Location, location, location

I have been lurking around this forum for quite some time now. But only today did I find the venting section. Oh how I love the venting section! Thank you BDW. My friends and family don't want to hear venting so I will vent to strangers.

Location, location, location!

I know this is a very typical post, but I can't narrow down where I want to go (within budget). For some of our A-list guests to come and join us we are setting a budget of $1500/person - ish for the week AI with flight out of Toronto Ontario. My family has reunioned in DR and Mayan Rivera before and my FI's best friend wed in Varadero last year. So these places are ruled out. Unfortunately these can be the more budget-friendly options.

We went to see a travel agent that was recommended to us last weekend. We got the impression that she really didn't want our business. She mostly vented about the stresses of her job. She told us that for our group (of about 40) to get group rates we would all have to put down deposits within 7 days of the original quote. That is impossible for our family. I left her office feeling much worse than I did when I walked in. Luckily we went for a second opinion elsewhere and they gave much more realistic options for booking a group and some general interest in helping our cause.

Over-researching has left me overwhelmed. I want to marry in a beautiful place that doesn't feel like a wedding-factory. Does anyone else feel like they are on a conveyor-belt of brides when you look at some of these resorts? I'd like to know that there is someone out there that feels the same way I do.

Thanks for listening.

Hey there! Our group is leaving out of Toronto and we got a group rate to Cabo for $1562. We only had to put down a deposit for 10 people to save the rate, not the entire group. I went through a lot of the same things as you when I was looking last summer. PM me if you want more info.

Oops double post.

you could also try contacting one of our TA's on this website. All are pretty knowledgeable and more than willing to answer your questions.

Would you still consider other regions of Cuba rather than Varadero like Holguin?

We also had to have the deposit for only 10 people, I can't remember how much time she gave us but it was more than 7 days. I also found aircanada vacations website to be very useful when looking for a destination, and then we used the price from the website to get a better deal from our TA.

The second opinion travel agent mentioned that we needed to put deposits down for ten people minimum (not a problem at all) and any additions could have the same group rate subject to availability. This made me much more relaxed as it was kind of what I assumed happened for these events. The first travel agent, I think she just didn't want to work on Saturday or something.

We're still considering other areas in Cuba other than Varadero. If I was going to choose in Varadero I would have chosen their resort (Iberostar). And that's all a bit copy-copy lol. We were joking that we could steal an idea from each one of our close friends wedding and end up with a mish-mash of terribleness lol.

There's Jamaica, not mentionned in the places your family has been. It was cheaper to go to Jamaica than DR from Ottawa.

I would try to work with a TA from the forum... They know how to get you the best prices and understand what your looking for. They have done it for themselves.

Thanks for the advice! I will probably get in contact with one of the TAs on BDW when I narrow down our options a bit. ie) pick a country!

I have been leaning heavily toward Jamaica actually. I fell in love with the Rockhouse, it's just my kind of place. But you have to book out the hotel (all 34 rooms) and there is a 8k minimum to shut down the restaurant. I just don't think we'll get a 34x2=68 person response. My FI likes the Iberostar Rose Hall beach so far.

How did you decide on a resort/location for your DW?