richarsd

Yay! Good for you! Keep up the hard work! However, I also agree with Nemmerz - ENJOY your birthday!! Ok, you don't have to go totally nuts but have some birthday cake and a few drinks...it's not going to have much of an effect if you're doing well the rest of the time. Ya gotta live, too

Just thought I'd mention, that you don't necessarily have a choice on time. If you are doing a legal ceremony (ie: with the judge in Punta Cana), you are subject to his availability. Ideally, my FI and I wanted a 4 pm or 5 pm ceremony. We booked 12 months in advance and had the choice between 10 am and 2 pm because that's all he had available that day (we chose 2 om because who the heck wants a 10 am ceremony?!?). Also, at the GP, if you choose to get married at the gazebo, there is shading for your guests to sit under as they hang a beautiful white fabric canopy above the seating area...still warm but it IS the DR, lol. Tell people to dress appropriately (ie: no formal suits or tuxes). Also, even if you do the symbolic ceremony you still have to be flexible with you time. Legal ceremonies take precedence (because of the judge) and they only do 2 ceremonies a day but still need time in between both to prepare.

No problem! What specific advice are you looking for? The main thread for this resort is "Married or Going to be married at the Grand Palladium Punta Cana" and includes the Bavaro, Palace, and Punta Cana sections since the weddings are all the same. That is the best place for advice, tips, ideas, etc. Good luck and have fun with the planning!

It depends on your workout routine whether or not you can work the same thing more than once a week. Some routines are full body, some are push/pull, some are upper/lower splits. I do upper/lower splits so I am working my legs, but, abs twice a week...hasn't hurt me. Give it a try with adding in another day of lower exercises...start easier, you don't want injuries from overuse, and just up the intensity after a week or so Oh and all my candles smell liked baked goods too!! I make handmade soy candles in my home so when I do a big batch, the whole house smells like cupcakes, lemon meringue pie, chocolate chip cookies, etc. lol YUM!!!

How'd it go?? Fingers crossed...

Definitely worth a try...just with all the inconsistency lately on what we've been told, I just wouldn't want you to get your hopes up and them not be able to deliver. If you can't get a reply through Carolina, maybe just contact the hotel manager since it's not specifically a wedding related question?

They can probably make you a cake but I would get on asking for that NOW...chances are with only one days notice, they won't be able to accommodate. And since technically you'd need someone to serve it/bring it out, my suggestion would be to have it available at a restaurant...since you likely' can't make dinner reservations for everyone either with only a days notice, that means the most realistic option for the resort would probably be at the buffet otherwise, I think it may be too much for them. You should really ask Carolina if it is even possible...not sure. I think it's awesome you wanna recognize your Mom! Good luck!

I completely disagree with everyone else, lol. Maybe this depends on where you live as each city/region has its own trends but I know of many brides (myself included) who had friends throw them a "restaurant shower/bachelorette" and others who did a brunch shower at a restaurant. Usually thr showers for this type of setting are smaller and limited to only good friends and family. From my own experiences with this type of shower, no one complained about having to pay for a meal (and in the case of my own, I definitely paid for my own meal!!!).

Thanks for the support, ladies. Yes, I had a full workup done of blood work, ultrasound, etc. to check for any sort of stones, infection, inflammation, etc. All came back fine. I've been pouring over research for the past few days and I think I've basically diagnosed myself with IBS. So to stabilize my system I am sticking to the bland foods and had to start eating starch again (the elimination of which over the past couple months may have triggered it). So far, so good in the past 24 hours anyway...and exercise really helps whatever it is so I have an extra motivator to keep that up! Lol

And it's not stress!!! If another one of my coworkers or family members laughs it off and says that to me, I'm gonna freak on them, lol. I know they're just trying to be comforting but I haven't been stressed or worried about anything in quite a while...this whole DW process has been pretty much smooth sailing.

So my whole healthy eating and workout plan has been sabotaged a bit over the past couple weeks. I've been having unexplained, gnawing abdominal pain a couple times a day for 1-4 hours a time for the past 2 weeks. I've seen my GP and late last week went to the hospital the pain was so bad - they did pregnancy tests, blood tests and an ultrasound and everything was fine (which is good news...I guess) but still no explanation for the pain! So now I've been told to basically purge my system and eliminate any potential allergens - so I'm literally eating tomato soup, natural oats, apple sauce, baby food, jello, and select vegeatbles. No meat, dairy, eggs, nuts, oils, or processes carbs (although I wasn't realy eating any dairy or processed carbs before either!). Ugh! Still feel like crap. So I'm losing weight but NOT in a good way...my goal was to tone, not lose weight but I don't have much control over this at the moment. I'm just so frustrated because when I have an attack it hurts like Hell, I have no idea what's causing it, AND my wedding is in less than 4 weeks so it's seriously bad timing!!!

Kitty when I had the same issue as you regarding the private reception, I asked my TA to confirm. She spoke directly with Carolina and it is 40 for the private dinner reception but only 20 for the private beach party (just thought I'd clarify a bit). Bring all your correspondence though and the 2011 brochures (which specify 20 for both)...hopefully they will be accommodating!!!

Planning is going well! We finalized our music list yesterday and have a DJ friend making up CDs for us (so we don't have to download all the songs and burn the CDs ourselves...lazy of us, I know, lol). I also had my make-up consultation today at Sephora and the girl did an AMAZING job, I love it!!! So I have all my make-up now and will have to practice a couple times. Tonight is my bridal get-together/shower with my girlfriends so I'm excited for that! ONE month from today is my wedding day! SOOOO exciting!!! How's everyone else's planning going???

Figured I'd post mine! We are getting the trio band at the resort for our ceremony, so all songs will be at the reception Slow songs “When You Say Nothing At All†– Allison Krause & Union Station (first dance song) “I Hope you Dance†– Leanne Womack “Hero†– Enrique Iglesias “This I Promise You†– N’Sync “I Love the Way You Love Me†– Boyzone “Quando Quando Quando†– Michael Buble & Nelly Furtado “It’s Your Love†– Tim McGraw & Faith Hill “You’ve Got a Way With Me†– Shania Twain “I’ll Always be There†– Roch Voisine “Wonderful Tonight†– Eric Clapton “I Will, I Am†– Paul Brandt “Is This Love†– Bob Marley “Lost Together†– Blue Rodeo “All My Life†– K-Ci & JoJo “At Last†– Etta James Dance songs “Let’s Get it Started†– Black Eyed Peas “Just Dance†– Lady Gaga “I Gotta Feeling†– Black Eyed Peas “Crazy in Love†– Beyonce “Macarena†– Los del Rio “Evacuate the Dancefloor†– Cascada “Take on Me†– Aha “Right Round (Like a Record, Baby)†– Dead or Alive “Let’s Get Loud†– Jennifer Lopez “Sexy Back†– Justin Timberlake “The Way I Are†– Timbaland “Bumpy Ride†- Mohombi “Hypnotize†– Notorius BIG “Dancing Queen†– ABBA “When I Grow Up†– Pussycat Dolls “Please Don’t Stop the Music†– Rhianna “Fire Burning†– Sean Kingston “Temperature†– Sean Paul “Wannabe†– Spice Girls “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun†– Cindi Lauper “Beautiful†– Akon “Oh What a Night†– Frankie Valley and the Four Seasons “Gold Digger†– Kanye West “Dynamite†– Tao Cruz “Your Love is my Drug†– Ke$ha “Sexy Chick†– David Guetta & Akon “Bad Romance†– Lady Gaga “Only girl†– Rhianna “We R Who We R†– Ke$ha “Greased Lightning†- Grease “Hot Hot Hot†- Buster Poindexter “I Knew The Bride†- Nick Lowe “Limbo Rock†- Chubby Checker Country Songs “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem†– Kenny Chesney “Check Yes or No†– George Strait “Ain’t Goin’ Down ‘til the Sun Comes Up†– Garth Brooks “Old Time Rock & Roll†– Bob Seiger “That Don’t Impress Me Much†– Shania Twain “Any Man of Mine†– Shania twain “Sweet Caroline†– Neil Diamond “Barrett’s Privateers†– ?? “You Can Call Me Al†– Paul Simon “Crazy Little Thing Called Love†– Dwight Yoakum “Margaritaville†– Jimmy Buffet “It’s 5 o’clock Somewhere†– Alan Jackson “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy†– Big & Rich “The Gambler†– Kenny Rogers “Mountain Music†– Alabama “Fishing in the Dark†– Nitty Gritty Dirt Band “Stripper†- Traditional (garter toss) “Single Ladies†– Beyonce (bouquet toss)

Prices may drop by $100 bucks or so for that time of year but not until a couple of weeks before...those prices/seats are usually very limited as the airline is just trying to fill up the plane at that point.

Yay! Very cool that you get to check it out first! Which resort??

What's a cookie? I don't remember those, LOL.

Well, there could be more than one fee they're referring to. First, if you get an outside photographer (so I photographer not based at the resort, which a lot if not most brides do) then you need to pay for them to get a day pass to come onto the resort to photograph your wedding...you just pay the resort directly and it's not a big deal - usually in the $60-$100 range. However, the fee I think he is probably referring to, is something extra. I've heard that some resorts in Punta Cana (not all...so yours may be one of them) change an extra fee. Basically I think it is to encourage people to use the resort photographer...I think I remember one bride saying it was an extra $300 or something ridiculous but I'm not sure. You could email the resort wedding coordinator for clarification. However, there are LOTS of other wonderful photographers in Punta Cana that do weddings. Caribeean Emotions (Michael Weiler), JALU, HDC, etc...google them or check facebook as most have FB pages and you can see uploaded photos there. Hope that helps!

Do you have a price point?? That's often the easiest way to eliminate, lol. For example, our top 3 were similar - Majestic Colonial, Grand Palladium, and Melia Caribe. We capped the price at $1500 because a lot of our guests wouldn't have been able to make it were it more than that so right away the majestic was out. We then picked the Grand Palladium over the Melia because the reviews at the time (not sure if they've changes since 9 months ago) were a bit better and they had had more recent renovations. So that's how we decided but I think it's probably a different decision for everyone based on what you're looking for. Goodluck!

Oh wow, hands down #2!!! It hugs your body perfectly and the frills will look awesome in a destination setting

Not sure who makes it but it's gorgeous!!

Thanks SxcT!

Even with thongs, in the Caribbean heat and sun, I'm expecting some sweat. I've read on other posts that the Karma Sutra honey dust powder works wonders so I'll be covering my entire lower half in it, lol.

Hi ladies, I think that this is an excellent question. Now I'll start by saying that I'm NOT a nutritionist so take that for whatever you will, however, I do consider myself to be fairly well-read on the subject and through my own personal experience know that the 1000, 1200 or whatever recommendations are generally BS. I think often those recommendations are based on doing very little to know physical activity...so someone who is 5'2 and 120 lbs can certainly survive on 1000 calories a day if they lied in bed all day lone...that's like the minimum your body needs. However, if you're only consuming 1000 calories, you're probably not getting nearly all the vitamins and minerals you need! I stopped following all those calorie counting websites because basically I think they're a load of garbage. I used to follow them quite a lot and lost either no weight or maybe like 2 lbs while feeling sluggish and grumpy. However, I am currently 5,2" and 118 lbs...however, believe it or not, I eat around 1800 calories a day and about 80 g of fat (all GOOD fat) and I have actually lost weight by eating this way (and I know many others who have too)...all lean protein, veggies, very low carb (most of my carbs are from veggies and like half a cup of oats or All Bran in the morning), and no dairy. I know this sounds extreme...these are the basic fundamentals of an athletic or bodybuilding diet...it does not mean you will end up looking like a body builder but the general principal is, to look lean, you need to eat lean (but that doesn't mean starving yourself as you can see from the amount of calories and fat above) - once you hit that point, you can incorporate some more carbs and dairy back into your diet and some occasional fun stuff (cheesecake is like one of my best friends...in moderation, lol). And always eat every3-4 hours!

If you mean you want the restaurant to be private for just you and your group, then yes, you'd have to pay extra for it. And if you just show up to the buffet or a la carte at the same time hoping to get seats/tables together for ~40 people, it's probably highly unlikely that everyone would be able to sit together. Your best bet is just all meeting at one of the bars, where there's more space and more ability to pull chairs and tables together. I'm not doing a rehearsal dinner of any sort...I think the ceremony will be fairly straight-forward.