Married or going to be married at Grand Palladium Punta Cana?

[isa2214]

Does anyone have the ceremony script for the renewal of vows. I'd like to add french parts (especially for the vows and exchange of rings) as we are both french speaking.

[caribbeanLover]

sorry wish I could help you out, we did the legal ceremony.

However I'm sure you could do that when you have your meeting with Carolina when you arrive.. have a few words already prepard.

 

Sungoddes, LOL!! yah who's counting!!!

I think on this thread you may be the only June bride. But don't be surprised when you get there and realize there is still 2-4 weddings a day!! you wont be alone!!

[DEH83]

I'm trying to catch up on all of your ladies' posts! We got back to Ottawa late Saturday night and are just trying to settle back into normal life.

 

We got married on the 21st and stayed an additional week for our honeymoon. I'm so glad we did, because as someone else said, it was a lot of work entertaining and coordinating guests.

 

We had some pretty rocky moments the first week, starting with our flight there with a screaming child behind us the entire flight. Don't get me wrong - I love kids, and there were other kids on the flight who were wonderful "normal" children, but this child was unreal. We were on a larger than normal plane and he could be heard from every end. We also hadn't slept in over 24 hours, so needless to say it was painful. When we arrived at the Punta Cana airport - a piece of my luggage was missing - the one with all my hair stuff and make up - and birth control refill! (I know - should have packed it in the carry-on!) This held up the entire bus, so they were pretty mad at us when we got on until my uncle said the bride's lugggage was lost. Then they were pretty sympathetic. Luckily the day before the wedding the luggage was found.

 

We actually got married by the judge in the morning before our actual ceremony. It took all of 5 minutes in Carolina's office, and really took the pressure off I found. It rained on our wedding day too, but luckily it had stopped for our ceremony. I was so relieved because I had been watching weddings at the gazebo all week! We had Pastor York do our ceremony and I am so happy we did. He was fantastic, and improved and everyone loved it. After the ceremony, the musical trip stayed around and the servers for a another hour or so and we pretied there. I loved the trio. We had the traditional cheesegrate like instrument and 2 spanish guitars. Completely worht the money for us. Honestly - after the gazebo party - I could have gone to bed happy! Since we had our festivities pretty late, we ate dinner at La Uva on the patio and went to the lobby for drinks - but people were pretty much done in by then.

 

We did receive special room decor on the wedding day from our very sweet maid, and the rum, fruit basket, gifts (The t-shirts) and breakfast.

 

And then less than 48 hours after our wedding my husband lost his wedding ring in the sand while playing volleyball! we hunted for hours in the sand with no luck. the activity crew were great at keeping people out of the area and called a guy with a metal detector. he was on the other side of the island though and didnt get there until the evening - 6 hours later. He did find it though - thank god! I was so excited when they found it though i was running down the beach to see Adam. There wasa couple having a romantic dinner on the beach with music. i tripped over the cord and ripped the sound system out of the wall! I was so embarassed, but they said they had been watching us all afternoon and asked if we found what we were looking for. They poured me a glass of champagne and had a toast with me! THey were really sweet about the whole thing.

 

I think the best part of the vacation though was our second week there alone together. We upgraded to the Royal section, and it was fantastic! So worth it!

 

Okay, I'm spewing too much info, I'm impressed if you got this far. I'll have to continue getting caught up on all your guys' updates and wedding details!

[sungoddess_08]

Thanks for the info!! I love hearing the stories from the plane to the honeymoon! I could read for days lol.

SO glad they foudn the ring, I would have been freaking out!!! That was really nice that they searched and called that man! Lucky you! What time was your ceremony at?

 

Is the lobby big enough to have guests go back to after dinner? We decided not to have the beach party -- so I'm hoping we can go to either the lobby or hemingways - which do you prefer?

[caribbeanLover]

Oh my your week sounded like my first week, bonus for you as your second week you were actually alone, like we were suppose to be, but our friend from Ireland got their fligt cancel for an entire extra week, so he spent our honeymoon with us. But we def got to use the royal side (isn't the gourmet resto the best one ever!!!!!!!!!!!)

I'm sooo glad you guys found his ring, I can't imagine how upseting that must be, he must have been pissed.

I'm sorry but your story was hilarious, how you ran and tripped over the wire, then they poor you a glass of champagne. A story to tell for a life time.

I lost my camera, a shoe and my wedding underwear!! another store for another time lol!!!!

I was still there on the 21st and I know it rained all day, I was looking for ya,what time did you have the ceremony on the gazbo? I was probably watching lol.

 

I'm so happy your wedding was everything you expected and more.

Ok bonus!!I didn't even get a bottle of champagne in our room on the wedding night nor did we get the t-shirts. But just having the royal suites (deluxe suite) for 2 weeks was good enough!!!!

 

Can't wait to see some of your pics!!!

[DawnBuckley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rgonzalez_83 Hi April Brides! Does anyone have any pics of the beach party they wouldn't mind sharing? We had originally wanted the private reception but now I'm wondering if it would be better to do the beach party instead. Thanks, Rebecca

Hi Gals! The beach party features big spotlights and some hanging flag decorations but very very simple. They use white patio furniture and stack the lounge chairs under a palapa so you can use them or not use them. We didn't. The dj is in a little yellow shack and the bar is on the opposite side. The beach is your dance floor so there is no need for any decorations. I will try to post some dancing photos and the dj in his booth. They did do a nice fabric entrance for us but unfortunately I don't see it in the photos! Sorry!

[caribbeanLover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sungoddess_08 Thanks for the info!! I love hearing the stories from the plane to the honeymoon! I could read for days lol. SO glad they foudn the ring, I would have been freaking out!!! That was really nice that they searched and called that man! Lucky you! What time was your ceremony at? Is the lobby big enough to have guests go back to after dinner? We decided not to have the beach party -- so I'm hoping we can go to either the lobby or hemingways - which do you prefer?

LOL I'm like you, I can still read all day about other ppls wedding and searching for another vaca!!!

No beach party, no worries... I saw brides in all different places on their night. I suggest hemmingways, because you get the top shelf liquor there. Plus it tends to stay more quiet, so more privacy for you guys are your guest. If you really want to go to a lobby bar, I suggest Punta Cana lobby bar. You can hang out on the other side of the bar where it is quieter, and a waitress will bring you guys your drinks.

How many guest are you having?

[DEH83]

Yeah, the lost ring is definitely a story to always tell. It wasn't free though! He was going to charge us 80 if he didn't find it and 150 if he did. My friend got him down to 50 if not found and 120 if found. So I was thinking - there goes some of my spending money. But just as we found out the costs - My husband's grandfather gave us an envelope with 250 in it of his extra cash he hadn't spent (the family didn't know at this time the ring was lost), and told us to "do something we wouldn't normally do".

 

We had our ceremony at 5pm. it was about a half hour and we stayed at the gazebo until dinner at 8 at La Uva. After the band left, we grabbed one of the docking stations from our rooms and hooked up and ipod and danced and such till dinner. and when the server left. since the gazebo wasn't too far from the Punta Cana Lobby, friends took turns getting trays of wine and beer! It was great fun and so casual - just what I wanted. We went to the Punta cana Lobby bar, just because we tried to stay local and Hemminway's was further away.

 

The night we got in we saw a beach party going on - maybe it was one of yours! We were pretty loopy from all the mamjuana and my girlfriend was in her bikini dancing outside of the fensed in area before we could shoe her away! So sorry if it was yours! I think if we had done our dinner earlier I would have liked to do the beach party. Our original plan was to go to the disco to dance, but we visited there for our girls night and boys night out and it was insane! i didn't think it was a good place for my 80 year old grandmother...

[sheila2011]

I too am loving reading all of your wedding stories!!! Makes me so happy that we picked the Grand Palladium Resort!!

 

Thanks for the info about the beach party too....that was also something i was wondering about! I think we may do the gazebo for the ceremony (FI wants that and I think it looks pretty nice too!), dinner somewhere and then the beach party.

 

Although I gotta admit my biggest issue right now is dealing with my potential guests. We sent the invites out already thinking that would give people time to save and while I have gotten some excited feedback, I keep getting the negative stuff too. Like the cost, deposit, time of year and why are we going away. Did you girls run into the same thing?

[DEH83]

Sheila - my biggest piece of advice for anyone who chooses to go away to get married - DO NOT FOCUS SO MUCH ON TRYING TO ORGANIZE PEOPLE! It was truly the most stressful part of the whole thing. I know it's easier to say now that I've done it, but honestly, once we were there and trying to organize people again, All we wanted was it for just to be us. Of course in retrspect we will be pleased that our loved ones were there, but in the end, I think I would have also been happy to just be us.

 

But of course you want everyone to come. People we thought would come didn't and others surprised us. If i could do it over again though i wouldn't do a group booking unless your travel agent is amazing. It was a lot of work. We also got burned. We gave one of our free trips to a couple as a wedding gift (nice, huh?) and the wife didn't come! We only found that out when we got to the resort and she wasn't there. A trip that could have been given to someone else or for us. a complete waste.

 

We found with our wedding we got to know the people who really were important to us and vice versa. Some people of course couldn't come for good reasons, but we really learned who our good friends were who made sacrifices to be with us on our day and it's something we wont forget when it comes to events in their lives.