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Originally Posted by caroline  Thanks so much Petals! The place looks absolutely brilliant! I'm getting SO excited!
Can one choose to have the semi-private reception at any one of the restaurants?! |
I'm totally excited too & my wedding's not until May! lol
Yes, they will help you make reservations for your group at any of the a la carte restaurants. You just can't have any music or entertainment there. Since the resort was still pretty empty when I was there, the restaurants were only open on certain days.
Since my trip was short, I only got a chance to eat at the Jamaican restaurant, the Italian restaurant, and 2 of the buffet restaurants. My mom & I loved the Jamaican restaurant- it was really cute. It's enclosed and air-conditioned. The Asian restaurant, the Mexican restaurant and the Steakhouse are the same way. Each one is set up really cute and it really just depends on the type of setting you want. I have written in my notes that if there's over 8 people, you do a "set menu" -- your party wouldn't be ordering from the entire restaurant menu. Charmaine said their special wedding menus haven't been created yet as the head chef was on vacation and returned late last week.
The Italian restaurant and the Indian restaurant are in the same building as the Blue Lagoon.
If you look at this pic, the entire top foor is a lounge, but the first floor is restaurants. Blue Lagoon is the front portion of the building, and the Italian restaurant is on the right side of the building (actually out of frame). The Indian restaurant is on the left side. So if you'd prefer an open-air dining experience, I'd definitely recommend one of those.
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Originally Posted by caroline Which restaurant would be your pick and why? |
Personally, I fell in love with the Blue Lagoon. It looks out over the pool and over the sea and I thought it would be perfect for a reception at sunset. Still waiting to find out if it's available for my day!
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Originally Posted by caroline Which location are you going to have your nuptuals at? The beach or the gazebo? |
I always wanted a wedding on the cliffs at sunset so definitely the gazebo. They've had a wedding on the beach already so I'm sure Charmaine would share some pics of how they had it set up. That bride had covered chairs and a burlap aisle runner lined with seashells and it was really nice.
The common areas have some really gorgeous views too, which she said they might consider for really small weddings.
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Originally Posted by caroline How was Charmaine? |
Charmaine was nice- very straightforward. I went to the front desk when we first arrived and set up a meeting time so I could get all of my questions answered (I had a LOT). It started pouring rain during our meeting so we couldn't go around to the wedding sites that day so we set a time the next afternoon to see everything. She knows the wedding packages inside and out and was very helpful.
One thing that wasn't clear in the package information is that there is a resort photographer that takes pictures of every ceremony. You get a set amount of prints included in the package, and if you want more, you have to purchase them. I told her I am bringing my own photographer and wanted to make sure there wouldn't be any issues with her taking pictures of our ceremony. After reading some of the ROR photographer stories, I was really concerned about this. Charmaine reassured me that it wouldn't be a problem and the next day when we met, she said that she "checked" to make sure that it would be okay and that I wouldn't have any problems bringing my photographer.
I kind of want to get it in writing because that's the last thing I want to worry about during my wedding.
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Originally Posted by caroline The accomodations? The food?
Dish the dirt! |
The food was good. Freshest, juciest mango I've had in a long while. The buffet was huge with lots of options. I could see how it could get repetitive, but I guess that's why you've got 5 a la carte restaurants to choose from in addition to the 3 buffet restaurants.
The rooms were nice- we had a Junior Suite and our room looked just like the pictures. Considering I went down a couple days after Gustav hit the island, and the resort just opened, I took everything in stride. There was some hurricane damage while we were there. Tennis courts were wrecked, some statues were overturned, and some of the plantings were damaged- especially the newly-planted trees. One night, power went out all the way from Montego Bay and it took them quite a while to get their backup power on. Workers we talked to said it was probably damaged in the storms, because it's supposed to automatically turn on with any outage.
But overall, we had a great time & thought it was the perfect resort for our wedding. I'm sure they'll have the kinks worked out in the next few months.
I'm back... and now a Palladium bride-to-be! ***PICS*** 
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