Booking

Hi Everyone

 

I am getting married in july of 2009 and I was wondering what everyone did or is doing with booking for flights and hotel. Is everyone booking flight and hotel separate. Are they booking all inclusive package with flight and hotel included. How long is or has everyone waited to book.

 

thanks

We booked our hotel/air package with a travel agent. We are recommending that our guest do the same, because it is about $400 cheaper to book together...at least for us. If I were you, I would price out the packages and the prices if you brought each on there own. Sometimes, it works out the other way. I know that when we booked our package, Northwest Vacations threw in free transportation to the hotel. (Which was only like $15 each way, but it is still nice not to worry about it) With a little research I am sure you will find out which route works best for you and your guest. Best of luck!

We had our travel agent get a group rate for us and we booked the all inclusive (flight and hotel). We honestly didn't even look at doing it flight and hotel separately so I can't comment on the price difference. People started booking in late April-so a year in advance. We are getting married on spring break so we wanted to make sure that all of our guests got their spots!

I called my travel agent and we just booked like a month ago for our June 4 09 wedding.... It came out cheaper to book both at the same time.......... People sometimes say wait to book to get something cheaper but I am a CRAZY that cannot wait around so I booked.......... the first couple of dates I wanted to get married were taken so its good to figure everything out earlier....good luck

We got our TA to get us a group rate for our AI with flights included. We booked our April 2009 wedding in July 2008.

We did flight and hotel all together.
We did a group rate and needed to get 10 people to put deposits down to secure the rate (I did this in early April for my Jan 2009 wedding). We then had 2 months more to get everyone else we wanted to put deposits down as well to received the same rate). We just paid our final payments today!
I ended up getting a free trip cause I had 16 people book..BONUS!!! and then a $200 credit for sunquest's e-boutique (which has lots of different items to choose from).
I think I did alright!!!

Just to post a different side, our wedding group is only 10 people and we're not at an all inclusive, so we have a little more flexibility. I found some really great online rates for the off-season in Jamaica for both flights and accom that our guests can book themselves. That said if I had a larger group I would be using a TA for sure!

we signed a book group rate directly with an All Inclusive resort to give people the flexibility to NOT pay until a few weeks before the wedding.

 

the flights were separate because not everyone is staying for full 7 nights. some people also couldnt pay the full amount up front, so booking separate allows people to pay for flight first (since the price fluctuates) and the hotel at a later time.

 

wedding is in April 2009.

We booked through the travel agent, so we got a group rate, and because we had 16 in our group i get to go for free, so that is a plus. I would sugest going with a travel agent and booking it all together. I would start booking soon, we started in June and by Aug. some of my family could not get flights from Calgary, so they have to fly from Saskatoon, which is not a big deal.

I did not book a package. I actually found a deal on american airlines website. They had flights to Jamaica for $109 each way. I found better deals if you booked one way fares so I just communicated that to my guests. We are getting married at the Palmyra resort in Montego Bay and the hotel gave my guest amazing rates and upgrades. Before signing my contract with the resort, I did call around to numerous travel agencies in my area and they could not touch the rate I was quoted.

 

I guess it just depends!