Any Grand Palladium brides?

[Manda123]

Hi Darya,

I booked Sascha for 5 hours, with an hour "break" in between since it was getting pretty dark and he was nice enough to agree to stay to take first dance photos. All in all, he was there for all of our getting ready photos, the ceremony, group and bridal party shots, speeches, cake cutting, first dance and the beginning our receptions. 

 

We didn't get a DJ. By the time speeches and dinner were done it was just after 9 and we moved on to the disco at 11, so it simply wasn't worth it for us to get a DJ for 2 hours. We had all the songs we wanted on an iPod and had a good friend in charge to fade in/fade out the music during dinner and simply hit "play" for our reception.

 

Originally Posted by DaryaB 

Hi Ladies!

I've been following this thread for a while and finally joined. I'm getting married at the GP on October 25, 2012. I just want to say thanks for all of the posts, I really have learned so much. To the newest brides: Manda and Jena, you girls looked beautiful, I can't wait to see pictures from all of the upcoming brides. I'm sorry to hear that some of you had trouble communicating with the WCs. I've been working with Vanessa and she is great, she usually replies within 24-48 hours. I'm getting married on the beach, I alway loved having my toes in the sand. I saw a lot of pictures in the beach gazebo, but does anyone have any beach pictures?

Manda, I booked Sascha for my photography, you gave him great recommendations. How many hours did you get him for? I just want to make sure I booked enough time.

Did the hotel provide transportation from the ceremony to cocktail party and then to reception?

We are doing the reception at La Laguna (we also had an option of El Gran Azul) but it was closer to our cocktail party and it seemed from the posts here that La Laguna was more popular.

Dancing is really important for us so we wanted a professional DJ. We booked DJ Doremixx because of their reviews in the area. Did anybody have personal experience with them?

 

Thanks!!!

 

Darya

 

Originally Posted by shannonlsmith 

Do you have to pay $20/person for ceremony?  Or is that only if you need xtra chairs?

 

We paid $20/pp for ceremony. The champagne was nice, but I don't know if it was really worth it. If you are looking for a place to save a little money, this might be worth cutting.

 

Originally Posted by DaryaB 

Shannon,

Wow, 100 guests! That's a great turnout for a destination wedding. Based on the photographer reviews on this forum I booked Sascha Gluck. He is very reasonable, I'm paying $2,600 for 8 hours for Sascha and his assistant. Our ceremony is at 4 and the sit down reception is at La Laguna from 7 til 11pm so we wanted to do a cocktail party for 2 hours to keep our group together and entertained. For the reception we booked DJ Doremixx (they had great reviews too). I thought it was a good deal: $800 for 5 hours. Music is important to us and my friends love dancing so we thought we'd get a professional for that. They have been great so far, sent me all kinds of song suggestions and they are open for suggestions.

 

Samantha,

I'm still debating about live music during the ceremony but that's a little pricey. Here's the price list for music I got from Vanessa:

Mariachi Band (8 men) $775 for 45 minutes

Trio Band (3 men) $350 for 45 minutes

Live Band - 3 musicians $625 for 1 hour

Live Band - 5 musicians $975 for 1 hour

 

As for the cake Vanessa said they can try and do anything you ask for but they do not work with fondant. I was thinking about getting white frosting and decorate it with fresh flowers to match my bouquet but I haven't picked the bouquet yet.

I got the pricing for the bridesmaids bouquets, boutonnieres, corsages, etc. if any of you need it.

The ladies included matchin flowers on our cake at no extra cost. We were really happy with our cake. It was simple but pretty. We had a very creative and personalized cake topper, so we really didn't need a lot of extras from the resort. If you are hoping that the resort is making it spectacular and you aren't bringing anything yourself to include on the cake, it might be best to send some photos down ahead of time to see if they are able to create what you'd like.

 

[rachelw29]

 

 

 

 

 

We are back!!

 

Had an awesome time! I will write a longer review later but I must say Vanessa was wonderful, fantastic and I could not have asked for a better WC. She is so sweet, professional and accomodating.

 

 

 

 

 

[rachelw29]

For some reason I cant download a couple pics, anyone know why??

[rachelw29]

I was able to add pics to my profile so you can go there to see a few , will post more later

[rachelw29]

Well I am in serious Mexico withdrawls now!

 

Where to start!!

 

Wedding..... we met with Vanessa our second day there. We went over a list of things ,flowers, music etc. Took about an hour. She was so organized that it was a breeze. I forgot a couple things so over the next few days I would run over to her office, questions answered in 2 min!  We had the ceremony on the beach which was amazing. When we, the girls got there everything was perfect! Ceremony went off without a hitch!  They shuttled us everywhere we wanted to go for pics, drinks etc. We had a private family dinner at Portfino as there was 86 of us and that would have cost a bundle for a full dinner so 36 for family and wedding party was perfect which was no extra charge. We had La laguna from 7 to 11 , was very nice. Used our tablet for music and all was good. About 1115 Vanessa said we had to shut it down cause the rooms are near by so no problem, off we went to Colonial lobby, live music till 1 am, and we shut that down!  It was a wonderful day and I cant say enough about Vanessa and her team, absolutley fantastic!

 

The resort is very very big but I liked that because with a group of 86 it was nice not to be stepping on top of each other all the time. the shuttles are really good, we used mainly at night if we had a few drinks! Once you figure out all the paths and short cuts its not more than a 5 min walk anywhere.

 

Staff were fantastic, just an issue with the front desk manager when my guests with day pass forgot to get their ID when they left. Vanessa did everything she could to deal with it, but he was a bit of an AH. Luis at front desk was great, along with Denise the waitress in colonial lobby.

 

Overall it was a wonderful wedding/holiday, the 2 weeks went by way too fast!

 

I put a few pics on my profile on here, cant seem to load them on this.

 

 

[IvanG]

Hola Girls!

 

Just sharing some pics form the last wedding at La Laguna  Rest. in Palladium Resorts!

 

 

 

[samanthamontoya]

I LOVE that dance floor!

[Mikeycelle]

I LOVE that dance floor and cold fireworks!!

[shannonlsmith]

Do you know if there is an outside vendor fee?

[Manda123]

I brought in a photographer and did not have to pay any fees. It's probably best to send the ladies an email though!
 

Originally Posted by shannonlsmith 

Do you know if there is an outside vendor fee?