Any Grand Palladium brides?

[Mikeycelle]

Hi Crestena, my fellow New Yorker! You can't go wrong with a cathedral length veil. It's so dramatic, romantic and will go well with your gown! I am still waiting on my gown which is being shipped in a great big box by DHL. I am so anxious and nervous! Insomnia had set in! So ladies, everything else is being paid off. Dollar bills are sprouting wings and flying off! Centerpieces and wedding party flowers from Vanessa Jaimes, DJ Doremixx, Musicancun for the string quartet in church, mariachi band, sparklers, Cocktails and reception in La Laguna, GP, cake by Zaida Marcos of Dolcet Cakes in Cancun, gowns by Edward Teng from Manila, Philippines, photographer Matt Adcock from Del Sol Photography for cenote shoot, our cinematographer Agustin Lira from Cinematic Riviera Maya, hair and makeup from Zentropia Spa, my good friends Chris and Carol of Benchwerk Photography, NYC. I'll post reviews and pics on each of them soon!

[Carlota1981]

Hello new brides Caseylynndais, Kstok and Brebuisson!!

 

Welcome to the forum!! I am also pretty new here in BDW writing here for only one month and a half... 

 

Casey, when I booked my wedding at GP I received a mail from a GP sales rep informed me that they made a discount booking an important amount of rooms (I think 50 but I am not sure). As all the guests, my FI and I are coming from Europe (Italy and Spain), we had a better offer thourgh a travel agency. Here in Spain it goes a travel package to go to any destination of the Caribbean consisting on flight, hotel with all inclusive and bus shuttle from airport to the resort and return. 

 

For example we got an offer to our guests for 1080 euro (something like 1380 USD) for staying at Colonial during 7 nights. I think it is a pretty good deal!! 

I imagine that from Canada and the States the offers are better, dont you?

 

 

¡Que tengáis un buen día! 

(Have a nice day!)

[brebuisson02]

Originally Posted by Kstok 

 

Hi Bre- I am pretty sure the beach bash is available as I received an e-mail from Vanessa today saying that once our wedding date is confirmed, she will be able to book the beach bash. I noticed on one of the other forums that you said you are from a small town in Manitoba. I am from Winnipeg!

 

I look forward to sharing info and hearing updates on how everyone's planning is coming along and the experiences of those who have returned.

 

Has anyone looked into group rates for travel yet? Just curious as I am not sure how far ahead I should be doing that. I would interested in hearing what the rates look like for next year. I have people coming from a few cities so I hope I have enough out of one city to qualify. I think you need 10 adults from one gateway.

 

Kathy

Kathy, yes I live about an hour west of Winnipeg! Crazy! when are you looking to book your wedding? I actually went through a travel agency company in Winnipeg, they are a couple who had their own destination wedding and now they specialize in destination weddings for other couples! If you want their information Kathy, let me know. I don't have to pay them anything - the travel companies do that. My mom & I met with them last summer & they got us group rate quotes from all the different airlines, and then they set up a wedding website for us with all the information so that our guests just need to contact them to put their deposits down. It's been really nice so far.

 

Looking forward to hearing all your reviews Mickeycelle!

 

Carlotta, that seems like a good deal for the 7 nights. My guests will be at the grand palladium over new years (since 3 of my bridesmaids are in university and i didn't want to have them missing classes as one will be in her 3rd year of pharmacy) .. so unfortunately the prices are much higher since it's holiday season.

 

Bre

[jengullage]

Hi ladies!

 

Welcome to all the newbies!  Vanessa emailed me this week and told me that the Karen Bussen Packages are available now and that I could change my vow renewal package to one of the new ones so I have been looking at these for options but have so many questions and concerns! Maybe some of the new brides here will be wondering the same thing/know the answers to!? 

 

What I am finding with these new packages is that you can't really "customize" anything in them.  If you choose white as your colour pallet from the limited choices they offer per package (which is what I would have to go with as they don't have coral or torquiose) then you cant make any of the flowers anything other than white.  So for example I am looking at the Mayan pearl package, and choosing white- so the flowers are white lilies for everything-even the bridesmaids, so there is no colour contrast. And I couldn't choose their pink colour as my colour scheme because it would clash with the coral dress of my bridesmaid.  Ideally, my bridesmaid having white would be fine-but for that package all they offer is a tiny white lily bouquet (i think its one or two flowers only), and then i would like to have a few coral coloured flowers mixed into mine, but they can't do that.  So I am disappointed about that.  It's kind of one colour for everything  Is anyone else going through these motions right now and finding out anything more than what I have discovered???

 

You might think "well then just keep with your original package" however my fiance has really fallen in love with the look of the mayan pearl package decorations and palladium packages will not let u use those decorations unless you get the karen bussen packages.  The chairs and more modern looking chair covers is what has caught his eye and he is pretty stuck on them now~ lol.  

 

So if anyone else has some more answers on how we can change or if we can change some details in these packages please let me know!

 

Jen

[Maybride2013]

Hi ladies...so nice to see photos of a recent wedding...they look beautiful. I am 9 days away from departure and 13 from wedding day...getting all the last minute things together. A couple of questions...Sue2013 you mentioned bug spray. We are having our reception at LaLaguna after we eat dinner. Will we need it there as well? Reception is from 8-11 pm. And has anyone eaten at El Dorado steakhouse. We are opting for our wedding dinner to be there since my guest count is under 40 and we have a lot of kids coming..including our 4 and we need to keep the meal simple to ensure they will eat. Just wondering if anyone had a good experience there. Thanks in advance ladies. Congrats to those brides who's weddings are fast approaching

[Kstok]

@Bre - we are looking at booking the first week in February. I have asked for either the 5th,6th or 7th so I hope to find out in a couple of weeks when they begin booking the 2014 weddings. I think I know about the couple you are referring to. I saw their website and contemplated using them. We are contemplating waiting to get quotes and group rates until late summer in hopes that the prices will come down. We don't have a big group (around 25 of us in total)so i think it should be okay to wait I am a little worried about not getting the resort/rooms we want if we hold off too long. That is awesome that they created your website and everything for you. I may have to contact them when we get our quotes. @Carlota - it sounds like you got a great price for 7 nights. I am pretty sure our rates will be higher than that. When is your wedding?

[HeatherLynn83]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone knows differences btw the colonial and kentenah? Is one better than the other

[Chrestena]

Hi ladies!! So many new brides-to-be since I logged on last!  A huge Congratulations to everyone:) I had to pop on here because tomorrow is Karenk's wedding. Karen- I am thinking of you and wishing you and your hubby to be a beautiful, happy wedding day!! Mikeycelle, your day sounds like it is filled with all the best and I'm getting so excited for you! Both you and Maybride are the same week. I am one month away from our wedding day, and I can barely sleep- my mind is constantly thinking of " do I have everything done-am I forgetting something?" I can only imagine how you two are feeling:) I have to laugh because our dining room table has become wedding central- everything is laid out, organized and I have more lists and notebooks than a college student- lol. My shoes came today and they are so pretty. Mikeycelle, thanks for the backup on the veil. I did order one- so it will be interesting to see if I decide to wear it or not. I really think I will- it makes me feel bridal:)

 

Caseylynndavis- welcome and congrats!! I have a timeline on my wedding website of the way our day will run- please feel free to check our the way I worded it if it can help:) our site is www.christinaandmichaelswedding.com. It must go in the browser- not a search engine like google- too many Christina and Michaels wedding sites to filter through. I hope it helps!

 

Karenk-I can't wait to hear about your day- I hope you are snug as a bug in bed getting rested up for tomorrow!! 

 

Ok -since were girls-I have to share my wedding day shoes. They just came today and I love them!

ps- anyone else have a fiancé that is getting nervous about saying the vows out loud in front of everyone with a micphne ? Lol. 

 

[Chrestena]

Oops- with a microphone. Typo! Sorry:)

 

xoxo -Chrestena

[Sarah519]

I wouldn't wait for prices to go down. The way things work now the travel agents have advised me that they mostly just go up for groups....last minute deals are more for people who are traveling in small groups and flexible to where they go. I got a group rate held for 90 days from Transat and they have a price drop guarantee plus the Palladium offers "Early Booking Date" discounts of about $250 a person. My wedding is in December and with transat, the suites were already all booked by February in the Whitesands area. Also, planes book up quick. I tried getting a group booking for November back in January and the flights were pretty booked up already for holding large group spots on the plane. I ended up having to move it to December. Basically my main point is I would recommend getting quotes as soon as possible...Palladium is a pretty popular resort.