Less Stress for Domnican Brides!!!! Please Read and Post your thoughts!

[korywells]

My fiance and I have been to the DR 3 times now and the place we are going to get married at is Paradisus PC. It is so magical. Destination Weddings is fabulous and I am using them for my wedding websight but am doing all my wedding coordination through Lauren at [email protected]. She is amazing and typically responds to my emails within 24-48 hours no matter the question.

 

What I would like to know is if anyone has done shipping prior to the wedding for gifts and arrival gifts prior to the wedding and how was the process. I am concerned that the items I will be shipping wont arrive on time or will be broken. Please advise on how it went and how you shipped the items.

 

Thank you and congrats to all you wonderful brides out there.

[bikegirl]

I think there is a market for destination wedding coordinators, certainly. However, I think it works better when the travel agent and non-resort WC are one and the same. For example, in Toronto we have one called Luxe Destination Weddings. Their packages are not cheap. I believe it ranges from one to several thousand on top of the actual travel expenses, at resort wedding packages! However, I have heard mixed reviews on them and I think one of the reasons is that the bride IS paying extra for that WC service and 100% if not 110% perfection and ease.

 

Personally, if I know it will cost me $1000-2000 for english WC services, it would actually make me feel better about the bad service at some of the resorts. Because I would feel like, despite the inconvenience, I am saving $1-2K.

 

However, if circumstances are different - I was making a lot more, I was working a lot more....I would employee an English WC.

[Boston Bride 2009]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JellisRN We're planning our wedding with a coordinator @ Destinationweddings.com. We also tried using a local travel agent but the coordinators seem to have a connection with the resorts planners..... more so than travel agents. It's nice to have a "middle man" so to speak. Anyone else use Destinationweddings.com?

Haha...out TA from Destinationweddings.com was useless for our wedding planning. I know more than her on just about every aspect of our wedding planning. For me their whole pitch was a bunch of crap. They are regular TA's that have a contract with dw.com and know no more than a regular TA and for me she didn't even know that stuff.

[jackyjoneston]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kate&devon No joke that is actually what I was thinking. That is why I posted the question to see if it was a viable idea!!! LOL!!

This company ask me inc. is based on DR ??

[MajesticEleganceBride]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boston Bride 2009 Haha...out TA from Destinationweddings.com was useless for our wedding planning. I know more than her on just about every aspect of our wedding planning. For me their whole pitch was a bunch of crap. They are regular TA's that have a contract with dw.com and know no more than a regular TA and for me she didn't even know that stuff.

AGREED!! Our lady was useless... took forever to get back to us and was very pushy.. Wouldn't even provide us with information on the Majestic Elegance b/c they said they had some issues with them but when I asked for specifics they could not give me any. We then got quotes without airfare (to early for airfare right now) and using this years rates and rates out until the spring of next year and we were still able to get cheaper rates on our own. When I asked why such a huge difference she said it's for the work she does.. we have decided to stop using DW and are now doing everything on our own.

[khomac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MajesticEleganceBride AGREED!! Our lady was useless... took forever to get back to us and was very pushy.. Wouldn't even provide us with information on the Majestic Elegance b/c they said they had some issues with them but when I asked for specifics they could not give me any. We then got quotes without airfare (to early for airfare right now) and using this years rates and rates out until the spring of next year and we were still able to get cheaper rates on our own. When I asked why such a huge difference she said it's for the work she does.. we have decided to stop using DW and are now doing everything on our own.

I wouldn't do everything on your own. I'd switch to a different TA. My TA didn't know anything about weddings / planning etc, but when it came time to help us out with our travel problems, she was a HUGE help. Our flight was cancelled, and I didn't have insurance, and she got me a $450 credit just for our inconvenience. Plus she took care of all my other guests insurance claims etc.

I did all my own wedding planning and used her for travel arrangements. I'd just hate to see you go through what I had to on your own.