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

[Chicago]

 

 

Thank you ladies for the info.

 

I am definitely now thinking of doing it back home. The price is ok but with mani and pedi for 6 of us.... ouch!

 

[MilitaryMrs.s-to be]

This doesn't have anything to do with anything, but are you guys really saying that where you live a mani/pedi is like $10 bucks??  For real??  I would die!!!  I pay $50 for my pedi and usually $35 for my mani!!!  Where do yas live cause I need to move!!!  lol

[richarsd]

 

 

Originally Posted by MilitaryMrs.s-to be 

 

This doesn't have anything to do with anything, but are you guys really saying that where you live a mani/pedi is like $10 bucks??  For real??  I would die!!!  I pay $50 for my pedi and usually $35 for my mani!!!  Where do yas live cause I need to move!!!  lol

 

No, the prices listed on the website are totally comparable to to what you pay Military Mrs. Minimum $33 for a mani at the resort and $53 for a pedi. I would pay the same here in Ottawa, if not more...it's been a while but last time I got a professional pedicure I think it was close to $80!

[roxy1122]

I'm from NJ and I pay $20 for a basic pedicure, with a little massage thrown in while the nails dry

[caribbeanLover]

I'm with Military MRS, I pay $40 for a mini and $55 for a pedi!! I'm moving to the states! lol

I read a review back before I got married and she decided to pay for her BM's, her's and her mother it came to almost $500 (I can't remember if that included their hair)

I'd suggest doing it at home first (since you know that place you got, so likely it's def clean..not to say the SPA in Palladium isn't, just to stick on the safe side) and just do your hair on your wedding day! besides I love having my nails done for the whole trip, why wait! lol

[roxy1122]

I have a date confirmed at Grand Palladium! July 22, 2011, a friday But I still have many questions waiting to hear back from Carolina about... like I will probably do the gazebo, but which part of the resort is it located in? Palace, Punta Cana, or Bavaro?

 

[richarsd]

 

 

Originally Posted by roxy1122 

 

I have a date confirmed at Grand Palladium! July 22, 2011, a friday But I still have many questions waiting to hear back from Carolina about... like I will probably do the gazebo, but which part of the resort is it located in? Palace, Punta Cana, or Bavaro?

 

 

The gazebo is in the Palace section right behind the 4000 block of rooms, in front of the beach. You can use the gazebo no matter which section of the Palladium stay at though.

[badgergirl8]

Hello all,

 

Love this thread, my fiance and I are getting married in the Dominican July 2011.  We meet with the TA in 3 weeks again to book our resort etc.  Palladium is on our "short list" so I love reading all of your posts, it really helps narrow it down.  I can't wait to book and get the "real" planning rolling!

[CherryBomb]

Hi everyone!  It has been over 3 months since I returned from my destination wedding at the Palladium and I am so sorry it has taken me so long to get on here to write about my experience!  Oh, how time flies!  For all of you brides who have chosen the Palladium Punta Cana for your special day, you have made absolutely the perfect choice!  There are not enough words to describe how wonderful everything was and how amazing Carolina was as our wedding coordinator onsite. 

My husband and I were married on Friday, July 16th, 2010 and we had a beautiful, sunny day.  Our second morning after arriving at the resort, we met with Carolina to discuss all the fine details...ceremony location, reception location, flowers, cake, chair saches and any special requests.  We chose the new gazebo for our reception which turned out to be our dream come true.  There was a beautiful breeze coming off of the ocean and not too many onlookers to disturb our photos.  Carolina arranged to have a large golf cart pick my bridesmaids, mothers and I up at our room just before the 3:00pm start time.  (I will say that 3:00pm was perfect, and gave us enough time for photos aftewards in order to have a 6:00pm reception start).  The gazebo location offers a fairly long walkway down to the where all of your guests can watch you walk in your beautiful dress so they can snap some great pictures. I would not have chosen another location, although the beach weddings were beautiful, I prefered having my feet on solid ground! Also it gives your guests a little shade from the hot sun.  We chose aqua coloured sashes that were provided by Carolina and they were perfect.  We hired the 3 string quartet, who greeted the guests as they arrived and played a Spanish Wedding song as I walked down the isle.  The musicians were also the entertainment during the evenings in the Palladium Punta Cana lobby.  They were great and my single girlfriends got a kick out of them!  We also had a sand ceremony that Carolina was able to provide us with the vases and sand as we hadn't prepared that in advance.  (We didn't take them home though, it was just for effect.) If you want to take the sand and everything home, I think she would just charge you extra for that.  I had purchased an orchid for my hair, however when the girls tried to help pin it into my hair it ripped right away...luckily I had packed some plastic flowers from Claire's Jewelry that turned out to be a godsend!  (It even lasted through our Trash the Dress session - including jumping into the pool!)

We had our dinner reception in the back open area of El Arrecife which was beachfront and beautiful.  We had Carolina provide us with 3 tables, 1 for our wedding party and the two of us, and then the rest of guests were 10 per table.  We had brought centre pieces including silver star fish (this was our theme) and tall and short candle holders that were teal.  Carolina unfortunately forgot to set up the name cards and put out the centre pieces, so when we arrived for dinner we had to quickly scramble to get those things set up.  This was THE ONLY thing that slipped through the cracks with Carolina, and I don't blame her since she had another 5 or 6 weddings going on that day! 

Our dinner reception lasted 3 hours including speeches and the cutting of the cake.  They provided us with a private server during dinner in our area of the restaurant who served drinks/wine to all the guests.  The only thing I would have wished for would have been a microphone for the speeches portion.  As the dinner was held at the back of the a la carte restaurant, there was music playing through the speakers which although wasn't loud, it did cause the people doing speeches to have to raise their voices a little.  I'm not sure if they would be able to turn down that particular speaker or unplug it during the wedding but you may want to ask if it's something you feel will interfere.  It really wasn't too big of a deal...just when my dad was speaking his voice was quivering (awe, so sappy) and it was hard for him to speak up over the music.  For our party afterwards, we only had the beach option, as Carolina had informed us that you needed more than 35 guests to have it in an actual restaurant.  WE ARE SO GLAD we ended up on the beach because it was the highlight of the whole day.  We payed for a private bartender and a DJ which worked out great.  Make sure you make CD's for the DJ as we found out that night that he didn't have an ipod doc or usb hook up!  Luckily because I'm a bit neurotic (haha) I had made CD's of all the music, just in case.  Thank god for that!  At a minimum make sure you have your first dance songs on a CD. The DJ had a lot of great music outside of what I brought so you'd be fine regardless.  We had a variety of age groups within our guests which is why I made the CD's to accomodate everyone - some new stuff, some oldies but goodies!  The DJ also had a wireless microphone so at some points during the party, I had my Maid of Honour announce the father/daughter dance, the mother/son dance and of course our first dance as a married couple.  We even did a mother in law/son in law dance since my mom didn't want to be left out! haha 

I think that pretty much sums everything up, but don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions!  I know that before I got there I was a bag of nerves with so many questions.  Oh!!! And how could I forget our amazing photographer! We hired HDC Photos which couldn't have been a better choice! They provided us with photographer and videographer and it was better than my wildest dreams!  They were with us from about 2pm to 8:30pm that day, and then also we did Trash the Dress two mornings later.  The TTD was the best decision in the world.  We loved every minute of it!!! It was so much fun and everyone thinks those pictures are actually the best of the bunch!  The photographer made my husband and I feel and look like professional models.  My husband is normally quite shy and hates the camera but they managed to bring out the fun side in him and we ended up with romantic, fantastic photos.  We also received a photobook from them which everyone loves.  You won't even need to make a photo album since this actually looks more professional and is a great coffee table book.  I still drag it around with me for everyone to see!  HDC is absolutely the icing on the cake when it comes to your wedding day, so if in doubt choose them, you will not regret it.  I will post a few pics for everyone to see how our day looked and to see what a great job HDC did.  Like I said, ask me if you have any questions!

Good luck all you Palladium brides, your day will be more amazing then you could ever dream! 

[sheila2011]

Thanks for the review CherryBomb!! I love hearing that other brides had fantastic days and it makes me more and more excited for mine!!