Your not paying $500.00 for a cake...your paying for Flowers, decorations on the beach, a tent, cake, someone to perform the service...and other little things are included..I used the wedding planner there, she was absolutely great, helpful and wonderful to work with. I had beautiful peach roses, large lillys, and beautiful flowers covering a trellis and the tables and the chairs were all covered in white linen. Your paying for an actual wedding...you cant just have the wedding there and not expect the hotel to provide you any services. You might just want to have the wedding on a public beach then and arrange some place nice for dinner. I can tell you the Hamaca provided a beautiful setting and a beautiful wedding day for me.