Just getting started!

Hi! My name is Brooke! we just got engaged this past Valentine's Day and we are starting to look into wedding locations! My fiance and I are both dead set on Mexico, but we haven't decided on the actual city. Cabo is our first pic and puerto vallarta as well as zijuatenejo are a close second. I can't wait to browse this forum! We are looking at our wedding date being in April 2013...am I starting this planning process too early? I'm so excited to be on here and see all of the wonderful suggestions and comments. This forum is pure genious because for the last week I have been cruising the internet on DW suggestions and I was starting to get so overwhelmed!

This forum has been a godsend for me! I just recently started planning my February 2013 wedding in the Mayan Riviera.  My recommendation would be to find yourself a good travel agent that can work with you on selecting an amazing location that specializes in weddings in a price range that works for you and your FI.  Once you figure out your date and place, work on sending out those STDs (save the dates).  Any other questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Hi Brooke, I am getting married in 2013 and I too am a newbie here.  I understand your frustration with the searches I am going through the same thing getting frustrated.  It is a relief to speak with others who are going through the same planning.  Are you using a TA? you are absolutely not starting to early...The earlier the better from what I am seeing. 

Welcome!  Happy wedding planning!

MissDLC -

Congrats on the engagement!

My wife and I enjoyed a destination wedding in Mexico and LOVED it!  When we first started planning, it was a daunting task.  My wife did her research and found a company to help with the planning.  She signed up to attend a webinar and to work with a wedding planner.  I figured we'd be throwing away the money - $50.  But, to be honest, it was the BEST $50 we spent on the wedding.  After the webinar, we worked with a wedding planner at their company to go over the details for our event.

The company is  DestinationWeddings.com.  They were fantastic!!!  Our planner - Maureen - walked us through the steps for the wedding and helped us select the ideal location.  She always promptly answered any question we had and always presented options when they were available.  We had our wedding at the El Dorado Maroma resort in Cancun this past November and it really was a perfect wedding.  We eloped so it was just the two of us - kept it secret and didn't tell anyone - it's funny how many couples have told us they wish they had eloped!

Without a doubt, when you book the trip, BUY THE INSURANCE!!!  We almost needed it!  About 3 days prior to our departure, Maureen called to inform us of a hurricane that had decided to visit when we were scheduled to arrive.  We kept our fingers crossed and hoped for the best...the hurricane ended up being lots of wind and rain, but it did force us to change our departure dates.  Maureen at DestiantionWeddings.com was fantastic.  She worked with the airlines and the hotel to get them to switch our dates without costing us anything or forcing us to use the insurance.  Also, she coordinated with the onsite wedding staff to make sure we could still be married on the day we had selected - Nov 1st.  Because ours was a legal ceremony, she had to make sure the judge would be there and our blood tests would be completed in time.  They were and everything went off perfectly.  (Although it did rain on our wedding day but it stopped raining long enough for us to have some beautiful pictures taken.  But as they say...rain on a wedding day is good luck!)

I really cannot speak higher of the experience we had with them.  They even made sure we were able to have our candle lit dinner on the beach - in our rush to the airport, we left the certificate at home...oops!  Our planner - Maureen was excellent and always very helpful.  If you decide on the destination wedding....USE THEM!!!! 

Good luck and hope everything goes well!

You are definitely not starting too early. You are actually right on time! Planning a destination wedding means doing a lot of stuff ahead of when you normally would so that people have time to start saving up and you have less stress trying to make things come together when you don't get to see many things in person until the day of. It takes a LOT more research to plan a destination wedding!

I too would suggest working with a TA if you don't already have one. Just make sure they specialize in destination weddings!!! Trust me, it will save you a lot of time and effort in the end!!!

You are not starting too early at all!  As you read the forum, you will find out tons of things to do and plan for a destination wedding.  I would recommend one of the travel agents from this site to help you narrow down a location.  I am getting married in June 2013 and we've been planning since January.  You will want to get info to your guests as soon as possible so they can save and plan!

Hey Brooke,

My husband and I got married 12-11-10 in Playa Del Carmen.  If you haven't already been, then you are missing out.  I have been to Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, Cancun, Tulum, and Acapulco.  Out of all of these locations, Playa Del Carmen was the best.  It has turquoise water, an amazing downtown area, and a real Caribbean vibe.  That is the main reason we chose this location.  Another factor for us was finding non-stop flights from Chicago.  The best place in Mexico to fly non-stop is the Cancun airport and Playa Del Carmen is about 20 miles outside of Cancun.  Once my husband I am picked our location, we started trying to figure out how we were going to plan the whole wedding.  A co-worker of mine had recently had a destination wedding and recommended www.destinationweddings.com.  This was the best advice I could have received.  You pay $50 only and they plan your entire wedding.  I know it might seem too good to be true, but that's all they charge.  They will find you the best rates (we even compared with Expedia, Hotwire, etc) and they have arrangements with many resorts in Mexico as well.  I think the best part is that if you want to go and look at a few hotels in Mexico, they will set you up with someone to take you around and view a few different places.  I am not sure how many people you have coming down for your wedding but we had about 60 people.  Destination weddings recommended the Karisma resorts which are gourmet all-inclusive resorts which I highly recommend.  These resorts have unbelievable everything (Food, Customer Service, Drinks, Venues, etc) and they are reasonably priced.  We had our wedding at The Azul Fives resort in Playa, and it was truly the best decision we could have made.  I highly recommend Destination Weddings and Karisma Resorts.  Check them out and trust me, you will not be disappointed.

Ashley

Congrats!  The earlier you start...the better.  Gives you more time to decide on everything and design items w/o feeling rushed.  At least you have it narrowed down pretty well.  I started with...I want to get married on the beach somewhere...lol

There is NO such thing as "too early" in my opinion! No date set yet for me and STILL thankful for all the ideas on advice on BDW. You should enjoy them as far in advance as possible!