Besides BDW, what sites did you use...

to help narrow down your choices in resorts? I've been on Trip Advisor and Expedia, anything I'm missing? I've narrowed it down to 5 resorts (then I find another one I like and add it to the list..ahhh) Any tips?

I made my decision very quickly, without doing much research. I'm working backwards - I'm reading any and all reviews I can find. (I don't recommend doing this! I'm starting to regret some of my choices. )

 

I constantly check Trip Advisor and once I decided on the honeymoon resort, I've been obsessed with the Couples message boards too.

 

Which resorts are currently on your list?

I went to a travel agent and got a few books on resorts. Then I used trip advisor alot. After going back the travel agent and she helpped look into what my FI and I were looking for and getting a few quotes from different resorts, that is how we decided on our all Inclusive resort. And i cannot be more please. Trip advisor though you have to take with a grain of salt though remember. There are going to be so many people wanting to just complain about everything, no mater what. I think as long as you have an open mind and just relax almost no matter where you go, and if they have "in paper" all the things you want, you should go for that place you love. Good luck!

I went to the Knot to find out info but I gave up on that a long time ago. Its pretty much this site for me.

I started with trip advisor for reviews of hotels & once we found Dreams I kept stalking it for updated reviews. I did use expedia & travelocity a couple times to compare their rates with the ones our travel agent secured for us (she did much better than either site). For planning I only used this site.

I was having the hardest time so what I finally used was three criterias:

 

1) How many restaurants/bars and activities did the place have? (for me, more the better as there will be guests of varying ages, tastes, interests...)

2) How much of a "deal" were the packages for group rates? (i chose PPC because the group rate vs individual rate was much more discounted than with the other resorts i picked)

3) How much did I like the look of the resort?

 

When I finally found 3 that tied, I asked my fiance to pick one of tem.

 

I have to be honest, though. I'm sort of regretting my decision. If you check tripadvisor, my resort has a lot of negative reviews. I think partly because it is an expensive resort and people expect more than they would with a cheaper one but I have been getting the impression that their customer service is lacking. Unfortunately, we've already sent them the deposit to save our date....

 

So my advice is...once you have narrowed down to about 3 resorts, contact the wedding and regular customer service departments at least a few times with random questions as a test. You may find one is much more responsive than another. The other two resorts were much more responsive so now I regret not going with one of them now.

Thank you ladies

i used to use the knot but i found there was a lot of drama between posters for some reason, even in threads and areas for specific geographic regions. there also seemed to be a lot of internal groups or (i'd hate to say it) "clicks" between posters so i kept it moving, lol.

i like weddingbee too.