Married or going to be married at Grand Palladium Punta Cana?

I am biased but am so happy we chose the gazebo... it's right by the ocean so you still have the view and the breeze without the random onlookers... they really were great about keeping people away from the gazebo. The other thing that was nice about the gazebo was that the fresh palms they placed over it provided some shade for our guests (and looked really great!)... though the breeze from the ocean was awesome the day we got married, it was still really hot for those who didn't get a shaded spot and got stuck sitting in the sun... again, I'm completely biased!

That's how we felt too... and the option of everyone wearing the same pants without having to buy a full suit really allowed the guys to look like they still matched - and now they have dress pants they can wear again!

Don't worry about a single thing! It'll be fabulous!!!
We really lucked out with the upgrade! I don't know what things are like at the resort in December, but the first week of November was very quiet - which is a big reason why they were able to upgrade us (someone told us that at that time of the year, they're checking in 3-5 busses/flights/arrival groups per day.... by the third week of November, they're usually checking in 35!!!) I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you though - the upgrade really was an incredible treat!

As for your questions:
The cake was the one that comes with the package...Carolina didn't give us a choice - she just said 'here's the cake'! Our options were flowers or no flowers and ribbon or no ribbon! We were told that the icing would be white but we had a choice of different cakes (we chose chocolate with strawberries and it was amazing! YUMM-O!!! I believe the other choices were white, chocolate and carrot? Don't quote me on that though.)

As far as I know, the waiters before the ceremony came with the wedding package.... we weren't asked to pay extra for them but we were paying extra for the beach party so I don't know?

I think the beach party comes as a package - it was $9/person to have the tables and chairs set up, to have the beach lit up and decorated with surf boards and to have the bar open (all you can drink, of course) and the servers available to us. (They set up the beach party right next to a bar/hut that's usually open and used as a bar during the day... they just re-opened it for us at night)... the cost of the beach party was totally worth it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ottawa Bride Thank you! I'm still thrilled with how everything turned out! My dress is a Mikaella gown (purchased at Baroness Bridal in Ottawa)... I believe Mikaella calls it 'Pearl'. I loved the colour too. My dress is also a Mikaella from Baroness bridal, but I bought mine at a sample sale (of the rack) so I don't know my color. The lady where a bought my BM dresses told me it was «cafe au lait» but I'm wondering now if it's not the same color as yours?!?

Funny, I just had the same chat with a colleague who got married three weeks before we did! Her dress was cafe au lait too - also from Baroness! The colour was gorgeous... I think maybe slightly deeper and richer than the pearl (it looked stunning on her)

Its seems like from the few brides who have reported back, Carolina offers different options and says that different things are standard. For example the cake - we were offered colours for the cake, but were not offered ribbon OR flowers on it. I would have had flowers for sure since they looked beautiful on your cake Ottawa Bride! For future brides - If you want something, ask b/c she may not offer it to you, but it could be a possibility! I think that as the wedding business grows at this resort, she is getting more creative, so that is good news for brides to be!

And the waiters are included with the package. I didn't have a beach reception, but alcohol was served prior to and after my ceremony at no extra charge.

ottawa bride,

 

What were the color options that Carolina offered to you, and my other question was does the gazebo have adequate lighting at night? One more if you don't mind....did you leave Carolina a tip?

wow thanks so much guys for the amazing info!!!!! I'm writing this all down!! lol

Good questions guys..

saves me from asking

Hey Shankd,
She showed me the same colours as mentioned in an earlier post:

Orange
Gold
Emerald Green
Lime Green
Fuscia
Blue

We ended up going with Gold (which looked an awful lot like the orange we had used on our invites and other accents). Normally, she would have used the same chair sashes tied around the pillars (which looks awesome) but I had left her with spools of leftover ribbon and told her use it however she wanted in ours or other weddings... In photos you can barely see the ribbon tied around the posts but I knew it was there.

I don't know about lighting at the gazebo because we didn't see it at night... I would think it would be okay though... when I look through my pictures, there are sconces on all of the pillars (both the top level of the gazebo and the bottom all seem to have lights on them) and there's another hanging fixture from the middle of the gazebo where we stood... even the pathway/'aisle' looks to have light fixtures mounted on stone things. Good question for Carolina but I would think that it would be okay.

Last question... we didn't leave a tip for Carolina and that was a HUGE oversight on our part. We left tips for the wait staff at the restaurant (Carolina told us who to give it to and that they would split it evenly... there were so many of them, we didn't know who to give it to)... we tipped each of the servers individually at the beach party because there were only 4 of them. We also left a tip for the band to split. Carolina left the party shortly after the band started and we completely forgot to leave someone in charge of tipping her... I'm going to contact our travel agent though (she says she goes to the Palladium often) and see if she would bring it to her on her next trip... we really feel terrible about it because she really did a fabulous job.

WOW!!! Congrats!!! Your pictures and review are amazing!!!! You make me super excited!!! And great questions ladies, Now I just have to remember it all

If you don't mind my asking, How much did you tip? I really have no idea what would be appropriate

I believe we left $100 at the restaurant (there were probably around 10 waiters for the size of our party).

We gave each of the servers/bartender at the beach party $20.

I think we gave the band $40 (there were 4 or 5 of them)

I probably would have left $100 for Carolina (maybe 80/20 or 75/25 between her and her assistant)... I'm not sure what their salaries are, but I'm willing to bet it's not NEARLY enough for the amount of work they do to make sure things ran the way they did.


Keeping in mind we were certainly not crazy tippers the rest of the week... usually $1 every 2-3 rounds and $1-$2 at meals.

Not really wedding related, but one thing our rep told us was that when it comes to tipping, anything you leave on the bar/on the table gets shared between everyone. If you happen to come across a server/bartender who you really like and want that person to have the tip, you then have to give the secret money in the hand handshake and slip it to them that way.

ok ladies.....this weekend is my boudoir shoot.....so nervous!!!! I think I'm ready....wish me luck!!!!!

good luck!! I'm sure you don't need it tho. Have fun and definitely let us know how it goes!!!