rental I decided to use them for the reception. I am using Eva and Michael of Vallarta Weddings as my planner, so they are coordinating everything for me. I thought their prices were fairly reasonable. You can contact them and give them a brief explanation of what you are looking for and they will send you a pretty detailed price estimate.
Sorry, I missed that you already mentioned up to 100 people. I guess I found it reasonable because I will have closer to 40. The quote I received for the mexican buffet style setup was 1300 for 40 people (32.50pp). This includes food, 1 or 2 waiters (i don't remember), a bartender, and setup of the equipment like tables, table cloths, dishes, etc..