Check In - Not all of my guests arrived at the same time so I can only speak of our own experience...extremely frustrating! We got to the resort around 2:00 and had to wait until almost 6:00 to get into our room. The one saving grace during all of it was one of the shuttle drivers that kept track of us during our 4 hour wait and let us know the status. Maybe it's just me - but when a bride and groom check in (especially when they've booked the Honeymoon Suite and brought 40 of their family and friends) they should get some priority.

Rooms - Ours was ok. We stayed on the Lady Hamilton side and were in one of the Honeymoon Suites (Building 30-8). The room itself wasn't any different than any of the other Lady Hamilton villas - but the views were phenomenal. The only downside is the location. Because you're out on the very end of the point, it's quite a hike to ANYWHERE on the resort. Calling for a shuttle is hit or miss; sometimes they're outside your door in just minutes, other times you wait so long you give up and up walking. The outside shower took a little getting used to - too bad it's your only option in these rooms. The A/C had to be on full blast the entire time we were there and never seemed to really cool down the room but it may just have been the heat and humidity of the location.

Main Pool - HUGE! The swim up bar was ok but we found that the bars on each side of the pool made better drinks. :) The one end of the pool (closest to the sand volleyball court) would get a gross surface scum in the corners by the afternoon. It's best to steer clear of that area and pick chairs somewhere else. Our guests with kids really enjoyed the splash pad area. We never made it to the adults-only pool since we wanted to spend time with our guests.

Beach – if you’re looking for a beach experience, head to Sunset Cove. The other beaches are rocky and are not good for swimming. The water at Sunset Cove is calm and the view is great! Added bonus – the jerk chicken hut is right there! Con – the bar is up about 3 flights of stairs to the restaurant up the hill.

Restaurants - Buffet was decent. The restaurants are a much better choice...if you want to eat dinner earlier rather than later. Because this resort does not use reservations, if you're not there early, you're going to wait (and wait some more) to get a table.

Wedding Office/Coordinator – 95% of communication prior to arriving at the resort was through email and usually involved a 3-4 day wait for a response. I did a lot of browsing/research on destination wedding sites, joined a GP Brides group on Facebook to get a lot of my questions answered instead of waiting for information from the wedding office. We only had one meeting with our coordinator, Meloney, the day before the actual wedding. Part of the agenda was a “tour” of the wedding locations (the ceremony venue we’d chosen, the back-up location, and the reception venue). We wish we had worn better shoes for the hike around the resort.

Beach Party - In lieu of a formal rehearsal, we decided to go with the Beach Party that the resort offers and include all of our guests. The bonfire was cool, the DJ used our Iphone playlist (which we'd created just for the occasion), the lighting/decorations/seating was pretty chic, and the food was pretty good. We also upgraded to extend the party an additional two hours. Good times!

Wedding venue/ceremony - We had our ceremony on the beach. Luckily, one of my bridesmaids was staying in Lady Hamilton Villa 30-2 which is literally right on the wedding beach. My girls and I were able to get ready in her room, hang out in her air-conditioned room, and walk directly down the aisle when it was time. We even got to keep an eye on everyone arriving - groom and groomsmen included - before the ceremony started. The ceremony was short and sweet. I was a little concerned about having an officiant that we'd never even met before but he did a really good job (George Bates).

Reception – Blue Lagoon – because we had more than 40 people, we had to do a private reception and we’re so glad we did. The space doesn’t require much decoration (we only rented up-lighting from our DJ and brought minimal centerpieces from home). The food was pretty good although we were disappointed when we were informed that the menu we’d chosen needed to be modified as Lobsters weren’t in season – we ended up with shrimp kebabs. We hired an outside DJ and rocked it out until midnight – the latest they’ll let you stay. Pay the extra $ and extend your reception – it’s worth every penny!! The only major issue we had was the temperature. The Blue Lagoon is an open-air venue (aka no A/C) and it was HOT, HUMID, and NO WIND that night. The raffia fans I had brought to put at each guest’s chair came in super handy. I even had to change out of my wedding dress after dinner and our first dance because the temps were just unbearable.

Overall – The Grand Palladium was a pretty good choice. We needed somewhere relatively reasonable and family-friendly. We didn’t have any problems with theft or drug dealers as I’d read in other reviews.