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

[canadiandawn]

Hi everyone, I also want to say thanks for posting so much info in this thread.  I was thinking of Barcelo Punta Cana but FI and I just got back from The Royal Suites Punta Mita by Palladium in Puerto Vallarta and we loved it.  We have family members who refuse to go to Mexico so I'm pretty sure we'll be getting married at GP in Punta Cana.  We will probably stay in the Royal side because we love the extra service we get there but I love that it's basically like 4 resorts in one with different price ranges!

We've been having issues with our TA not getting back to us and now are starting to weigh the options of doing it on our own.  Now that I had a general look at the prices for the whole resort, we might do that even though we'll miss out on the group discount.

 

[JustMarried2012]

Hi,

 

 We just got married at the OceanView Gazebo at the Grand Palladium in Punta Cana 2 weeks ago. Everything about the wedding was fantastic and exceeded our expectations. The few tips I would have for you all are:

 

 - Do the wedding at the Gazebo, we saw some weddings on the beach and people aren't very respectful... you will certainly have people standing behind you in their speedos watching the ceremony which isn't very romantic. 

 

- Hire Photo Souvenir ... they are absolutely amazing to work with, extremely courteous and respectful, and the pictures are beyond my bride's expectations, which is really something in itself. 

 

- We also hired a videographer through Photo Souvenir and they got us Florian from Video Punta Cana. Once again, I highly recommend him. Extremely professional, fun to work with and the end result was so much more than what we had expected.

 

Other than that, what can I say... the staff went out of their way to ensure we had everything we needed for the wedding. We stayed for an extra week after the wedding and were surprised with a few honeymoon extras. I would say the resort was fantastic overall, especially since there is so much to do so if you have a large group (we had 37 guests) there will certainly be something for everyone. However, even though we were in the Royal Suites section, there were still a few minor details that could be addressed, but they were so minor I won't even bother going any further. 

 

Very positive experience -- you won't regret it!

[JustMarried2012]

Hi,

 

 We just got married at the OceanView Gazebo at the Grand Palladium in Punta Cana 2 weeks ago. Everything about the wedding was fantastic and exceeded our expectations. The few tips I would have for you all are:

 

 - Do the wedding at the Gazebo, we saw some weddings on the beach and people aren't very respectful... you will certainly have people standing behind you in their speedos watching the ceremony which isn't very romantic. 

 

- Hire Photo Souvenir ... they are absolutely amazing to work with, extremely courteous and respectful, and the pictures are beyond my bride's expectations, which is really something in itself. 

 

- We also hired a videographer through Photo Souvenir and they got us Florian from Video Punta Cana. Once again, I highly recommend him. Extremely professional, fun to work with and the end result was so much more than what we had expected.

 

Other than that, what can I say... the staff went out of their way to ensure we had everything we needed for the wedding. We stayed for an extra week after the wedding and were surprised with a few honeymoon extras. I would say the resort was fantastic overall, especially since there is so much to do so if you have a large group (we had 37 guests) there will certainly be something for everyone. However, even though we were in the Royal Suites section, there were still a few minor details that could be addressed, but they were so minor I won't even bother going any further. 

 

Very positive experience -- you won't regret it!

[JPro]

Hi ladies!

 

Congrats on all your upcoming weddings! I am so excited (and a bit jealous!) that your weddings are right around the corner! I am new to this forum, so I am not sure how much action it has seen recently. I have spent the last 3 days catching up with all the posts. I really appreciate all of the reviews! It has really helped me visualize what my wedding day will look like. I am not getting married until Dec. 28th this year, so if to wait another 10 months!! 

 

I have a couple questions that have not been mentioned in some of the posts. If anyone has any input, I would greatly appreciate it! Also, are there any brides who got married around Christmas or New Year's this past year? I would love to hear about how that went (weather, how busy the resort is, etc,). I would ask Carolina, but I don't want to stalk her with all of these questions. Plus, as most of you know, her responses are pretty limited .

 

So here are some of my questions

 

1. Has anyone had a cocktail hour following the ceremony? Not just the champaign toast at the ceremony site, but the $6 pp cocktail hour? If so,

      - Where is it?

      - Were there tables for people to sit at?

      - What type if liquor is served?

      - Is it worth it?

 

2. What was the order of events for the wedding day? We were hoping to take pictures with the wedding party before the ceremony (ours is at 4:40), then do a cocktail hour, have the semi-private dinner, and then the beach reception. We wanted to avoid having the hour of down time and wanted one event to flow into the next. Does anyone have any input about that?

 

3. Did anyone do a "first look" with their hubby? We want to get pictures done before the ceremony so we can enjoy the wedding with our guests. Did anyone take wedding party pictures before the ceremony? Can I do this with the hotel photog?

 

I appreciate any thoughts! Thanks!

Jamie 

 

 

[akimrey]

Hi Girls!

I just confirmed our date at the Grand Palladium! 1/19/13!!! 

[jenmheadrick]

Congrats!!! Thats SO exciting!

We are booked for April 16th, 2013!!!

I was wondering, are you doing the beach party option? If so, were you allowed to book already?

I wanted to book just in case there were other weddings on my date that also wanted to beach party. I spoke to Carolina but she said to wait until January to book our dinner and dance party. I thought that sure was a ways away and I'm sure there are other brides who will also want the same restaurant or dance party as us. 

Thanks for the info!

[Katiem2012]

Congrats on booking!

 

I had the same concerns as you and wanted to book it ASAP. Carolina told me the same thing when I wanted to reserve the DJ and beach party so far in advance. I pretty much emailed her back and explained that part of the reason we decided on the Grand Palladium was based upon these options and I wanted the guarentee that we could have these. She emailed me back within a few days to confirm!

 

Hope this helps!

 

Originally Posted by jenmheadrick 

Congrats!!! Thats SO exciting!

We are booked for April 16th, 2013!!!

I was wondering, are you doing the beach party option? If so, were you allowed to book already?

I wanted to book just in case there were other weddings on my date that also wanted to beach party. I spoke to Carolina but she said to wait until January to book our dinner and dance party. I thought that sure was a ways away and I'm sure there are other brides who will also want the same restaurant or dance party as us. 

Thanks for the info!

 

[elektrokitty]

Hello

Does anyone know how much the vendor fee is for 2012??

[Katiem2012]

We're paying $60/photographer for the day and another $60/photographer for the night. Carolina did tell us that many of their costs are going up effective May 1st, I'm not sure if vendor fees are included in that....

Originally Posted by elektrokitty 

Hello

Does anyone know how much the vendor fee is for 2012??

 

[akimrey]

Are any of you girls hiring a outside photographer or DJ?  I've been looking into HDC and DJ Mannia but I am open to suggestions