Hi Nicole, congrats on your engagement! What we did to get started is searched on sites like expedia and trip advisor to check out the resorts in the area we wanted. This narrowed it down to about 4 just for places we would like to stay and had the amenities we needed (ie. kids club, nice beach, good reviews on food and service). Then we looked into what all of the 4 resorts offered for wedding packages and the prices based on the approx amount of people we thought would come. This is important because with some resorts if you have a larger # of people, you may have to pay for a private reception (which was not in our budget). So by the time we contacted our travel agent we had already picked our resort. That being said, if you are really confused about the location, a travel agent may be really helpful to you. We are getting married at the Grand Bahia Principe resort and our budget is aprox $12K (includes our travel, extra honeymoon week at another resort, wedding pkg, dinner at a la carte, poolside reception, extra flowers, dress, rings, FI attire, OOT bags, and $1.5K budget for pictures). I hope this helps a bit, good luck planning! Liz