About Owner

St. Basils Cathedral

Hello, my name is Jack Bragg, proud owner of Firstdream.

I started my own pursuit for a Russian bride in early 1995. With my own search, and that of helping a few thousand other men, this has been a part of my daily life now for the last fifteen years. I have witnessed many changes during this time. The adventure, the pursuit, the education, will be one of the highlights of my life. Events, people whose life I have touched, and people who have touched my life, will be with me forever. The pursuit for a Russian bride changed my life. It will change yours as well. It is an unbelievable, wonderful feeling that is inside each man who has found a good Russian bride.

I have a small telephone company in Dallas, and have been in the communication industry for thirty plus years. My telephone company provides my income. I have never had to make money from FirstDream. With over 2400 clients today you will not hear of a single client who says he was scammed or cheated by FirstDream. It's just not going to happen. My telephone company does quite well without my day to day involvement and as such I am currently spending on average five months a year in Ukraine and Russia. When I am in the States and in Dallas most of my time is spent with FirstDream. I might spend an average of four hours a week with the telephone company. Most of my time is spent where my heart is, with FirstDream and the men who are wanting to find a good Russian/Ukrainian wife.

Unique photo of Statue to Patriotic War and Lavra Monastery as seen from bridge over the Dnieper river with zoom lens.

As I tell you some of my history and experiences, and about FirstDream, I would like to also share some photos that I have taken over the years, including a few of the very special ladies who touched my life during my pursuit for a Russian/Ukrainian dream bride. During this time I have seen and done a lot of things. In addition to my own experiences I get to witness first hand, live and in person, the experiences of about ninety new men each year who I meet and help on our tours. In addition I will get to know and work a couple hundred more men each year, with men who are not part of our tours, on an individual basis. I am often asked what is the difference between going on a, let's say, a two week group tour, and a two week individual tour. The main difference would be about 200 ladies and the camaraderie you will build with our small groups of men and the ability to double, triple, quadruple date with other couples. The work and effort we will put forward for a group or individual tour will be the same if the man's goal is to meet a lot of good and sincere Russian women in a short period of time.

With the group of wonderful people we have worked with for many years we feel we have the experience and expertise to help most men go about this pursuit effectively, efficiently, with dignity and in the manner that he feels most comfortable with. As each man is different, what means and methods work for one man, may not be the best methods for another man. AND once the scam factor is removed, when you can meet many good and sincere women, your trip will be so much more fun, exciting and efficient.

Svetlana, the first Russian woman I met.

The very first Russian woman I ever met, like a LOT of men, I fell in love with. Or, like a lot of men, I thought I feel in love with. Svetlana, 28, beautiful, sensual, educated ,a great cook, and she said she would marry me. The first Russian woman I ever met, the first Russian woman I had kissed, said she would marry me. I was indeed a lucky man. I could never find such a caring, classy, sexy, exciting, well educated in the arts and culture, beautiful, young woman in America. And ohhh, that sexy Russian accent. I told myself if I did not take this woman the next guy who met her probably would. I did not want to take the chance of losing this woman so when I left Moscow I thought I was going to marry Svetlana. What a lucky man I was. WOW, to find the most perfect Russian woman for me, and on my first trip. I had discovered heaven.

Of course Svetlana wanted to see me off at the airport, but she could not. As it turned out, I was also very lucky that on my first trip to Russia that I had agreed, and arranged, to meet a second lady from St. Petersburg, Veronica. I had to tell Svetlana I did not want her or I to get to emotional at the airport so Svetlana did not see me off and I was able to fly to St. Petersburg, which left from another airport. I arrive in St. Petersburg and there was Veronica to meet me. Well, wouldn't you know it, and I couldn't believe it, the second Russian woman I met, even more beautiful and sensual, she was exciting, educated and entertaining. We spent several days with each other in St. Petersburg. By the end of my visit she also said she wanted to marry me! Ohhh man, how lucky could one man be? This all seemed like a dream and to good to be true. Now I had a situation, which of these two beautiful Russian ladies was I going to marry?

Veronica, the second Russian lady I met.

Natalia

After I returned to America, and my feet landed back on the ground, I had time to reflect on things. This Texas boy had just met two stunningly beautiful, classy, sexy, educated, graceful young women of elegance and class. Both spoke good English. I liked a lot of things about each of them. I knew after meeting and getting to know these two fine Russian ladies that I could never be involved with the average American woman again. I kept thinking how I must be the luckiest man in the world, out of millions of fine, beautiful Russian ladies, I had just met the two very best ladies for me in all of Russia.......or had I? I had met only two Russian women, could they all be like these two? Could I have a better chemistry with someone else? With Veronica I was not sure if I wanted to raise another man's child. With Svetlana, well, I really prefer a busty lady. Veronica, ohhh she was busty. Svetlana didn't have any children. Hummm, I do have a few issues. If this was the results of my first trip, I wonder what would happen if I met a few more Russian ladies, just to make sure. Which is exactly what I proceeded to do.

During this time the big socials were close to at their peak. Most of us men had no idea about scammers, or social scammers. We did not have the internet at this time to help educate us. Did I ever get scammed? Well, let me put it this way, I have often said that I was a very good student for some very good teachers.

I was able to attend several of the large socials during the early days of my pursuit. I quickly learned that the big socials were not so productive, but oh man, were they fun. If a guy ever wanted a brief glimpse in his life as to how Brad Pitts or Tom Cruise must feel when they are surrounded by a lot of beautiful women, this was as close as we were going to get.

After my first social all the other socials I went to were only for the fun of it (although always looking for the 15% of new ladies attending the social) as I would already have several meetings arranged with nice ladies from other sources in these same cities. On average each social I attended would have about 15% new ladies who were making there first, and many times their last social. Amongst this small 15% group I was looking for sincere ladies who I might have interest in, and she in me. I was amazed at how many of the same women made social after social after social and I could see how they worked. These poor guys never knew what hit them! Other men I would meet at the socials were seeing how I was doing things, several guys asked if they could come along with me and I told them yes as long as they had a date. Thus we were having a lot of double and triple dates. These were the first guys who were contacting me after they returned back home.

6ft Helen, a 15% social lady

FirstDream party, Kharkov

FirstDream party, Lugansk

There were several things I did not like about these socials and I recall thinking to myself at one social at the Manhattan Club in Moscow (located at the southwest corner of the Hotel Rossia) that if I were ever able to do one of these socials what I would do differently. Little did I know that one day I would have such an opportunity.

Before each of my early trips I would write a lot of letters. And today, like ten years ago, men who are wanting to better their chances by meeting several ladies, need to write a lot of e-mails and letters. I had developed what I thought was a well written first letter of introduction. Your first letter of introduction and photo is the key to getting those all important "first meetings". A man's first letter of introduction needs to stand out. This was important 15 years ago and it's the same today. The letter of introduction that I wrote had to stand out, had to be different from all the other letters she was receiving. In my early days I was no different from many men today and that I was writing, in my opinion, only the most beautiful of women. And the beautiful women of yesterday, just as the beautiful women of today, were receiving lots of letters.

I would like to tell one story about my letter of introduction. I knew my letter was pretty good after I began to receive letters from some of these beautiful women and they had commented on my letter. In 1997 I had saw photos of a very beautiful young lady, from Moscow I think, and I wrote her. I never heard back from her. In 2001 or 2002 I was reviewing Elena's Models, saw that Elena had a small list of agencies she recommended so I decided to write Elena Petrova to see what were the qualifications to make her recommended list. I wrote Elena, introduced myself, blah, blah, blah. Elena wrote me back within a few days and said something along the lines of ......Jack, you do not have to introduce yourself to me, I know about you and your agency and would have no problem recommending your agency. Jack I remember receiving your first letter to me in 1997. I had just got engaged a month earlier to my now husband but even to this day I still remember your letter..... Well, at least now I know why I never heard back from that fine looking young lady from Moscow.

In the mid to late 90's I was making two trips to the FSU (Former Soviet Union) a year and my year was divided into two six-months segments. This was my life during these years. I lived and breathed writing, talking to these fine Russian ladies, and reading all I could about Russian women, Russian culture and history. I had a calendar and would circle the days I was to call certain ladies every other Saturday and Sunday and which ladies to call on the other Saturdays and Sundays, so every weekend I was calling ladies. Phone service in those days was a lot less reliable. You actually never knew if you were going to be able to complete any calls and many times I was not able to. Calls were a lot more expensive then. As I recall between $4 and $5 a minute. And you had best have your notepad in front of you and not forget whom you were talking to at the time (learned that the hard way). Having the internet as a tool today as lessened the need for so many telephone calls and in fact many, if not most, of our clients who are meeting many ladies never talk to the women until they meet for the first time. On the other hand, men who are meeting only one lady seem to make a lot of phone calls to that one woman. Sure hope it works out for him, 85% of the time it does not, but all these men who write, see, one woman all think they will be in that 15% who are meeting there future bride.

Over the years most of my trips averaged from 17 to 21 days in length. My shortest length trip was 14 days and my longest length trip was 31 days. Most every trip consisted of visiting two or three cities, sometimes four cities. As my trips got more efficient I would try to see from six to eight wonderful ladies in each city that had shown a sincere interest in me, and I had a sincere interest in them. You would meet all these ladies in the very first two and three days you were in there city. For every seven ladies I met, seven ladies who I had a sincere interest in, and they had a sincere interest in me, one of these seven meetings, on average, I would find someone with that potential chemistry that would warrant additional meetings. And I was darn lucky if there were two such ladies. But only a week earlier, as I left for my trip, I was convinced I could marry any one of these 6 or 7 or 8 ladies in each city. When I had accomplished this I knew I had worked hard and was ready for this trip.

Helen

During the first two or three days I was in any city I would try to meet all 6, 7, or 8 ladies. Most the ladies I met were from buying addresses from catalogs and internet sites and running of personal ads. Some ladies I met were friends of ladies I had previously met and they wanted to introduce me to their friends. I would also have two back-up plans, one that would consist of two or three back-up ladies in each city, and these back-up ladies would usually come about during the last month before the trip, as well I could visit local marriage agencies in the various cities.

Katya

On the first day in any city I would try to have my first meeting at 11am, second meeting at 2pm, third meeting at 5pm and my last meeting, usually one of my top choices, at 8pm. Two light lunches, two light dinners. I was not eating as much as I was nibbling and trying new Russian or Ukraine dishes. Each meeting was up to two hours long (except your last meeting which had no time limit) and each meeting was three hours apart. This allowed you time to get to your next meeting as you never have back to back meetings at the same place (again, had to learn that the hard way). With the one hour between meetings this allowed me to stay on schedule in case one of the ladies was 10, or 15, or grrrrr, 20 minutes late. My experience was, and is still today, that about 70% of Russian ladies are going to be late for their meeting. Seems to be a natural, culture, like thing. As all our meetings are in the center of the center, as our are flats or hotels are in the center of the center, if I spilled some food or drink on my shirt I also had enough time to go and change clothes. And sometimes if you just wanted to spend a little more time with a certain lady, you could. I was grateful on many occasions to have this one hour between meetings.

After all my meetings in the first couple of days there would usually be one lady who rose to the top, one lady I felt potential chemistry with. On occasion I would be lucky and there would be two such ladies. Now you are able to spend three, four, five quality days with this one, or two special women. Then onto the next city where I would repeat this process. From what I see today with most guys who follow such a game plan it's only a matter of time before they meet the perfect Russian women for them.

Natalia, Kiev 5ft 9

Men, there is no better way to see what type of lady you are truly compatible with than the opportunities that exist today in the FSU. Experiment, meet various types of women who interest you, meet the type of ladies you have only previously dreamed about. I had always thought and dreamed of the tall, slender model type ladies. Being almost 6 feet 4 inches tall, I thought I wanted a tall woman. I convinced myself that I wanted this type of woman as my future bride. So during my first trip of 1998 on a twenty-one day trip I saw seventeen ladies that were from 5ft 9 to 6 feet 1. I probably wrote sixty plus ladies during the three months leading up to the trip and was able to develop a real interest in seventeen ladies, and these seventeen ladies also had an interest to meet me.

Elena from Vladivostok, 5ft 11

Natasha, Volgograd, 5ft 11inches

During the course of this trip, after seeing several stunning, tall beauties, I realized several things. When these 6 feet tall ladies but on their high heels, they themselves are now pushing 6 ft 2, 6ft 3 inches. After this trip I realized I preferred a woman who was shorter than 5 ft 11 inches and who was probably between 5 ft 7 to 5 ft 10 inches tall. All the ladies I saw after this trip in 1998 were in this height range with my future wife being 5ft 8 inches. Now, did I prefer blue eyes over green eyes, light colored hair or ladies with darker hair? The quiet type over more outgoing type, ladies with or without children? City girl or country girl, small, medium or large busted woman (I already knew that answer), little butt or medium butt?

Elena from St. Peterburg, 5ft 9.

Gentlemen, if you're not sure what type of lady you are most comfortable with, now it is possible to find out! Experiment! Date, meet the type ladies you have always had interest in or dreamed about. Because many Russian/Ukraine women have a genuine interest in Western men, you and I are able to see and date many more wonderful, caring and beautiful women from the FSU than we could American women. And once you have met, once you have been involved with Russian women, once you have educated yourself to the ways of good Russian women, you will never be able to go back to an American woman again.

Evgeniya, 6ft tall

Luda, St.Petersburg

Do I know the value and importance of a back-up plan? From actual experience, yes. The lady on the left, Ludmila, we wrote for over 5 months. I had already made a few trips to Russia and thought, through Ludmila's photos, phone calls and letters, that she was the one. In my mind I knew she was the one, she was going to be my wife. So I was going to spend a solid two weeks with my Ludmila. She was there to greet me at the St. Petersburg airport and I walked right by her, I didn't even recognize her! Wow, did she look different in person compared to her photos. During our first few hours together I was getting some bad vibes, maybe things would be better tomorrow I thought. The next day it became apparent that the two of us did not have the real chemistry needed for each other. So much for "knowing" she was the one. What a mistake it was for me to put her on the pedestal that I did. Eleven days left in St. Petersburg and no back-up plan. What a bummer. I made the best of these eleven days by quickly getting local newspapers and trying to find some local marriage agencies. And that was the last time I ever went to see only one woman. But prior to the this trip, I knew she was the one. Phone calls, letters, photos can be deceiving. This is why I feel it is important to have many face to face meetings with Russian ladies. This is why it is important to have back-up plans. The more good and sincere Russian women you can meet in a short period of time will only help you to find, and know, the right Russian woman for you when you meet her.

In the year 1998 I ran my first personal newspaper ad and was pleasantly surprised with the response. I had many ladies to reply that I was not interested in. So I ran my second newspaper ad before the second trip of 1998. This time I was a little more selective with the type lady I was hoping to meet. Had a little less response rate and still too many ladies I was not interested in. On my third newspaper ad campaign I worded the ad again a little more selective than the previous ad. Again I had fewer replies but more ladies who were the type I was interested in. One day in early 1999 while going through my daily mail at the office I had received a letter from a very attractive lady. Her name was Natalia; she was from Odessa. Natalia wrote me in Russian. Natalia was a nice age (24), nice shape, so I wrote her back. I wrote Natalia that I thought she was very attractive; however, I did not read or write Russian, I did not speak Russian, and she would need to be able to speak at least a little English if we were to meet. And if she did not speak any English if she could learn a little I could meet her in the fall. I included my e-mail address and sent my letter to Natalia by registered mail, the only way you want to send letters to ladies who really interest you.

About three weeks later I get an e-mail one day and it read "Jack I speak a little English. You can call me at ....... ". Now I had to figure out which Natalia this was. When you are writing many ladies you are going to have several Natalia's and Elena's, you have to keep things well organized. I could tell by the phone number this Natalia was from Odessa so I started going through my lists. I saw this one Natalia from Odessa, but I had spoken with her, she spoke good English, who could this other Natalia be? Then it hit me, this is that Natalia who responded to my newspaper ad.

My next trip was a two week trip to Ukraine. I was going to spend a week in Odessa and a week in Kiev. This was also the first time I decided to try a new look and I shaved my head. Shaved heads were kind of in style so I thought why not. I started out in Odessa where I had 7 ladies to see, 6 ladies in Kiev. By the time I got to Odessa and settled in I had time to meet one lady on Thursday evening so meet this fine looking lady named Svetlana. Svetlana was a pretty 25 year old strawberry blonde. Her face was about as pretty in person as in her photo but one could not tell the extent of dental work Svetlana needed from the photo. My first and last meeting with Svetlana.

Friday I had four meetings, 11am, 2pm, 5pm and 8pm. My favorite of the Odessa ladies was set for the 8pm meeting. I would always try to have my number one or two choice lady for my 8pm meetings because we had no time limit and if we liked each other we could spend several hours with each other.

My 11am meeting with Olga was ok. Olga was a little late, like most Russian/Ukraine ladies, so our two hour meeting got started a little late. It was about 25 minutes before my 2pm meeting with this nice looking Natalia. I thought I was close to where we were suppose to meet but took a wrong turn and for one of the few times with all my meetings, I was late, I think about 10 minutes late. I hate to be late. We learn it is customary with Russian women but I still strive to be on time. I am walking fast, almost a trot to get to the outside restaurant where I am meeting Natalia on Deribasovskaya. And there she was. A beautiful young lady, beautiful smile.

Natalia

Olesya from Kazakhstan

After we men have meet a certain number of Russian ladies, when we meet someone special we know it right away. I enjoyed my time with Natalia and I could sense she felt the same way. As our meeting was coming to an end and I had to leave for my 5pm meeting I asked Natalia if she would see me again the day after tomorrow. With my planning it was always "the day after tomorrow" because usually I would have plans for tomorrow, and in my case I had the last two of seven meetings on Saturday, one being a high choice for a 7pm dinner meeting. Natalia said yes she would like to see me on Sunday so we made plans to meet. I saw my 5pm and 8pm dinner dates that Friday and nothing compared to Natalia. The next day, Saturday, I saw the last two ladies I was suppose to meet and neither of these ladies came close to how I felt about Natalia. With great excitement I looked forward to meeting Natalia. Natalia met me at my flat; she knew how to get to this flat and it was a flat I did not like but as I had not spent much time in this flat, other than for sleeping, I tolerated it. Natalia had cooked a chicken and brought it over when we met on Sunday. Man, was that a fine tasting chicken. I told Natalia I did not like this flat and I was going to try to get into another flat and sure enough I found a much nicer flat near Deribasovskaya so I moved my things to the new flat and Natalia helped me. We spent the next several days getting to know each other and doing all types of things and then I had to go to Kiev.

I was honest with Natalia and told her I had to meet a few ladies in Kiev. Natalia said "But you like me Jack, yes? Why must you go see these ladies in Kiev." And I told Natalia that one of the ladies coming to see me was coming from Kazakhstan and I would never stand her up (Natalia) and I could not do so to this lady. With a little effort I was able to change the meeting times of some of the Kiev ladies and asked Natalia if she would like to come spend a few days with me in Kiev. Natalia said yes. Natalia flew to Kiev with me and we spent a few days in Kiev together before she went back home to Odessa.

When a man finds a special lady and he is able to see other ladies after meeting her, he is able to compare many different things about these other ladies to the one special lady. If after meeting these other ladies and you still have these strong feelings about the one special lady, then this is a lady you want to spend more time with, which is what I was able to do.

Men often ask me "How do you know when you have found the right lady" and I tell them, "When you meet her, you will know". Now this is not something I can tell a man on his first trip. This is only something I can tell a man who has some experience with meeting Russian women. Many men do just as I did with meeting the first Russian woman, we fall for the first Russian woman. I was fortunate enough to have met a second Russian woman. If I had not of met a second Russian woman, I would have married the first and only Russian women I ever met, again, as a lot of men do.

Once men can get a little experience with meeting Russian women, then I can say "When you meet her, you will know" but again, this is not something I can say to a man making his first, or second trip. He just will not have the experience for me to be able to say this to him.

Helen
Olga

I knew Natalia was special when I first met her and after spending more time with her, I asked her if she would like to come to America on a fiancé K-1 and if she felt good about everything after a couple of months, maybe we would marry. Natalia agreed and we filled out all the paper work and Natalia came to America the first of 2000.

I talk to a lot of men, and a lot of clients after they are married and I often hear "Things are going fine Jack. We have our few bumps in the road, but things are going fine." I have heard about these few bumps in the road in probably 90% of the men I have talked with. So of course I am expecting for Natalia and me to have our few bumps in the road. First year of marriage, no bumps. The second year, no bumps. Hummm I begin to wonder, no bumps after three years. Four years, five years, no bumps in the road.

During FirstDream's Spring 2005 trip Natalia and I fly to Kiev. I meet up with the men who are going to be part of the Ukraine tour, kiss Natalia good-bye as I send her to Odessa to spend a few weeks with mom, family and friends. After finishing the Ukraine portion of our tour I head to Russia, Natalia heads back to Dallas. We take the guys to Ivanovo, Vladimir, Tver and then I headed back home.

The first evening after getting back home Natalia says to me "Do you think it is fair for my mother not to have grandchildren?". "What" I say! Where did this come from? My mother-in-law has told my wife she wants grandchildren. My wife did not say to me she would like to have a child, no, it's "My mother would like to have grandchildren".

I had to stop and think about this. I had raised three wonderful children. Did I want to have another child so my mother-in-law could have grandchildren? And I did not. After a wonderful 7 year relationship, a wonderful 6 year marriage, our lives were about to change.

Natalia was, and is, a wonderful woman. I was not about to deprive Natalia something that I was blessed with, to have children. If Natalia wants to give her mom grandchildren she will have no problem finding a man to marry her and give her children. Natalia and I discussed and agreed to divorce. The divorce was very smooth as we both still had a great amount of love for each other. I wanted to help Natalia all I could with her new life. She said if she was going to start her life over she would like to live by the ocean. She decided on a place, we loaded up the car and U-Haul and away we went about a month after our divorce was final.

What's the moral to me telling you guys about this aspect of my Russian experience? If you are an older man and you marry a younger woman, this is something you have to think about and discuss.

My personal feelings right now is to take some time away from the married life as I help the three hundred or so new men I will meet and come in contact with this year. Although I am just dating right now, in the back of my mind I look for that special Russian woman who could be my future wife. The agencies we use, the different methods we use to help to meet many ladies, being able to have a good feel for which women are real and sincere, being able to detect which women are scam or suspect, are some of the many things I am able to help our clients with. In many aspects, today, I am in the same boat as many of our clients.

Tatyana

Being somewhat knowledgeable with many varying aspects as to the pursuit for a Russian bride, and Russian women, and being able to closely see what has worked and not worked for a few thousand men, by sharing and learning from these experiences we are able to help a lot of men in not getting scammed, and being able to meet many good and sincere Russian women.

Gentleman, I have briefly shared a little of my history and experiences with you. If you are serious about finding a good Russian/Ukraine wife, please do not hesitate to write or call me.

Sincerely,

Jack Bragg

FirstDream