Any Grand Palladium brides?

Svetayasofiya - Congratulations on your wedding day! Very exciting once you get the date set.

My fiance and I are getting married this November. The time of our wedding we went with was 4PM. That time of year the sun sets around 5:15PM so it was perfect time for us so it won't be too hot and time to get some pictures on the beach after the ceremony too! We are getting married at the Beach Gazebo.

We are flying out of Toronto airport and the price we got was under $1500.00 all taxes in. We are going with Signature Vacations flying with Skyservice. I have a great Travel agent that I used. Her name is Dawn Fairbanks at Uniglobe Travel. She has been a lot of help and understand that you want a reasonable price as well and does her best for you. She does not work on commision either. She is great to answer as many questions as possible too. All our guest have loved dealing with her too.

Here is her contact information if you wish to get in contact with her.

Senior Travel Planner

Destination Wedding/

Honeymoon Specialist

Tahiti Specialist

GI Vacation Consultant

Uniglobe Discover Travel

The Mindful Traveller Inc.

304 Stone Road West

Guelph ON N1G 3C4

519 821-2136

1 877 224-9947

[email protected]

I understand pricing is different based on the time of year but she may be very helpful to you in regards to pricing : )

 

We figure we will have about 50 people attend. We went with a private reception (7-11PM)and are booked in the La Laguna. We also hired a DJ "DJ Bob" ($450.00 US for 4 hours)he was a referal from another bride on here. With a private reception you pay per person. Depending on your menu option you go with this can range from 50-65 dollars per person.

 

The wedding package we picked was the Crystal wedding package $1875.00 (approx all taxes in) It includes up to 8 people and from there you pay an additional $20.00 per person. The costing is for chairs, cake and champagne.

 

We found a good deal on a wedding photographer who is flying in from Victoria, BC. He was the most reasonable and we have him for 8 hours on the wedding day. Plus he has a photo session included for the next day if you want it too.

 

For this resort you only have to pay for the photographer and DJ if you have one if they consume. They do not have to pay to get on the resort to work. In our case we are paying the $50.00 for each due to the dinner menu we are going to pick for our recpetion because they will be consuming while on the resort. If you do not do a private reception and just do an a lacarte depending on how long your photographer is there and if they are going to consume I think you pay $60.00 for the day.

 

I have heard nothing but good reviews from other brides that have been married at this resort. Erika and Rocio are great to deal with and it has been pretty much stress free. It may take them sometimes a week to get back to you with some questions you have but they do and give you responses below your questions.

 

I apologize for some of you if this is repeat information. I just found it easier when I was trying to get all this information when someone posted it so I did not have to search and go back through all the postings.

 

Happy planning!!!!

We are kind of in the beginning stages of planning right now, and are still planning on looking around to make sure (not booked anywhere). We have been to the Palladium before, and I also know a couple who were married there and they had a great experience. Still need to wait for some more prices back, and am now thinking (although it will be a pain!) at doing some pricing separately as opposed to the package. Several people have points for different airlines, and I would rather they be able to use those as opposed to us getting freebies

Also, my TA is still waiting to hear back from a manager of some sort at Air Canada...she was told that they are no longer flying directly from Calgary to Cancun next year, which would mean we would have to go through Toronto (which would cost more). She wants to make sure that this is true before we move forward.

We are looking at about 30 ppl., and are not to sure about the reception yet (as private as possible!), and we know we would prefer the garden gazebo.

Where exactly are you booked? What were you looking at for prices (curious)? Did you have any other resorts in mind?

Nov2009bride- It's nice to hear that you have had such a good experience with your planning. Where on the resort are you staying? One or two weeks? I only wish we could find prices like you have! Are all your guests coming from the same city?

We are currently booked (wedding only) at the Barcelo Maya Beach. I did so much research before narrowing it down to the two resorts. There are aspects of the Palladium I prefer, but there are aspects of the Barcelo I prefer. I know it's my wedding and I want it to be special but we are on a really tight budget and cannot afford to go to Mexico and have a big fancy reception. It sucks for us being over 40 ppl that our only option at the Palladium (besides having the reception in the buffet) is to pay $60 per person on top of the already $20 per person for the ceremony. It's just way out of our budget so in the end, cost wins. At the Barcelo the wedding package incl. 20 people and over that you pay I think $25 per person... but autmomatically get a pricate reception with set menu. It's in a banquet hall... which I am also not too keen on... but we'll see. I am trying to get pictures!

I haven't ruled out the Palladium yet! My parents were there in Feb. and fell in love with it so I know it's their first choice.

 

Oh and we have people flying from Victoria, possibly Kelowna, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal and Chicago. :s Quite a group to organise!

three months to go! booked a photog now looking for a videographer...any suggestions (who have reasonable prices)?

Hey,

Have read through several rave reviews for one photograper on this thread somewhere...in the middle? sorry. Also, was looking at albums elsewhere and saw sol tamargo photography- their pics. look amazing. Just like I've known photographers to be at home.

Not sure on pricing on either of those, but I am sure that one of the past brides would be willing to help. Let me know if you find out- we are just finalizing our dates, and that is one of the first things on my list as photos (would also like videoographer) are very important to us.

We are booking Ivan Luckie (Luckie photography). His prices are very reasonable and his pics look great as well. I'd recommend using the search option and type him in...there are a few threads here that have links to some of his photos. Maybe you'll like him. There were a few other people that booked him from this forum but i dont think they've had their weddings yet. With his reasonable prices it leaves room possibly for us to book a videographer as well...assuming they don't have too high of prices.

ChristinaP - We are staying in the Riviera Section at the Grand Palladium. My fiance and I have upgraded ourselves to the Royal Section and are only staying one week like our guests. We are going to go away on a honeymoon in the Spring 2010. Most of our guests are flying out of Toronto. I know my one cousin has received pricing around 1800.000 to 1900.00 all taxes in to fly out of Calgary but she is not sure she is coming since she has just had her baby last month. Some of our guest have inquired about hotels and transfer costs as well and my travel agent was able to give them pricing on that.

 

Regarding a Photographer we actually have found someone coming from Victoria BC that we found on line and seemed to have good reviews. Recently it looks like he has done a wedding at this resort as well. Google "Devin Card" and his web site should come up. He was a lot more reasonable then some of the others that were mentioned on this site. The others looked great and looked like they did an amazing job but the cost savings really appealed to us along with his portfolio. Everything can add up so quickly doing a private reception like we have decided to do. To us it is worth it and just have to be realistic when it comes to some costs.

 

Is anyone else down here the same week as us Nov 14th 2009 to Nov 21st 2009?

 

Also, what documents do you need to get married for a civil wedding?

I am told birth certificates and passport by some and that we need photo copies of the same for our 4 witnesses.

I have also been told all we need is out passports.

We are from Canada having a civil wedding in Mexico is this legal here too? I have been told that it is and then I have been reading that you need to get another piece of paperwork done before you go??

If past brides or anyone can shine some light on this that had or are having a civil wedding that would be great!!

Does anyone happen to have room rates without flight for the Palladium either Colonial or Kantenah? Would like to look at booking this way to try and cut down costs for guests with enough points for their flights. We booked there like this 4 years ago, but I forget what the prices were (probably changed anyways) and I can't seem to get the pricing for the time we are going.

HI Ladies!! Back from our amazing wedding at the GP. Working on my planning/review thread with pics, but let me know if you have any specific questions while it is all fresh in my mind!!

Any news yet on what you have decided?