When to have a place booked???

[amester1974]

Hi all,.just started my planning - ahhh, so much to think about! But my main stress right now is WHEN should I have a place picked/booked - wedding is MArch Break 2011? SOme of you look like you are a year in advance! My agent said wholesalers release sale prices in the fall- I don't think I can wait that long!! Soooo, you guys have to tell me - should I gun down and do it now

[tracy0716]

Depends a lot on your approach and preference...I booked a little less than a yr beforehand because I wanted our date and wanted to get the planning process going. My resort locks in the wedding prices for the year you book in...so we booked in Aug 2009 and are subject to 2009 prices not 2010 which have gone up. We put down a $500 deposit for the wedding but didn't book our rooms and flight until a few months later. It's really up to you, good luck!

[Knbell22]

Hi there and welcome to the forum! Have you narrowed down which resort you would like to get married at? Or at least which area/country? If you are planning on a March 2011 wedding, I would definitely get a jump start and nail down your date. I am a June 2011 bride and in the past few weeks, i have seen many dates for June being taken so If you know which resort you want to get married at, I would definitely get in contact with the WC there and see what you need to do to secure your date.

 

You may want to first check with your WC to see what the cancellation policy is. I know that at our resort, we can cancel up to 6 months before the wedding and still get our deposit back. That allows some time to still see what rates will be like. So it was easy for us to just send the deposit and secure our date knowing if for some reason the rates end up looking really high, we still have the option to pick a different resort.

 

Hope this helps Happy Planning!

[Fireweed]

My wedding is over Christmas break this year and we just booked our resort - 8 months ahead. They didn't even have the prices yet for the following year before now. But they should have the prices for March break in the next few months. Book as early as you can as March break fills up fast, as does Christmas break!

 

Good luck!

[BeachBrideSoon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knbell22 Hi there and welcome to the forum! Have you narrowed down which resort you would like to get married at? Or at least which area/country? If you are planning on a March 2011 wedding, I would definitely get a jump start and nail down your date. I am a June 2011 bride and in the past few weeks, i have seen many dates for June being taken so If you know which resort you want to get married at, I would definitely get in contact with the WC there and see what you need to do to secure your date. You may want to first check with your WC to see what the cancellation policy is. I know that at our resort, we can cancel up to 6 months before the wedding and still get our deposit back. That allows some time to still see what rates will be like. So it was easy for us to just send the deposit and secure our date knowing if for some reason the rates end up looking really high, we still have the option to pick a different resort. Hope this helps Happy Planning!

Wow, this helps me LOTS! Thank you!!
I'm planning on getting married in January 2011 and we've picked our city of where we want to get married, just not the resort and mainly because I want to see what prices will be then. I think I've just realized, we need to pick a date and book it with a resort and then find out their cancellation policy...ahhh, I feel like a light bulb just went off. Then we could send out a STD with the month and city we're planning!!!
Again, thanks so much!! Its going to be a busy weekend working on STD's!!!

[MrsMiller2b]

I agree! I think you need to get your place confirmed so that you can be sure your date is locked in and guests can start planning for travel once you let them know when and where you're planning to get married. I wouldn't finalize my STDs until you're sure everything is agreed upon with your location and venue.

[Pinky]

Great advice. I'm guess no properties will probably have rates for Nov. 2011 yet? That's our projected timeframe, although the actual date has yet to be decided.

[SKing24]

amester I'm in the same boat as you. Ive just been reading all the posts on this forum for the last two weeks trying to find a good resort but Im just as overwhelmed as ever. We were hoping for april 2011 but its seems as if most brides already have dates booked for april! I think it depends on when you're getting married as for when you should book. For weddings in the fall you dont have to do it as early, but for Mar-June we need to get moving! I just booked TA Jill to help because I dont know if I could do it on my own.

[DiamondGirl]

amester1974,

definitely get your venue booked ASAP. Worry about the release of prices later. Otherwise, you'll end up paying a higher price for the following year. Definitely want to lock in your package price now. There's so much to be done!! Get going!! Good luck & Happy Planning!!

[Lolita29]

Welcome to the forum, i have my resort booked as i wanted to make sure the date and time i wantd i got, and i did!