So where does a newbie begin?!

[READYFORTHEGRIDLOCK]

31/M/AZ

Am new to the game and need some pointers.  Where does one (like myself) look for a "Russian Bride"?
Any website recommendations (where info/pics are avail)?

Am in no real rush, but I would like to start on the path on meeting a nice woman. 

All help and advice much appreciated.

Thanks RWD!

[BC]

Welcome Ready!

Probably at the top of the list is to check your motive for seeking a RW.
Faq's at the left, especially http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?pid=10
and of course the 10 commandments at the top of the page.

What interested you in RW?

Cheers!@u

[macman]

Welcome Ready. . .

Why gridlock?  Do you feel this exploration will ulitimately lead to gridlock?

Nevertheless, this is a great place to start.   There is a very diverse, educated and helpful people here.  Read, read, read! 

Elena's Model's is pretty cool.  But there's others I'm sure - follow the link:

http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?ind=topsite


Happy hunting!

MacMan

[Daveman]

Am in no real rush, but I would like to start on the path on meeting a nice woman. 

This is your greatest asset... patience in the process. 

I used the site Elenas Models, www.elenasmodels.com. but others have had success with less expensive methods.  I would say a site like Elenas is best if you are looking to search widely and then narrow your search down to one woman to visit, and then carry backup information of a reputable agency in her city.   The problem with most websites like this is that the women are scattered all over the former soviet union and invariably the three or four women you have a strong interest in meeting will create a logistical nightmare, unless you bring them one at a time to where you are staying... but, a drawback with this method is that she will know you are meeting other people, and regardless of what anyone tells you from a male logic viewpoint, a woman does not like competition. It goes against her nature... in the process of natural selection, she's used to many suitors competing for her, not the other way around -- meaning, she will be less open and more guarded...

So, I would say that if you want to meet many, then don't do alot of relationship building prior to meeting and just go and casually meet many through reputable agencies in whatever cities you wish to visit..  opinions on this will certainly vary, so you have to match your personality and style of dating with the advice you receive...  you want to approach this type of relationship as closely as possible to your normal dating style... there are many ways to approach this, so pick a way that is most natural for you... what works for me, or others here may make you feel like a fish out of water and thus not your normal charming self... and cosmic rule number one is... be yourself.

Learn about the process, then get the ball rolling to make your first trip.. talk is great, but you gotta get your feet on the ground THERE to really get a grip on things.

Welcome to the board! and best of luck to you!

Dave

[Jazzyclassy]

Welcome

I am in hysterical laughter 

I like this -I am new to the Game hahahaha god maybe I am completely bad at slang

But if you really consider it a Game you better look for American women:)

All the best to you in your search:)

[READYFORTHEGRIDLOCK]

What interested you in RW?

Thanks for the welcome, BC! 

Just Googled "Russian brides", "Russian Women", "Russian Bride Message Boards", and RWD came up and I gave it a tour. 

Enjoyed what I read and began from there!

[READYFORTHEGRIDLOCK]

Why gridlock?  Do you feel this exploration will ulitimately lead to gridlock?

Thanks for the welcome, MacMan!

READYFORTHEGRIDLOCK is from a U2 song (Zoo Station).  Have used that name since 91' and never looked back. 

Thanks for the link as well!

[READYFORTHEGRIDLOCK]

This is your greatest asset... patience in the process. 

I used the site Elenas Models, www.elenasmodels.com. but others have had success with less expensive methods.  I would say a site like Elenas is best if you are looking to search widely and then narrow your search down to one woman to visit, and then carry backup information of a reputable agency in her city.   The problem with most websites like this is that the women are scattered all over the former soviet union and invariably the three or four women you have a strong interest in meeting will create a logistical nightmare, unless you bring them one at a time to where you are staying... but, a drawback with this method is that she will know you are meeting other people, and regardless of what anyone tells you from a male logic viewpoint, a woman does not like competition. It goes against her nature... in the process of natural selection, she's used to many suitors competing for her, not the other way around -- meaning, she will be less open and more guarded...

So, I would say that if you want to meet many, then don't do alot of relationship building prior to meeting and just go and casually meet many through reputable agencies in whatever cities you wish to visit..  opinions on this will certainly vary, so you have to match your personality and style of dating with the advice you receive...  you want to approach this type of relationship as closely as possible to your normal dating style... there are many ways to approach this, so pick a way that is most natural for you... what works for me, or others here may make you feel like a fish out of water and thus not your normal charming self... and cosmic rule number one is... be yourself.

Learn about the process, then get the ball rolling to make your first trip.. talk is great, but you gotta get your feet on the ground THERE to really get a grip on things.

Welcome to the board! and best of luck to you!

Dave

Thank you Daveman!  Or do you prefer Dave?

I want to hit the ground running, but with the right info and prep.  Start corresponding with some ladies and get a feel for how the whole process works.  This is all new to me for I have only dated and loved local women (U.S.), but it seems (to me) that finding a good woman to spend the rest of my life with is getting harder and harder to find. 

 

[ScottinCrimea]

Welcome Ready!

I can't give a whole lot of advice from personal experience since I only did it one way.  I wrote to two, narrowed it down to one, visited her several times, then moved to Ukraine and married her.  I didn't have this site as a guide and made a ton  of mistakes but succeeded in spite of myself.

Having said that, I think you just need to get some preliminary information then jump in and begin writing some. As situations and questions come up, bring them up here and get some input but don't overanalyze everything, don't get scared by the horror stories nor get too blinded by all of the success stories.  Your story will be your own.

there are some great women out there and if you can sort through all of the pretty faces and find the right one for you, the reward will be beyond your expectations.

[READYFORTHEGRIDLOCK]

there are some great women out there and if you can sort through all of the pretty faces and find the right one for you, the reward will be beyond your expectations.

Thank you, ScottinCrimea!

[Lily]

Welcome READYFORTHEGRIDLOCK!

The recommended Elenasmodels seems to have a good scam protection, however, as it is known to be expensive, it probably can attract women who are primarily after the men with money.

[Turboguy]

Lily is a very smart and knowlegable woman but I will have to disagree with her on this one.  Any site can have women that are motivated by the wrong things.  I think Elena's are one of the best at having sincere women.  I saw several recommendations of Elena's and had not planned to add mine until I saw Lily's comment.  I met my fiancee through Elena's and would recommend them highly.

My advice would be that step one would be to spend as much time here reading as you can.  If I had found this site at the beginning of my search I would have saved tens of thousands of dollars and a number of years of searching because I wandered around blindly with nothing to guide me but the hype from the ad's I read and a few people I met along the way who knew little more than I did.

There are three main methods the guys seem to use to meet a woman from the FSU (former soviet union) 

One is to join an agency like Elena's that allows you to write to a number of women.  If you use them I would recommend either the gold or platinum membership.  I used the platinum.  There are a lot of other choices such as a pretty woman, bride.ru and agency sites such as Cindy Agency.   They write women, find one or several they want to meet and make a trip.

Another option is to pick a few cities of interest, go there and work with an agency who will line up women for you to meet for a small fee.  There are some bad agencies and some good ones.  Among the ones I would recommend are TverAngels, Kherson girls, Cindy agency, lviv brides, LTP, RussianPearls and there are many more good ones.

The third route that guys try is a tour where you travel with many other guys and meet women, sometimes at a special party called a social.   I think I would be in the same category as many in saying avoid the big agency tours.  The ones from companies such as AFA or Anastasia.  Some of the tours by smaller agencies are good and there is one I would recommend very highly.  It is one conducted by Jack Bragg of www.FirstDreams.com   He limits his tour to 12 guys and works with many small agencies.  It is an excellent choice for someone starting in.  You are traveling with a group so it is much more comfortable and the education alone is worth the price of admission.  I think there is a post in the agency section outlining his fall 2007 tour.  I was on the fall tour last year. 

There are other methods that can be good such as just going there and meeting people or running ad's in the newspapers there. 

Best of luck in your search. 

[groovlstk]

I'm not so anti-agency as Thor , but I'd STRONGLY recommend diversifying your methods for meeting women. DO NOT get stuck on the agency teat, contrary to some of the opinions here, there are plenty of other ways to meet FSU women.

Professional daters, scammers, and above all, crooked and immoral agencies like Confidential Connections have created a stigma for the industry; do you think us men are the only ones who are affected by it? There are many FSU women who hear these stories and assume that they'll be tarred with the same brush by association. So they refuse to go this route and if you stick exclusively to agencies you're cutting out these arguably overcautious but certainly conscientious women.

Anyway, my advice would be to:

-Download ICQ and search for women in the area you intend to visit (this is how I met my wife, who had no interest in meeting a foreign man before I met her). Even if you're just making friends they'll be glad to hook you up with their single friends.

-Sign up at http://www.missingheart.ru/ and again search for women in areas you plan to travel.

-Use only agencies recommended by guys here.

[macman]

The recommended Elenasmodels seems to have a good scam protection, however, as it is known to be expensive

Elena's expensive? HUH?  I doubt it.  If someone is complaining about that expense vs. dropping a "C"-note on a Friday night date here in the states - hoollllyyyy moollllyyyy - someone needs to find a different venue for finding a mate. 

Speaking of which.  While out last night with friends, dining and dancing, I mentioned my future endeavor.  One AW leaned in to me and said - what in the H*** you goin' over there for.  I replied; to meet a woman that has not be soiled by Sex in the City and Desperate House Wives.  She didn't hear me well and said - OH, I love those shows.  Come to find out she's very wealthy and having an affair on her husband.   

I rest my case~!

mm

[Daveman]

Yes, Lily does have a point though...

Platinum membership is IIRC, $499 for 6 mos with a $199 renewal thereafter... Not bad for unlimited writing and direct contact information, but there are much less expensive ways to go to find them.

To go along with Lily's point, here is something about Elenas that is just a FYI.  Of course they are in the business to make money. Website, Ebooks, overpriced translation services, etc.. but, I have several friends there, one of whom I assisted in writing a better profile to attract a better quality of guy.  During her process of getting advice about her search and profile, Elena wrote her an email and explained to her not to bother with anyone with a gold membership and focus solely on platinum memberships because those are the ones "with the money", which is not really true, however, if Elena can move the concentration of the ladies away from the lesser expensive memberships, she can of course sell more expensive memberships.  SO, she seems to steer the ladies in the apparent "direction of the money" with her advice.

Groov, I've never used ICQ before, but it sounds like quite an interesting approach.  My question here is, how did you locate the ladies?  When I imagine a chat program, I can see someone you already know giving you her contact information, but how do you find the ladies which you don't already know?  Is there a searchable profile system or something similar?

Would definitely be a way to get the agencies out of the picture completely from the get go...

[macman]

Dang DaveMan,

If that's the truth about Elena and what she would share - that's not good; however, the woman that takes that path is possibly a GoldDiggin' wantabe AW.     Got plenty of those here. . .

It's about finding a diamond that wishes to be polished!

Then she will be able to polish me back. . .

As iron sharpens iron. . .

Mm

[Turkey]

Could be she is just looking out after her 'girls'.  I don't know what she sees, it could be true.  I agree with the post about the cost.  It really doesn't seem onerous at all.  Shucks, it's about what people pay for dish/cable and internet access.   It's a lot less than the $7k they charge at Svetlanas o.O

I was just looking at that site and they have 14 pages of platinum members (with 50 profiles a page).  The competition runs both ways, there are a lot of gals and guys.  It just makes sense that if you want to get on the front page and be noticed, you'd spring the few extra bucks. 

[Daveman]

I understand what you are saying, Turkey, I always had a platinum membership anyway, but being noticed really isn't a big issue. You'll probably be the one doing the majority of the searching and finding the ladies you like, so where you are located in their search isn't an issue. They'll see your profile when you write to them. Sure, you'll get many letters out of the blue, and some may interest you, but you'll probably be more interested in finding "your type".

The gold membership gives you 50 actual contacts, but unlimited "expression of interests", which is a quick hello message to a lady who can then respond 'Interested" or "Not Interested", so you only use your contact retrieval, writing letters for only those who respond as interested. 

SO, the gold membership actually makes sense for an active approach, and I think it is like $150 or something for 6 mos, then $99 after.  BUT, if Elena herself is giving advice to avoid those men, who are paying for a service... it's just a dirty business practice IMO. It's the principle there.. if she feels the need to protect her girls from gold membership guys, then don't sell the gold memberships.

[Turkey]

I understand what you are saying, Turkey, I always had a platinum membership anyway, but being noticed really isn't a big issue. You'll probably be the one doing the majority of the searching and finding the ladies you like, so where you are located in their search isn't an issue. They'll see your profile when you write to them. Sure, you'll get many letters out of the blue, and some may interest you, but you'll probably be more interested in finding "your type".

The gold membership gives you 50 actual contacts, but unlimited "expression of interests", which is a quick hello message to a lady who can then respond 'Interested" or "Not Interested", so you only use your contact retrieval, writing letters for only those who respond as interested. 

SO, the gold membership actually makes sense for an active approach, and I think it is like $150 or something for 6 mos, then $99 after.  BUT, if Elena herself is giving advice to avoid those men, who are paying for a service... it's just a dirty business practice IMO. It's the principle there.. if she feels the need to protect her girls from gold membership guys, then don't sell the gold memberships.

This is why i'm here   Thanks for that information.

[macman]

GUYS. . . I've had numerous hits "on me" from Elena's and I have the gold membership.  I didn't post tons of photos as I was not blessed with a photogenic presence and, as I moved from woman to woman - communicating with sincerety and the truth of my desire; these same women continue to "work it" as I must work it.  They've got to be as careful as we are. . .  UNLESS it's the sex guys or the gold diggers that we have been reading about.  Barracudas in both oceans!

c ya
mm

[groovlstk]

It just makes sense that if you want to get on the front page and be noticed, you'd spring the few extra bucks. 

I'm sorry, but I can't believe anyone can get caught up in a purely manufactured competition that really benefits only one person, the agency owner. This is like that old chestnut wherein guys defend girls who "test" them by asking for expensive gifts.

I realize this agency has many beautiful women and a reputation as being fairly honest, but they haven't cornered the market on FSU women. C'mon guys, branch out... put on comfortable walking shoes, bring along a notebook, Russian/English dictionary, and a hip flask of Russki Standard and get off the beaten path where you won't find footprints from the Art the Farts, Winston Wus, and various sex tourists.   

Dave: yes you can search for contacts on ICQ by country, city, sex, language, etc.

[macman]

C'mon guys, branch out... put on comfortable walking shoes,

Good advice!  And make dang sure the shoes are comfortable.  The hike is a "real" hike.  Italian loafers won't get it.

I'm goin' soon. . . AND she's captured my attention by standing firm when I threw the curve.  I am somewhat incredulous as to the physical chemistry.  Pictures can be touched up - I know enough about photoshop and pixels to see it often. . .

Mm

[ScottinCrimea]

I was certainly pleased to learn that nothing about my wife's photos was airbrushed or retouched in any way.  Before I couldn't have imagined someone looking that good naturally.

[MaxxumUSA]

I was certainly pleased to learn that nothing about my wife's photos was airbrushed or retouched in any way.  Before I couldn't have imagined someone looking that good naturally.

Same here scott...

My Elena posted natural photos on ElenasModels.  She did have some in a bikini - on an actual real beach -  but they were not that revealing.  She did not have any studio photos.

Turns out she was very much more beautiful in person.

I'm still amazed that I was the first man to visit her.  Maybe it's because she is in Samara which is not near one of the larger primary cities.  She was on the site since March 2006 and I planned my visit to her about a week after we started talking - in January of this year.

As for the $499.00 price for the platinum membership...  Umm...  I could easily spend that in a weekend with a woman or partying with friends.

I did not know about these forums until about a month after I had already visited Elena the first time.  Before using ElenasModels I used HRB for about 4 days.  I wanted to call a woman from there.  We were chatting and such and then I found out getting real contact information there was a big NoNo.  I quickly left that site.