Any Grand Palladium brides?

[Manda123]

May 15th! Phew! Once I book my date I will be WAY less stressed. Thanks for the heads up!

 

Originally Posted by JND2012 

Yeah, for us we just had to put 2 deposits down immediately and then everyone else paid their $200 within 90 days, so I guess it's not too big of a difference.  In a way I wish we were able to give guests more time, however, our friends are major procrastinators so I think it ended up working out best for us!  They had to really decide if they wanted to make the commitment or not.

 

I just heard back from my TA who had contacted Rocio about the dates - looks like May 15th is the day they'll begin taking requests!
 

 

 

[JND2012]

Thanks for sharing your story!  And congratulations!!!

 

A quick Q for you ladies who have already been through it all - did your husband see you before the ceremony?  When did you do your photos?  Sorry if you've already mentioned this and I totally missed it.  (And Ellabaja I read that you did yours after the ceremony).  We're hoping to have a 4:00-ish ceremony but really would prefer to not see each other before hand, do you think it would still be possible to do the photos after the ceremony? 
 

Originally Posted by Ellabaja1983 

Alright, I'm back!!!!!!! 

 

Wow, what a wonderful week we had!!  We arrived last Wednesday (4/27) and our wedding (Renewal of the vows) was on Friday, 4/29 - saw some posts from that day, thanks ladies!!!

 

Overall, I loved everything.  There were a few problems, but I didn't let them get me down.  We arrived late Wednesday, so we had a 9:30AM appointment with the Wedding Department.  We met with Erika, who is absolutely amazing, and I didn't even deal with her through the whole planning process.  When we arrived we went over all the details and finalized the price for the whole wedding package.  Our package was about $2,900.  We had 23 guests total, so we paid about $350 extra for people at the ceremony.  When going through things, Erika asked what color we wanted to have our sashes on our chair overs...I was actually shocked because I didn't think that was included, but it was!  After going through everything, we gave them my dress and DH's suit to be steamed. 

 

During our meeting, Erika said she'd setup my pickup for 1:25 (for a 1:30 PM ceremony)....well, the pickup never came....  Finally, I had one of my BM call the lobby to request a pickup, while I was finishing pictures with my parents and the other girls.  Once we got to the ceremony site, I found that there was no music being played (which I specifically told Erika what play list I wanted to use when people were waiting for me to arrive).  Anyway, the ceremony was great!!  The only complaint I had was that, it was our hottest day there...98 degrees!!! 

 

From there I went and had pictures done at the beach with my parents and our wedding party.  It was absolutely wonderful!  Because we weren't having our dinner until 7:00 pm, we had plenty of time to do whatever!  After our photos, we ended up all going to the pool (after changing of course), and swimming for the afternoon.  (We were very careful of our hair and make-up though!)

 

For our reception...things were okay.  I can't say they were great, because I personally didn't enjoy the food...  I'm a very picky person, but we chose an option that I knew I'd like....  The best part of our meal (for me) was the wild mushroom soup!  SO good!!  (We picked menu #8.)  My beef sirloin was SO dry...but after asking around, it all depended on which plate you received.  DH's sirloin was pretty good, he shared with me!! 

After dinner we did our first dance and then some more dancing.  I did the music myself on an iPod, and it worked out very well!!  We took a short break during the dancing to do the cake cutting...  this is honestly were my biggest complaint comes....  After we did the cake cutting and they served the cake to people, one of the "waiters" decided to take care of the rest of the cake...now, my cake topper and some other flower decorations were still on it.  I sat there and watched this guy take my cake toppers (it was two pieces, a bride and groom) off the cake and (literally) throw them on the table.  After he walked away I went over to get my cake toppers and fount that he broke the arm off the bride.  I was really, really ticked off about this...  I couldn't believe he actually sat there and did this....  After dancing a little more Rocio came over to see Erika and while they were both talking, I went over and talked to them and told them how happy I was with everything they had done...with one exception.  I told them about my cake toppers and their mouths dropped to the floor.  Erika asked to see it and her and Rocio came over to where it was.  Erika told me to let her know how much it was, because they would reimburse me for it.  I didn't tell them because I wanted reimbursement...I knew DH could fix the arm with super glue when we got home, but I felt they needed to know.  After that, things were good!

 

The only other issue I had that was related to the wedding department was on Thursday (night our guests arrived) we had planned a welcome dinner at one of the buffets.  I had coordinated it with Rocio to have tables put together so we could all sit at one place.  When we arrived, there were not tables TOGETHER, just an area for us.  I spoke with the supervisor that was working that night and he actually brought me to where his paperwork was, to show me exactly what he received from Rocio.  She had not given him the information I had requested.  But, he asked if it was okay that they did two separate tables right next to each other for the 23 of us.  He was absolutely wonderful and even checked in with me throughout the night to make sure we were happy!

 

Overall, I wouldn't change a thing!  The resort it really big, but absolutely wonderful!!!  On three different occasions, someone in my group lost something, but we were all able to retrieve it (this includes me, when I left my key card holder (with $40, my debit card, and my room key) at the Japanese restaurant).  Everyone there is SO friendly and I couldn't not complain about the service.  We did do a lot of tipping...whether it was 1, 5, or 20 USD, and there was definitely a difference in service as I had read on palladiumaddicts.com! 

 

My only recommendation is make sure when setting things up, you are very clear with what you want, and make sure you confirm EVERYTHING when you arrive!!!

 

(Sorry for the lengthy write up!  Let me know if you have any ??'s!)

 

[Ellabaja1983]

 

 

Originally Posted by StephyD 

 

Congrats EllaBaja!!! :)

 

I'm sorry to hear that you had a couple of things go wrong, but am glad to know that you still had an awesome day!

 

I agree with you, you have to be very precise about instructions on how you want things.  Honestly, I came prepared with tons of lists and spreadsheets and I even made some drawings of how I wanted things on the tables and what not.  You can never be too organized   Althought, I think Rocio thought I was a freak, lol!   I'm glad to say that everything was perfect on our day.  Not one little hitch (except the petal toss, but you can't control the wind, right?)

 

How did you like El Grand Azul???  How were your flowers?? 

 

I can't remember who you booked as a photographer… was it Claudia Rodriguez?  Did you do a TTD?

I'd love to see some pictures

 

I'm hoping to get my profesionnal pictures within a week or so… I'll post some more whenever I can.

 

Gran Azul was good!  They blocked off a space for us and it was perfect!  Absolutely no complaints there!  Flowers were really good!  I can't complain!  My bouquet was absolutely perfect and so were the table displays!  Another thing I really liked was that the rose petals for the ceremony were in orange and purple...I didn't specify that, they just did it for us!

 

We actually brought our photographer with us.  I did not do a TTD, it just didn't really interest me. 

 

I got 1007 pictures from our photographer this morning!  See below!

 

 

Originally Posted by JND2012 

 

Thanks for sharing your story!  And congratulations!!!

 

A quick Q for you ladies who have already been through it all - did your husband see you before the ceremony?  When did you do your photos?  Sorry if you've already mentioned this and I totally missed it.  (And Ellabaja I read that you did yours after the ceremony).  We're hoping to have a 4:00-ish ceremony but really would prefer to not see each other before hand, do you think it would still be possible to do the photos after the ceremony? 

 

 

 

I did not see DH before.  I actually really liked how things worked out for us, it was actually perfect because we had time in between...and were able to cool down in the pool when it was 98 degrees!  If you do a ceremony at 4:00 and dinner at like 7:00 you will still have time!

 

 

 

[Ellabaja1983]

I wanted to mention, anyone going to GP, when you are buying things (gifts and such), don't buy at White Sands or Riviera....  things are priced higher at the lobbies there, than at Kantenah or Colonial.

[nicole - 20]

I went dress shopping today and think I found the one I will be wearing!

 

Since we have decided on our reception on La Laguna. I have seen some pictures of it and worry that it will be too dark. Stephy Did it have enough lighting?

 

[Ellabaja1983]

Nicole, yay!!  That's awesome about the dress!!  Do you have pictures??

[StephyD]

The lighting was fine!  It wasn't too dark at all.  The pictures make it look dark, but it wasn't.  We had 4 small votive candles on each table, but DJ Mannia had brought some spotlights, but overall, it wasn't too dark.
 

Originally Posted by nicole - 20 

I went dress shopping today and think I found the one I will be wearing!

 

Since we have decided on our reception on La Laguna. I have seen some pictures of it and worry that it will be too dark. Stephy Did it have enough lighting?

 

 

[StephyD]

I didn't see my DH before the ceremony.  To me, it was one of the best decision.  We were just so excited to see eachother and it was so emotional!   He slept in another room the night before and I had one of the bridesmaid sleep in my room.  It was a lot of fun!  Our ceremony was at 3PM and it left us plenty of time for pictures.  Even at 4PM, you would have lots of time!

 

Originally Posted by JND2012 

Thanks for sharing your story!  And congratulations!!!

 

A quick Q for you ladies who have already been through it all - did your husband see you before the ceremony?  When did you do your photos?  Sorry if you've already mentioned this and I totally missed it.  (And Ellabaja I read that you did yours after the ceremony).  We're hoping to have a 4:00-ish ceremony but really would prefer to not see each other before hand, do you think it would still be possible to do the photos after the ceremony? 
 

 

 

[StephyD]

EllaBaja!!  You looked gorgeous!!!!  Your pictures are beautiful!  I can't wait to get ours

Congrats again!!!

[Manda123]

Ladies waiting to book...

 

I got an email from Rocio today. She said I could give her our names and our requested date and she would "reserve" our date until we can officially book next Monday. You should do the same!