About this vendor
At Design Our Travel®, we are an award-winning travel agency and destination wedding planner that serves ALL couples who want to plan honeymoons and destination weddings in the Caribbean and Mexico.
*Perhaps you’ve looked until you’re dizzy on Google, uncovered a million resort options, and are now even more overwhelmed than when you first started.
*Perhaps you are so busy daily that you just want someone to swoop in and help.
*Or perhaps you are really seeking that unique honeymoon spot or wedding venue that none of your friends have posted about on Instagram yet.
My name is Sarah Barlow, and I am the CEO and founder of Design Our Travel® and Weddings by Design Our Travel. For me, traveling isn’t just about taking pictures and checking places off a bucket list; it is about deliberately slowing life down and letting the magic of a destination inspire you and breathe fresh life into your spirit and your closest relationships.
Who We Are:
*Design Our Travel® is an award-winning, independent travel agency based in the Pittsburgh area. Weddings by Design Our Travel is the agency’s destination wedding division.
*We love tech! Our agency uses the latest and greatest tech in the travel industry. We aren’t your grandma’s travel agency.
*Since starting my travel career in 2018, I have personally toured and inspected over 100 resorts and wedding venues in the Caribbean and Mexico.
*We are proud to partner with preferred suppliers, resorts, wedding vendors, transportation companies, and travel protection providers.
*We serve clients across the US and are licensed and insured to sell travel packages to you and your guests in 49 states.
Some of Our Recent Awards Include:
*Best of WV Weddings Winner in the Travel Agency: Honeymoon category
*Top Travel Agency Award for Aruba
*Sandals Resorts Outstanding Sales Achievement Award
*Best of the Ohio Valley Top 3 Travel Agencies
*Best of the Best Readers Choice Award Top 3 Travel Agencies
While many travel agents claim to be experts in destination weddings and honeymoons, we truly live and breathe it. Ready to explore the possibilities and discover how fabulous we can make your destination wedding or honeymoon? Contact us today!
Details
Business Attributes
- Woman-owned Business
Destination Weddings
- Destination Wedding Packages
- Destination Wedding Planning
Planning
- Day-Of Coordination
- Destination Wedding Planning
- Honeymoon Planning
Wedding Activities
- Honeymoon
- Wedding
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Reviews
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4.7
out of 5.013 reviews
Sarah from design our travel was absolutely wonderful to work with. Her response time is exceptional and she got things done to say the least!! Sarah went above and beyond to help ...
create a seamless destination wedding experience. Sarah organized 46 of my guest travel needs and everyone’s travel experience went very smooth. Not only did Sarah coordinate all of my guest travel needs and hotel rooms she also helped keep in contact with the resort. When the resort was lacking communication with me Sarah got right on it and helped save the day…. More then once. Sarah kept in constant communication throughout our entire destination wedding planning all the way down until every single guest landed in Punta Cana. Whenever I had a question or a problem Sarah was on it and always had a solution! I can’t recommend Sarah enough she was absolutely amazing to work with and is a very knowledgeable and experience traveler. Sarah has been to many resorts and has so much personal knowledge which was extremely helpful when it came to all the questions I had for her. It was very comforting knowing she has actually been and scene in person the resort I was going to, this made me feel confident in my resort decision.
Sarah and her team were amazing! Her communication with all of us was amazing. She went above and beyond to keep us all informed on everything we needed to do. My Daughters wedding...
was amazing and we owe a huge thank you to Sarah and her team!
Sarah was so helpful with us as it was our first time traveling out of the country to attend my cousin's wedding. She made herself available to answer all of my (crazy) questions ...
before we left and then was able to be reached immediately when I had a question when I was at the resort. She was able to reach out to the resort management and get answers a lot quicker than I was. Highly recommend her and we will be using her for a trip next year to the Bahamas.
Sarah and her team go above and beyond which is amazing! I unfortunately had a very bad experience with a different wedding groups planner/travel agent previously and Sarah was a b...
reath of fresh air!
The absolute WORST. We attempted to use Sarah and ended up firing her as a wedding and travel planner.
We wanted to book our destination wedding in Aruba. After a month of discuss...
ing resorts, we took the next step to move forward to secure the Hilton.
*(For reference, we started planning with Sarah in January to plan our end of September wedding. We chose the Hilton and asked for a quote at the beginning of February. We received the Hilton quote second week of March.)*
Sarah gave excuse after excuse of why we didn't have a contract after 6 weeks all while ensuring us "she has her contacts there and has worked with them before."
After 6 weeks and a lot of frustration, the Hilton provided us on a Tuesday the most RIDICULOUS quote to pay 90% of our wedding room block and 50% of our wedding package by FRIDAY. Basically come up with $100k in 3 days. Sarah proved she had NO concept of "boots on the ground contacts" and was unaware of the construction of the resort.
I took matters into my own hands because Sarah had no urgency to help us secure a venue for our wedding. I contacted additional resorts in Aruba and connected with the Hyatt's coordinator. I wanted to try and salvage the money I paid Sarah already, and cc'd her on the emails to help coordinate travel. They Hyatt provided Sarah and I with the contract including the room rates. The Hyatt is NOT an all inclusive and charges per room, NOT per person.
Sarah provided us a different contracted room quote with a charge per person, not per room and it was significantly higher than the room rate provided directly by the Hyatt. When we asked Sarah if her commission was baked into this contract, she said no and couldn't explain the difference in cost or why it was broken down per person.
We found out she had individually emailed our Hyatt contact to try and avoid the room rates being sent directly to myself and my husband.
Clearly we parted ways and it was the WORST $750 spent. Sarah did absolutely nothing for us besides cause more stress and anxiety to our wedding planning. She was also very difficult to get in contact with during her office hours. Forget trying to contact her outside of 5pm (which doesn't bode well if guests were traveling.)
Go find a more qualified travel agent and wedding coordinator who will not over charge you and your guests.
Sarah is amazing to work with. She helped my husband and I plan our honeymoon to Riviera Maya and she made the whole planning experience very easy for us. When we reached out to he...
r, we weren't sure where we wanted to go. She asked us some questions about what we were looking to do and provided a variety of options within our budget. She was able to get us 66% off of a honeymoon suit for 6 nights! Our original plan was to travel in 2020, but because of COVID, we had to reschedule. Sarah took care of everything for us, and was even able to rebook the same room for 2021 with an extra night, for less than what we were originally paying for 6 nights. As our departure date drew closer and COVID was still a major factor, we decided to cancel the trip for safety reasons. Once again, Sarah took care of everything for us and made the process so much easier. I highly reccomend her and will be booking with her again once COVID is under control! Thank you for everything Sarah, we appreciate you!!
Sarah is so wonderful. As a wedding photographer who works with a lot of destination clients using a travel agent, she has gone above and beyond what others have done for me. She h...
as been great at communicating, SO pleasant to interact with, and made the whole process quick, easy, and enjoyable. Even when struck with having to navigate a cancellation due to COVID, Sarah was kind, quick to respond, and just SO helpful. I will honestly be recommending her to ALL of my destination wedding clients and couples looking for someone to help them pan a magical honeymoon because I know with her, they will have the best trips ever!
Sarah is AMAZING! If you are looking to go on a honeymoon in the Caribbean or just a vacation for you and your hubby use Sarah! She answered all my ridiculously stupid questions an...
d did all the research for me! She gets you the best price but the quality of her services are unmatchable! We just got back from Couples Swept Away in Negril Jamaica and had a great time! Sarah was just an email away if we had any questions or concerns throughout the entire process! Shoot her a message and you won’t be disappointed!
My fiancé and I decided on a destination wedding about six months into our engagement. We had decided to have a long engagement (will be 2 years total) due to wanting to save money...
and so forth. After going back and forth, and some convincing on my part, we came to the agreement that a destination fit our vision best. I had actually reached out to a few people before finding Sarah. I found her because I was on a Facebook wedding page and people were just raving about her so I figured I’d reach out! Now that I am working with her I understand why and can’t say enough good things. Sarah has gone ABOVE and beyond for us and there truly is no amount of appreciation to thank her for making our wedding planning a breeze! Sarah has been able to answer all questions and does so in such a timely manner (even if I tell her no rush). Even my guest have all good things to say and think she is so sweet!
If you are considering a destination wedding or trip, HIRE SARAH. It will be one of the best decisions you make! We basically have invited her to our wedding because we think she is the greatest!
Sarah is the absolute best! I asked a million questions, she answered every single one without hesitation or annoyance. She gave me many options, with her suggestions within my bud...
get.
I couldn’t ask for anyone better to plan my honeymoon and family vacations!
Highly highly highly recommend!!!
Sarah helped us plan our destination wedding. Our original trip was set for December 2019 and in March 2019 we decided we would rather take our trip to husband and wife in May 2019...
. Sarah did everything in her power to make it happen and it was an amazing experience . Any questions we had regarding the resort or paperwork for our nuptials, she never hesitated to find an answer. She was thorough and just outstanding to work with. My husband and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience in planning such an important trip !
We booked our honeymoon to St. Lucia through Sarah Barlow with US Travel Corp. We are not booked to leave until December but she has been a dream to work with! So much so that I im...
mediately referred my sister in law to her for their honeymoon! She is so responsive and does everything she can to help you and make your planning easier! I 100% recommend her for not only honeymoons but any trip!
Amazing service, Very knowledgeable, quality customer service. I will be a customer for life!
Contact
PO Box 601, Wellsburg, WV | USA
Design Our Travel LLC