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

[Jenn963]

Originally Posted by jenmheadrick 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry these arent the greatest but I dont have all my pictures until next week. I will post more once I rec them!

The first 2 pictures are of the hemmingway cocktail coffee bar where everyone went for cocktails between the ceremony and the reception.

The second picture shows the sashes and my bouquet

The thrid pict is our receptopn at the La Uva.

When I rec my pictures back from the photographer I will post more!

first of all, you look ABSOLUTELY beautiful!!!! and i love your colors (same as mine lol)  The bouquet is gorgeous!!! Glad everything went smoothly Jen!

[cabara123]

Congrats Jen!  Love your colors, dress and flowers! Very Pretty!   Did you have a symbolic ceremony or civil?  We are getting married there November 29th (symbolic), and just wanted to see if you would mind sharing what you liked/ disliked about the resort, or how everything went?

[amanda52513]

Hi, Jen you looked so beautiful and I'm so happy to hear that everything at Bavaro went well. We have about 80 booked there for our 5/25/13 wedding and we are still debating between dj and band. Did you have the private reception? Did the dj only play for 3 hours?

[Gene Martin]

Congrats Jen! Saw you walking down the aisle, my wedding was on the tuesday. We were upgraded to the Royal Suites but didn't quite enjoy as the crowd was much older and didn't like the service that we got at the reception but Carolina helped us a lot. her and Kenia are efficient! Some of our other guests stayed at the Palace and they loved it. We also went to the Hemingway bar for a cocktail hour with canapes and it was great. Then we went for a restaurant a la carte in the bavaro section, [/img]el quijote and it was awesome, the food was very good ( we had the beef medallion), everyone enjoyed! Will post some pictures taken by Christian from Photoshop caribe[/img][/img][/img][/img]..

[Gene Martin]

[jenmheadrick]

Congrats Gene Martin! Carolina did tell me there was a wedding going on on the Thurs and to come and watch but we couldnt make it! It looked beautiful!

Arent they the greatest!!

[jenmheadrick]

Thanks Everyone!!  

It was absolutely amazing!! The resort is so great. It is quite large but it was perfect for everyone. We had the option of stay at 1 and play at 3 and I would highly recommend it so you can go to more pools then just the one in the Bavaro section. It gave us and our guests more of a choice for buffetts too! We were upgraded to a Romance Suite as well as a few other guests and they are gorgeous with the extra thatch roofes shower and hammock room!!

 

We arrived Wed evening and there was a letter at the front desk when we checked in to meet with Carolina the next day at 12:00pm. We went to the hotel meeting at 10 where they explain everything about the hotel which was VERY helpful. I'd recommend your guests attend.

 

Carolina was great. I didnt have to lift a finger. No worries at all. She showed us the areas to choose for our wedding and we had already picked the beack gazebo which was GORGEOUS!! I would totally recomend it. We chose our sashes that were sitting on a chair behind her. She put a book in front of us to pick from for flowers. There were a TON, prob close to 30 pages of boquets and I even changed my a bit to have blue lillies. No extra charge at all. Then we picked the cake and we picked chocloate and vanilla two layered cake with seashells and ribbons on it (I was told ribbon was an extra charge and it wasnt).

 

I asked her to steam my dress as well and I had made heart confetti for the tables and had a guest book as well as a pict frame I wanted placed out at the ceremony and reception. I also brought a cd with the songs I wanted to walk down the aisle too, walk back up the aisle and for standing with ppl after the ceremony drinking champagne. I placed everything on my couch when we got back to the hotel room and it was picked up later that afternnon. I even asked for a vase for a floating candle beside my pict frame and it was no extra charge. She had quoted me an extra $10 for this vase before we arrived and she didnt charge us.

There was no extra charge for the flowers you want, sash colours, or cakes. No extra charge for anything like she had said in the emails.

 

Because we had 52 ppl attend we were actually given a private dinner at no extra charge. It is normally $1000. The dj set up next to the dinner and we danced the night away. At our meeting she took us to the La Uva where we'd have our dinner and dance. I asked for the black chairs (we didnt get them the night of the dinner but that was ok. I dont think there was enough for us)

 

Carolina sent out invitations to all of our guests rooms explaining the events for our wedding day. It was greatly worded. Everyone knew when and where to be,

We rec'd some as well since 3 of our guests did not rec any. Also we rec'd our vows that she had written. THEY WERE TEAR JERKING!!! She did an amazing job on them! Even my fiance was crying when he read them!

 

This is how our day went:

Our ceremony was at 4:00pm, dinner 6:30pm and dance 8:00pm

I started getting ready at 12:00 (if you have all the girls (I had 3) getting ready in your room I would recommend earlier as we barely had enough time for pictures, I also had long hair which took a long time too! our photographer was rushing us!)

3:30pm all of our guests incl the groom and groomsmen met in the loby and were taken by a train to the ceremony site

3:50pm Carolina called my room to make sure we were there and she sent a cart and took us to the site

4:00pm ceremony- as soon as we arrived the guys were already at the front. Carolina had given our wedding bands to the MOH and BM.

Carolinas asst was there to tell us when to walk. The ceremony was very tear jerking and gorgeous! They did amazing with the decor and Carolina did a good job speaking (we did a symbolic ceremony but no one knew, she made us sign a marriage paper and everything!)

We did a champagne toast and all guests were taken back by train to the lobby and they all went to the Hemmingway Cocktail and Coffee Bar for an hour.

 

6:00 the train brough them back from the lobby to the la uva for our reception.

The DJ Mania was amazing. He came out before we went in to make sure he got all of our names right to announce us walking in. Everyone did a little dance walking in too!

We walked in, sat down and ate right awway. Then the DJ announced our wedding cake cutting. Our cake was delish. I had brought my own cake topper too. Then we said a thank you to everyone. Teh DJ was good too as he knew what to say and when to say it. He would come up to us and asked if we were ready to say thankyous or cut the cake. We were only at La Uva until 10 because it was BOILING HOT there!  So we did get 3 1/2 hours out of him. They had balloons which they were making animals out of  and hats all glow in the dark! It was so fun, kept the crowd going!

 

 I would reommend that you have someone gather up your things at the end of the night as I did not rec some of my stuff back. My sister grabbed my cake topper guest book and my pict frame. Everything else I had brought I never rec'd. They were amazing though at setting up all the decorations I had brought. I had given her a note with my dress just saying how I wanted the confetti over all of the tables.

If you want decorations on the table other then candles I would recommend bringing something. As well as a cake topper and a Guest book. I also made my guys buotinneres and my girls had umbrellas instead of flowers.

 

All I can say is that there truly is NO need to worry. They are amazing at what they do.

 

Our symbolic ceremony was $690 and it had everything you need. Do not upgrade to the extras if you dont have too!

We paid to have an open bar at the La Uva which is $15 pp. That ended usp $690 as they do not count pop drinkers

Then our DJ was $550

Then a day pass and a night pass of $120 for our photogrpher (not the $500 she quoted! She didnt even ask)

 

That was everything!!

Hope this helps everyone!! If you have anymore questions please let me know!! Have Fun Planning and REALLY DO NOT WORRY!!

[Jenn963]

Does anyone know if (and how much) you can hire some entertainers for your beach party at the GPPC?? Like dancers or those performers that throw fire around (lol sorry I don't know the proper name) If anyone has done this please let me know.  

[eberry]

Congratulations jenmheadrick and Gene Martin! You both looked beautiful!  I can't get over how surreal destination wedding pictures look... it almost looks like a fairy tale!

[Bride2B1130]

Your review was so helpful and the pictures are amazing!  We are super excited that we can get started with the flow of the wedding now that we have the invitations out.  Its great to hear that they give the guests itineraries about what will take place.  I sent a note to Carolina to see what the difference is for the musical trio and paying for live music for 3 hours.  I don't know if anyone else saw this but our package stated that a DJ is $300 for 3 hours but Live Music is 900 for 3 hours... I'm assuming the Live music for 3 hours is DJ Mania??  Or is that a faulty assumption?