It took a while, but I just joined the 1911 club also. I got a Para SSP. There's something about the trigger, the balance, the reacquisition, the look of the thing.
I still like my Beretta Elite II. It's definitely European in style, in finish, in detail. It, too is beautiful in its own way. And, it's great to shoot, in its own way. The feeling I get--and it's completely subjective--and I might change my mind next week and regret posting this--is that the Beretta fights you, but the 1911 helps you to shoot accurately.
For some reason I haven't figured out yet, though, I was getting much tighter groups with the Para right out of the box than I get with the Beretta after lots of practice. It might be the sights, or it might be the trigger, or it might be the grip. Or it might be a combination of all of those things.
I can remember laughing out loud when I had a field-strip contest with someone--Beretta vs. a Springer, I think it was. I stripped and reassembled the Beretta before the other guy got the .45's bushing off. That was important then. It isn't so important now.