Just Engaged!! Planning a DW for 2014!!!

I know all of you are probably gonna laugh at me coz we are planning to get hitched in 2014! But I'm recently engaged and my fiance and I knew right from the beginning that we wanted to have a stress free wedding and destination weddings was the route for us. It's a little premature I think to be looking into wedding planning right now, but I don't know how you upcoming brides decide!?! There are so many beautiful resorts and places that we don't even know where to begin!!!! So far we've fallen in love with Mexico and Jamaica but not sure which to choose. I know what price I want our guests to pay to travel, just figuring out the location is quite difficult. The food and beach is really important for us as well! It's hard finding out prices and the date we want to have the wedding (although we know we want it probably in first few months of 2014) with all those in mind and we haven't had much luck with a TA who would be willing to give us prices and ideas at this point in time. So here I am! Reaching out to all you lovely BDW-ers! lol.

HELP!!!!

)

I would love to hear from all of you! Teach me the ways wise ones! hahaha

Congrats mizpriya!

I went about my planning a little bit differently than you are. I chose the destination and then found a resort. It sounds like you are more flexible about your destination and are really looking for a resort that will fit your criteria. So, keeping that in mind, here are my thoughts...

Unfortunately, I don't think you will be able to find anyplace that will quote you 2014 prices. I booked my DW in July 2010 for July 2011. The contract basically said that the prices may change, but guaranteed that the maximum increase would be 10%. (They ended up staying the same). I highly doubt that any resort would quote you a dollar amount for 2.5-3 years from now. However, I think that using the current pricing isn't a bad way of determining the 2014 pricing in a relative way. The most expensive resorts will continue to be the most expensive ones, etc.

Right now, my advice would be RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH! This forum is great. Tripadvisor also has a ton of reviews. I'd also check out DW magazines and books and good ol' Google searches. The resort's websites may have their current pricing posted as well as pictures, which are always helpful.

Also, I'd try contacting a local WC in Mexico and one in Jamaica. Admittedly, my TA wasn't the best, but a local who works with the resorts all the time will have personal knowledge about which has the best food and beach. I think the TA will be more helpful in other areas of your planning. You should be able to find recommended WCs in Mexico and Jamaica on BDW.

Good luck and happy planning!

Congratulations and welcome to the forum!!  You will be very prepared when the date comes.  That will be great!!  

Best of luck,

Lori

Welcome! happy planning!

Congrats! At least u have plenty of time to plan!

Congratulations and welcome to the forums! I have tones of image galleries for resorts in the Mayan Riviera to help you choose a place! https://www.facebook.com/media/albums/?id=18683524486

Let me know if you have an questions about any of them.

Best of luck with all your planning.
Linkn

Congratulations and welcome to your planning stages!!! I also gave myself a long time to plan as I wanted every detail perfect and I wanted to make everything as stress free as possible!! Before I chose my location my FI and I sat down and made a list.. Things we MUST HAVE at a resort... Thing we WOULD LIKE... and things we DID NOT WANT... This helped us out a lot in narrowing down a resort... Your biggest question is if you want an all-inclusive resort or pay as you go resort... We chose the all-inclusive resort that way nobody is responsible for picking up the "tab" at the bar or the bill at dinner.. I think this will be much less stressful and allow people to relax a bit more... There was a thread on here about a girl who is getting married in Mexico at an all-inclusive resort and the resort actually gave them $$ credits.. like a HUGE amount talking high hundreds into the thousand range of credit towards excursions.. If i hadn't already chose Jamaica. I would of definitely switched to this resort.. I'll try and find the thread for you!!

Happy Planning!!!!

Congrats and welcome!  Good luck planning! 

Good luck with the planning!!

Gonzalo

Congrats Mizpriya! Our criteria was exactly the same: Good food, good beach, and either Mexico or Jamaica. We asked everyone we know as well as several travel agents about the resorts with the best food. Then we went on Tripadvisor to see how the places recommended to us ranked in terms of their beaches. From there we got a list of 8 or 9 resorts which we priced and checked that their wedding packages included everything we wanted. Only three met all our criteria, much easier to make a decision at that point Good luck!