How far in advance did you start to plan?

[Hannah]

I am uberexcited and like everything organised yesterday but have since discovered the wedding can't be organised until the travel brochures are out for Jan 2011. This obviously makes sense but irritates me nonetheless.

 

We have huge problems with this as my Dad is in a job where he has to apply for his holiday leave 18 months in advance (September 2009 for Jan 2011). We have had a variety of advice:

1. we can book in the next couple of months with the travel agents going directly to the wholesalers but be aware that the schedules are very likely to change

2. Wait because one agent believes a lot of agents or hotels may disappear anyway because of the dodgy financial climate

3. not worry and book only three months before because one agent informed me that was all the time I needed.

 

We are inviting about 40 guests who are all mostly from the UK and they need to have a date.

 

The other issue is his Mum who has said she may not be able to afford St. Lucia so we are looking at a slightly more affordable island then heading somewhere kick butt beautiful by ourselves afterwards.

 

Has anyone else booked lightyears in advance?

Am I worrying unnecessarily?

[itsfinallyhere]

If you know the resort you want to have it at, I would contact them with your requested date. See if you can get that set-up and then worry about the rest later.

[nibsmom]

I agree, I would try to book the date of the wedding far in advance, the worry about the rest later. At least then you have a date for your dad to plan around. And your mom will know farrrr in advance which resort you are going to, so she should be able to spend lots of time saving!

 

We started our planning about 9 months in advance. We very spontaneously decided to just have a wedding, and picked our resort without doing much research...LOL. It was about time though - we were engaged for three years!!

[breeze616]

For ideas on travel costs, I got prices on what it would cost to travel to the destinations I liked for different dates during THIS year. That is what helped me choose the date for my wedding as it was the cheapest time of year to travel to the resort that I wanted to go to. Now I've booked the wedding date with my resort for December 2010, but have to wait awhile until I can actually book my trip.

 

Hope this helps!

[~Keira~]

We booked out wedding with a TA that specializes in weddings/groups. Honestly, like you I was "uberexcited" so we ended up booking our wedding a year and 4 month in advance. We had no troubles with that. Didn't have to wait for a brochure or anything. I'm sure if you look around you will find a TA that is willing to work with you and your needs.

 

Good luck!

[Shinbinea]

We booked in April for our wedding in February 2010 - but I had been checking out prices and locations and what different resorts offered for months (no wait I'll be honest its years ) before we booked.

 

I would start considering which destinations you want to consider and then once you have decided on where you want to go you can start talking to some different Travel Agents and see what they recommend.

 

Good Luck

[Natural]

I say go ahead and choose a resort now the rest will fall into place...I started planning a tradional wedding after we got enganged for about 2 years out...then we switched gears after about 6 weeks of planning to do a DW in 1 year...