Grand Palladium Bavaro Wedding

Hi everyone!! I am recently engaged and thinking of booking our wedding at one of the Grand Palladium resorts. We are not sure which one yet!! I was wondering if anyone has been married there and what their wedding was like?? Pictures would be fantastic!! Reception?? Ceremony?? Any ideas would be great!!! Do you have a contact for the WC??

Thanks

Hi. Have you checked out Debbie's Dominican Travel Forum?? There is a couple on there that got married at Palladium Bavaro and their pics are AWESOME!!

Here is his review of the wedding on Dominican Republic Weddings - Debbie's Travel Page

January 2007

We stayed at the grand Palladium Punta Cana (GPPC) from January 6th, 2007 to January 13th 2007, and were married on January 9th, 2007 at the Grand Palladium Bavaro (GPB).

We had already booked for our annual vacation at the end of June for the GPPC, we later got engaged in August. At that point we started to think that perhaps it may be a good idea to get married in January seeing 20 of our closet family and friends were already booked.

We tried to get in touch with the wedding coordinator at the GPPC at the end of August and had no luck. We tried emails and faxes and had no responses. I eventually called Punta Cana and spoke with Lourdes Soto of guest services and she promptly sent me the wedding info. We then had her confirm that we could get married during the week we would be there, she confirmed it, and we then booked an additional 11 guests, for a total of 31.

We basically planned the wedding in 3 months. I won’t review the hotel, just the wedding.

The wedding package includes: Ceremony, decorated gazebo, bouquet for the bride and flower for the groom, and one bottle of champagne. This was $750 US. We also hired the Trio band ($75), and ordered 3 additional bottles of champagne ($90).

We used WeDo for our documentation, we sent them FedEx and they were returned in 4 business days. I think it was about $280 US. We then faxed them to the resort to verify that everything was OK.

We conversed with the resort via email the whole time leading up to our departure. We dealt with Carolina Beck and Lourdes Soto; both work at guest services at the GPB and provided excellent service always replying to our email with in a day usually with in hours. I can’t say enough about these two ladies. They are awesome. We pre-made reservations at the international restaurant before we left for all 31 guests.

We met with Lourdes on the second day after we arrive at the guest services desk. Within 20 minutes we picked the Photo Package, Flowers, decided on table arrangements for the dinner, picked the wedding cake, and settled other details.

We didn’t find out our wedding time, which ended up being 2:00 p.m. until the day before the wedding. Not a big deal except all our guests needed to know when to show up at the Gazebo.

Everything about this wedding exceeded our expectations. The Gazebo was beautifully decorated, and they had red carpet laid over the brick path leading up to it. They had white chairs for all our guests and a waiter there serving water and wine (before and after the wedding). He would also go for trays of beer. When the ceremony was over he poured everyone a glass of champagne.

The groom and groomsmen were picked up at our room in a large golf cart around two and then when the judge arrived about 2:20, the golf cart picked up the bride and bridesmaids. The ceremony took about 10-15 minutes and Lourdes translated it all for us. It was very nice.

We then took all kinds of photos around the garden before going to the beach for more. We used the resort photographer named Duiexnor, and his work was phenomenal. The pictures are unbelievable and once again exceeded our expectation. I’ve included a link to our photos. The photo package we chose was a CD with all our 268 pictures, DVD of the day and an unbelievable photo book. This was $800 and worth every penny.

While the photos were being taken and for hours after all of our guest stayed at the Gazebo and partied, until it was time to go for dinner which was just across the pathway. The waiter stayed at the Gazebo the entire time. Dinner was at 6:30 and they set up a traditional head table and 4 round tables in front of it. They served appetizers, and then we all ordered off the menu. The meal was very good and the service was top-notch. There was another Trio band here and they sang at each table. We had the entire restaurant to ourselves.

We did say about 4 or 5 speeches at dinner, and had our wedding cake for desert which was excellent, and very nice. After dinner we went to the GPB lobby where there is a live band each night. When we arrived they announced it and we had our first dance. After that the entire wedding party had a dance, followed by the throwing of the bouquet and garter.

We then went to the disco where we had a blast dancing, before retiring to our loft suite. All in all we would highly recommend a tropical wedding and the GPB.

Link to photos:

Ralph and Mandy Punta Canan 2007 pictures from entertainment photos on webshots

Thanks a million that site was incredibly helpful!!!

No problem! That resort is in my top two as well. We're thinking Gran Bahia or Palladium. What is/are your deciding factors in the Palladium resorts??

Also, have I mentioned that I'm so glad there are other DR brides??!!

Well I think the deciding factor in the Palladium resorts is that there are three resorts right in a row!! This would give our guests the ability to have a little more choice as to where they want to stay (i.e. can afford)!!! There are also the Royal Suites which are adult only for any guests that want to have a more private adult atmosphere!!! I really like how big the beach is as well including the fact that with 3 resorts you have more pools, restaurants and just activities!!! I am excited to go with the family but I am sure it will be nice to have the ability to get away if we want too!!!!

I totally agree! At first I was unsure about picking such a large resort, but then we figured that we wouldn't have to babysit everyone and always make sure everyone is having a good time. Plus it will be easier to get away for a while if we wanted to.

I am getting married there the week of Jan 7, 2008