Need a lot of help! Coordinators? DIY? Where to begin!?

[JulieG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starfish Hi everyone, So my fiancé and I have our hearts set on the Dominican Republic for our wedding (which we would like to have happen April - May 2008 ). We really like the look of Excellence Resort Punta Cana but to be honest, we're not sure where to even begin! I emailed them and requested more information and all they've done is send me the exact information off their website in word format. We don't believe that we really need to hire a full out wedding coordinator because we're only planning on having approximately 10 guests. We have however been looking into destinationweddings.com does anybody have any knowledge on them? From what I gather they can help us with bookings and getting deals for our guests etc. But really, I have no idea how they work and am quickly getting overwhelmed (And we just started the planning!). They claim to need a $50 deposit prior to really doing any legwork. How much do their services cost after this initial $50? I'm sure once the ball gets rolling things will be better but for now we're a little confused. Any advice on where to being and if anybody has used that dw.com and can let me know if they do what we need it would be great to hear from everyone. Thank you kindly! Myles & Sarah

Sarah, where in Canada do you live? I have a travel agent who specializes in DW's and she helped me find reviews and information on the resorts I was interested in and is pretty well organizing all the guests for me.

I can give you her information, or just tell you to find a good travel agent and they will do a lot of the work for you.

[foxytv]

Let me know how I can help. We're getting married in the DR in April 2008. Did a lot of research before choosing our resort (Paradisus Punta Cana for wedding/ Paradisus Palma Real for honeymoon) ... so I am happy to offer any advice or input that I can. I've been in the planning stages since June 2006, so I have gathered plenty of info. Happy to help!!!

 

And ... to the forum!!!

[foxytv]

Quote:

Originally Posted by christie272 Hi, I'm getting married in punta cana next month, at the paradisus palma real. I used dw.com and I had a great experience with it. My travel agent was very helpful on finding me prices for the resorts for myself and my guests. The biggest reason I chose them is because they offer the payment plan. That way my guests didn't have to come up with the lump sum all at once. I didn't have to pay anything else after the initial $50. And I didn't have to pay any extra for the wedding coordinator. Her name is Kelly Hunt, and she is also helpful and quick with returning e-mails. Hopefully that helps a little. If you have any other questions let me know. Christie

I'm not using dw.com ... but I do know that the WC at PPR is fabulous. Mine at PPC is extraordinary as well. I am using a TA through AAA Vacations and it's just an initial deposit and then you can make payments as you wish until 60 days prior, when it (you and guests) have to be paid in full.

I don't have to put any money/deposit down for the wedding itself, just for the rooms.

PS -- Congrats Christie!!! Can't wait to hear about PPR, since that's where we're honeymooning!!!

[Starfish]

This is all fantastic information. Thank you all and please keep it coming! I think we've arrived at not using dw.com instead I am going to look into AAA Vacations possibly.

 

We're in a bit of a tricky situation. We are both Canadian and from Thunder Bay, Ontario (where all of our family/guests will be coming from) but Sarah and myself (this is her fiance now) live in London, England. We've been here for about 5 months now.

 

So, we will be leaving and planning the wedding from England. Our families will be coming from Thunder Bay. . .and we'll all meet up in the middle in the DR.

 

A further question, has anybody compared paradisus palma real to Excellence Punta Cana?

 

We like the look of excellence and the packages that they offer (their gold package is quite nice!). But I do see a lot of people selecting PPR. . . any thoughts behind the decision? If so please share!

 

Thank everyone,

Myles

[Starfish]

Quote:

Originally Posted by foxytv I'm not using dw.com ... but I do know that the WC at PPR is fabulous. Mine at PPC is extraordinary as well. I am using a TA through AAA Vacations and it's just an initial deposit and then you can make payments as you wish until 60 days prior, when it (you and guests) have to be paid in full. I don't have to put any money/deposit down for the wedding itself, just for the rooms. PS -- Congrats Christie!!! Can't wait to hear about PPR, since that's where we're honeymooning!!!

Hello and thank you for that great info. Could you please go into a little more detail on the payment plan? Is that something that was set up by AAA or is that something the resort offers? A payment plan would be fantastic!

Thank you

[Starfish]

Quote:

Originally Posted by christie272 Hi, I'm getting married in punta cana next month, at the paradisus palma real. I used dw.com and I had a great experience with it. My travel agent was very helpful on finding me prices for the resorts for myself and my guests. The biggest reason I chose them is because they offer the payment plan. That way my guests didn't have to come up with the lump sum all at once. I didn't have to pay anything else after the initial $50. And I didn't have to pay any extra for the wedding coordinator. Her name is Kelly Hunt, and she is also helpful and quick with returning e-mails. Hopefully that helps a little. If you have any other questions let me know. Christie

Hi Christie, Thank you for the great info. I'm going to put the same question to you. Could you please go into more detail on what dw.com did for you? When I was reading about them they did sound like the type of service we were looking for. But I have heard from a lot of people now in this forum who are saying they didn't have the best experience. Sarah and I know where we want to go, we're just looking for someone who can get us a good deal on the rooms/resort/flights etc. Is this what DW.com would do? Furthermore, could you elaborate on the payment plan that they offer please.

Thank you kindly!

[1elephant]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starfish This is all fantastic information. Thank you all and please keep it coming! I think we've arrived at not using dw.com instead I am going to look into AAA Vacations possibly. We're in a bit of a tricky situation. We are both Canadian and from Thunder Bay, Ontario (where all of our family/guests will be coming from) but Sarah and myself (this is her fiance now) live in London, England. We've been here for about 5 months now. So, we will be leaving and planning the wedding from England. Our families will be coming from Thunder Bay. . .and we'll all meet up in the middle in the DR. A further question, has anybody compared paradisus palma real to Excellence Punta Cana? We like the look of excellence and the packages that they offer (their gold package is quite nice!). But I do see a lot of people selecting PPR. . . any thoughts behind the decision? If so please share! Thank everyone, Myles

oh oh oh where in london? i used to live there and miss it SO much!!!!!!!

[Starfish]

Quote:

Originally Posted by naughie oh oh oh where in london? i used to live there and miss it SO much!!!!!!!

We live in West Wickham, Kent. About 25 minutes to London Bridge by train

[1elephant]

ah, never been to kent...i was in st. john's wood - the american section of london

[Starfish]

Quote:

Originally Posted by christie272 Hi, I'm getting married in punta cana next month, at the paradisus palma real. I used dw.com and I had a great experience with it. My travel agent was very helpful on finding me prices for the resorts for myself and my guests. The biggest reason I chose them is because they offer the payment plan. That way my guests didn't have to come up with the lump sum all at once. I didn't have to pay anything else after the initial $50. And I didn't have to pay any extra for the wedding coordinator. Her name is Kelly Hunt, and she is also helpful and quick with returning e-mails. Hopefully that helps a little. If you have any other questions let me know. Christie

Hello again, I know you haven't had a chance to answer the first question yet but I've just thought of another. Does DW.com give you a time limit? Meaning, if I (just as an example) signed up with them today (paid the $50) and then requested info/prices on say two different resorts. Would they come back and say "Here Myles is your price quotes. You have two weeks to make your decision"?

And along the same lines, once you pay and have officially signed up with them, are they essentially with you until the day of your wedding? Meaning if they give us info to look at and then don't hear back from us for a week or two they aren't going to close off the account or anything silly like that would they? (I've heard of this happening with other companies before. . .they say "due to inactivity we have closed your account").

Just making sure I cover everything before deciding to use them or not.

Thank you again!
Myles & Sarah