Choosing the Destination

PIZZA DATE NIGHT - LET’S PICK OUR DESTINATION!

I am incredibly lucky to have had a fiancé that was equally invested in the wedding planning process so we thought choosing the location would be the easy part… Our plan was simple - stay in on a Friday night, order pizza, grab a beverage, get comfy on the couch, flip open our laptops and come up with our destination. It was SUCH a great idea that every 10min we were convinced we were going to get married in a different country or exotic island. We went from the Florida Keys, to the Caribbean Islands to Costa Rica, to Hawaii, to Greece, to Thailand, … I mean … WHAT? We rabbit-holed on the internet so hard that we were 10x more confused when we went to bed that night with nothing but scattered information and headaches. There had to be a better way…

The Solution:

Hey all of you cost conscious brides… Did you know that travel agents don’t cost a thing? … because I had no idea! Todd picked up the phone the next day and called a local TA that put us in touch with a woman that specialized in destination events and weddings, Beth Rasor, at luxuraytravelboutique.com. I could stop here and say the rest is history because it was pretty much easy, smooth sailing from there. Here’s how it worked:

Our initial meeting with our new TA was about getting to know each other and the things that were important to us so she could come up with suggestions. Beth had been to every resort recommended so she could speak about the pros and cons on a personal level, which was really cool. I could feel the weight lifting off my shoulders that we found someone really knowledgeable to help us.
Our second meeting was a week later and Beth walked us through 6 resorts (based on budget and our wants) in three countries: Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Mexico.
Every resort looked amazing but we narrowed down the list to one resort in Jamaica and two in the Dominican. (I thought for sure we’d end up in Jamaica since it was our first big trip together as a couple and neither of us had been to the DR). She knew the ins-and-outs of how the resorts worked, the important things to look at in wedding packages/contracts and quite frankly, things we had no idea that existed, like room comp packages. Todd and I had a renewed sense of excitement to do our due diligence and dove into reviews, stalked social media groups/pages dedicated to those locations on Facebook and Instagram, and reached out to a very select few family members and friends to get their thoughts.
Pro Tip: Be careful soliciting too many opinions because that can get messy and cause confusion and doubt in your decisions.
It’s hard to go wrong in the Caribbean but the resort we chose had a slightly different charm that caught our eye from the beginning. The coastline was a mix of white sand beaches and rugged rocks with crystal clear water. It had options to get married with our toes in the sand with a Bermuda grass reception area and a sunset that took your breath away. There’s so much more to this resort that I’ll highlight in another post!
Hilton La Romana All-Inclusive Resort - Dominican Republic
Once we chose our resort… Beth took care of getting the contract situated, booking our room block, booked all of our guests travel and provided super helpful advice every step of the way. More on that later.

Hilton La Romana also offers a “free”, BIG DAY Planning trip that gives you an opportunity to visit the resort, experience all it has to offer and talk to the wedding coordinator before signing your contract. We paid $500 for a two-night stay and since we signed a contract, they took $500 off of your final wedding costs. We used points to fly down so it felt free-ish to us!!

5 Reasons We Chose Our Resort:

The all-inclusive resort has a family side and an adult-only side. If you’re over 18, you have access to amenities on both sides and it’s all walkable - best of both worlds!
Affordable for our guests
- Mid-range price for all-inclusive resorts in the DR (Punta Cana and surrounding areas)
Direct flight from our home airport
Landscape and beaches at the resort - Stunning and unique
- La Romana does not get the seaweed build up in the water and beaches you can find in Punta Cana because it sits on the southern edge of the island in a cove
- Punta Cana faces the sunrise. La Romana faces the sunset which was a stunning evening wedding backdrop
Reviews on how wonderful the wedding coordinator and all staff were at the resort (they were all 100% true)