We were married at Grand Palladium Jamaica 06/09/2012.  The wedding was perfect and the reception was beautiful.  My wedding coordinator Loraine did a wonderful job.  I couldn’t have asked for anything more.  Everything was timed perfectly and the surroundings were beautiful.  I chose the spa location so  my guests wouldn’t be about to pass out from the heat.  I’m glad  I did because there was a delay due to a wardrobe malfunction – one of my bridesmaids’ zipper broke and she had to be sewn into her dress. 

The reception was also beautiful and Loraine was there to ensure that everything went off without a hitch and it did .  However, we called the bellman desk to get a cart to take us from our room to the reception.  The cart never came.   We stood outside for about 10 minutes and started to walk in our 5 inch heels.  Needless to say we were hot, tired and out of breath by the time we reached Blue Lagoon.  But I was ok because the space is so beautiful I couldn’t stay upset about it.

With that said, my wedding was beyond my expectations.  However our stay at the resort was not great.  We had about 51 people with us and EVERYONE in my group had an issue with the hotel at one time or another.  I am not one of these people that constantly complains.  We just visited the resort a little over a year ago and our experience was great.  This time there seemed to be some management issues.  The problems had very little to do with the staff – they were very friendly.   However my mother in law didn’t get the room type she requested and she was very upset.  They did not clean our room for at least two full days.  They did not restock our beverages regularly.  Several guests could not get their rooms to cool and CATS were wandering around Sunset Cove/Poseidon restaurant – close enough to graze your leg and eat any table scraps you drop.  The seafood (Poseidon) was HORRIBLE.  The crab cakes were ALL CAKE – no crab.  And none of the restaurants (except the buffets) could accommodate a group of more than 6.  Several of us tried to do dinner together on different nights and each time it was a problem and we couldn’t make reservations as they said it was “first come, first serve”. 

They seemed to be running out of everything.  We could not get clean face towels to save our lives (WHO RUNS OUT OF FACE TOWELS????).   I really think the hotel was not prepared for busy season.  Which is not fair to guests and not fair to the staff because they have to deal with the fallout.

Finally,  I scheduled and appointment with the spa to get my hair done.  The brochure and website state the range for “special hair styles” is $90-130 -- Which was fine.  When I got to my appointment they told me it would be $150.  They didn’t not mention  wedding parties should get 10% off.  So actually my hair shouldn’t have cost more than $117.  Well, since they were charging me $150 I asked if I could upgrade to the $180 package that includes hair and makeup.  They told me that package didn’t apply to me because my hair is too long and that I would have to pay an extra $50 in addition to the $180 to get makeup done.  Now keep in mind my hair isn’t THAT long.  It’s just below my shoulders.  But at this point I didn’t have a choice.  So, get it done… I show the lady a picture of what I’m looking for.  It’s very simple – a high, pin curled bun.  Who can mess up a bun???  My hair was horrible and frizzy BEFORE I stepped out of the salon into the humidity.  By the time I got back to the room the pins were falling out!!!  At this point I was about to have a complete FIT! Luckily one of my bridesmaids brought a curler and we were able to fix it.  But for $150 it should have been perfect.  I was LIVID!

Photography:  I haven’t gotten my pictures back yet, but Andrew from True Colors was awesome.  I saw some of the shots as he took them and they were lovely.  He was very patient with my cackling bridesmaids and the adventure of the broken zipperJ  There was also another Andrew taking  pictures around the resort.  He took several pictures of me and my girlfriends in the pool.  We got some GREAT SHOTS!

DJ:  We used Irie Jamz.  Damane was awesome.  I couldn’t have asked for anything more.  He played songs to our taste and everyone from oldest to youngest got on the dance floor and cut a rug – even the “aristocracy” lmao.  He did an awesome job of putting together a playlist to our tastes.  If you’re looking for a DJ here is your guy:  www.iriejamzjamaica.com

Flowers:  I traded out the flowers in my package for 2 pomander balls and bought an additional 2.  Tai Flora was very accommodating.  I bought our bouquets and bouts from an online “realtouch” company.  I am not going to mention them as I had to redo and rewrap all of the flowers because they put these tacky silk and shiny plastic flower fillers after they up-charged me to change the arrangement to all “real touch”.  The  other flower in the bouquet were fine and we still had pretty, full bouquets.  I added a brooch from www.fabulousbrooch.com to mine and  MOH's bouquet and we were good to go.  I got the other table supplies from www.saveoncrafts.com.  I got so many compliments on my tables!

Pictures to come…