Any Grand Palladium brides?

[iamlizzygrace]

I'm a bone head....ha ha ha! Just realized that its not the same!

 

what package did you book with Blu?

[ngreenwood]

Hahaha too funny! I chose the deluxe package but added an extra hour for each photographer. What one did you choose?!

[Carlota1981]

Hello ladies,

 

I am very happy today!! We have finally got the Thomas' paperwork! The Thomas' friend in Italy that was asking everything have finally sent us the paperwork today by mail (scanner). So I have sent them to Vanessa. It is important to us to know that everything is correct so Vanessa is sending everything to the Mexican civil registry. 

When I sent my documents two months ago, the civil registry said my paperwork was right. Now we will wait the same answer for the Thomas' ones. It should be OK anyway.

 

 

Lauren, thanks a million for posting here the options of the vow renewals. The Golden one includes the same that the Diamond wedding package. Thomas and I were talking about this during the last two days as it seemed that we had to change our options, but luckily the civil registry will say everything is OK and we could continue with our plan. 

 

About the cat sitters, I think is great that you have found these two girls that will take care of your cats (so lovely) and also pick up your mail, etc. I have to ask that last thing to my neighbour, hope she is here during our travel. 

It is so important that we have trusty people to take care of our pets, right? I am so relief that I have finally found someone and to be honest, I am happier now which the friend of my mom than the other peole that was going to remain with my dog. BTW, Scooby is getting better with the antibiotics, which is great. 

 

So good you are going to Las Vegas!! The sister of my made of honour got married last September. She wanted to go to Las Vegas to get married there but she could not persuade his fiancè... But I think it would have been funnier than the wedding they made in Spain, lol

 

 

Kylie, this is the info about the Dj of the Palladium in case you have not contacted him. When I was looking for dj's I found out that this was the cheapest. We have finally decided to go just with the Ipod. We are bringing two Ipods just in case, haha

 

Eduardo Flores Lomeli
[email protected]
www.dbmusic.com.mx
www.facebook.com/dbmusicplaya
www.youtube.com/dbmusic100

 

 

Bre, I think is great you could have your own photographer. We would have liked to do that as well but it was too expensive. We had to pay him the travel expenses (1300 usd) plus his rate for the destination wedding of 2300 usd. We have finally decided to look other options at Riviera Maya. We have booked Erick Rodriguez (from Claudiaphoto, he is her brother) for 1700 usd.

 

We are still waiting the confirmation for the Mayan suite at the Kantenah. I hope we finally get it!! 

 

 

During these days I am finishing my last DIY project for the card seats. I have also bought a sign for the reception table "Mr. and Mrs." and bought the ink pads for the guestbook. I have found a cute store that sells a lot of things that I have seen before at Etsy! 

 

 

And we have other new vendor. At the weddings in Spain is typical that during the dancing part people can not only have drinks but also eat some chocolates, fruits, etc. Thomas and I thought that this was going to be too much food after the appetizers and the dinner so I had the idea to contact an ice-cream shop. Vanessa gave me the contact of one based at Cancun. This is an Italian one (they work with original Italian machines) so we are happy that we are going to have nice flavours and do not risk with the possibility of having bad ice creams... Italian guests will kill me!! hahaha

 

So as it is going to be hot, we have finally decided in taking ice lollys. I liked the idea of having ones of margarita (cocktail) flavour. So we are going to have the margarita ones and the limoncello (that is a very typical alcohol in Italy with lemon flavour).

 

The Cancun ice-cream store is going to place this at Las Rocas bar where we are having the party customized with our names (my crafty friend is making the design for this and for the lollys)

 

 

 

This a pic they took for other wedding

 

 

 

 

Well, I am going to continue with my last DIY projects... Just 17 days for leaving to Madrid and 18 for Cancun!! I cannot still believe it!!

 

Bre, you will see how fast the time pasts... I cannot believe how I got engaged last August and we are alredy in July!!

[jencadiz]

Love the ice cream options Carlota. I wish I was a guest at your wedding. That is an awesome idea.

[Sarah519]

Hey Liz! I really liked the pictures they posted on their Facebook page/website as well! I'm really happy we were able to book them. We looked at bringing a photographer and also other photographers in the area and this was by far the best deal! We have the same wedding date?! Your profile says February 6th, has that changed? I'm getting married on December 4th at 4:00pm. We chose the beach pergola as we have always wanted our wedding to be directly on the beach! What time/where is your ceremony at?!

Oh Im getting married December 3rd at 2pm!! We will be there at the same time!! What section is your group staying in? We are staying in the Whitesands. We also are hoping for the pergola...we wanted a 4 oclock wedding too but it was already booked - im sure 2 will work out fine though

[ngreenwood]

Originally Posted by Sarah519 

 

 

Oh Im getting married December 3rd at 2pm!! We will be there at the same time!!

What section is your group staying in?

We are staying in the Whitesands.

We also are hoping for the pergola...we wanted a 4 oclock wedding too but it was already booked - im sure 2 will work out fine though

 

We are staying in the Colonial!

We originally were planning on going the week before however we couldn't get the 4:00 ceremony that we wanted so we pushed it back a week! 2 o'clock will be fine I'm sure! At least down by the ocean, you will have the nice breeze to cool you all down!

 

Where are you having your reception?!

[Soon2BeMrsW]

Just out of curiosity, are any of you switching resorts after the wedding? Many of our guests have indicated that they'd like to stay at the resort for 10 days. This means that my fiancé and I won't really have any alone time at all, begore or after our wedding. At first I was planning on just staying at the same resort for our second week, but now we're considering switching to another resort a few days after the wedding to have some privacy and a real honeymoon. What are you all doing? Pamela

[Carlota1981]

Hello Pamela,

 

That was a big problem to me at the start, I really wanted to remain at the GP for my honeymoon. So at the end, I have just finished saying that everybody needed to fly the same day as my witness (this is the 31th July, and I really need my witness to be there the 1st of August).

 

The offers here in Spain to get better costs than buy the flight and the hotel separeted is to go with a travel package that includes direct flight, stay at the resort 7 nights and transfers from/to the airport. So everybody accepted this because I got them a very good offer (1080 euro that is like 1367 usd). 

 

At the start, people start complaining for several reasons, but as you I did not want to have them around. I know the resort is huge, as I have been there, but at the end is more than probably you are going to meet them in some place. And I really want to be just the 2 of us alone and not to see someone suddenly. 

 

People does not understand this, which by the way is quite selfish in my opinion, but luckily they are all leaving the next day of the wedding. 

While they were deciding about this, we decided to rent a car and booked some hotels outside to do a tour around the mayan ruins (Chichen Itzá, Uxmal, etc) so we are going to be 3 days off and then return to the resort. 

 

 

In my opinion if I were you I would not try to explain your reasons (they are not going to understand you) so what you can do is to go to other resort, make a tour or try to explain them that there is a better offer for certain days... 

 

 

 

Jen, thanks so much for your words about the ice creams! I hope they like too!

[Carlota1981]

Hello Casey,

 

That is the BIG question... I have alredy asked about this and I am alredy thinking on it, but I am sure I am going to tip Vanessa because she is a great planner. I hope she is going to be so awesome as well as she has showed me thourgh her mails all this months... I think I am going to tip her sth like 150 usd. Maybe more, I am still not sure. I think that depends when I am going to be there.

 

I have found this threat here:

 

http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/33346/tipping-wedding-coordinator/10

 

 

I am not going to tip all my vendors, because I have lots of them (flowershop, videographer, photographer, ice cream shop...). I do no have a DJ, so i dont have to worry about this point. And I am not going to tip the minister, we have to pay him 70usd... And I think this is enough! 

 

I am not going to tip the girls on the spa, I think my mom is going to do it as she is coming with me at the same time and she usually tips here in Spain, so if she tips the stylists at the Zentropia spa ok, if not, it is ok too.

I am not going to tip the golf carts drivers, I asked Vanessa and she told me that each time is going to be a different one. If we have the same all the night, I would do it, but being differents, I am not going to do it.

 

Suming up, I am going to tip my planner, the musical trio and the bartenders. I am going to have 7 different bartenders. 

[MyTye2B]

Carlota I am thrilled to hear that Thomas’ paperwork came in.  What a relief!  I am very glad you’ll get to stick with your original package that you had wanted.  Do you expect that you’ll get the confirmation about the Mayan Suite before you depart or will you have to wait until you get to the resort?  I LOVE your ice cream vendor idea!  Your guests will love and mmmmm, the flavours sound absolutely delicious!  A friend of mine had gelato at her wedding in Canada and it was a big hit.  Her family is all Italian too, haha! 

 

I sent Vanessa an email today to ask about how much money I can expect to have to pay for the balance of the wedding package, the bouquets, the centerpieces, the dinners, all of the extras (I can’t even remember what I’ve ordered, haha!) so that I won’t be so surprised when we get there.  I think I remember you saying that you did that Carlota?  Or someone on here did.  Tyrel and I are going to try to get a few DIY things done tonight.  I’m getting so excited.  I called my parents tonight and talked to my dad and he was writing a speech and was getting all sentimental already.  I just can’t wait to go!  It's only 37 days away I can’t believe it! 

 

Too funny Noah, my boss has a black cat named Boo too and she has lots of different names for him too.  It’s so cute how you described your pets.  It seems like that’s always the case – they’re not too impressed but they end up being so adorable and can’t live without the other.  J Like Liz, we ended up going with a photographer from home thinking it would be cheaper, but it did end up being a lot more. It is someone I know from home too and I have heard a lot of people will just pay for their trip which I assumed I could bargain but that was no dice.  I am paying more than I wanted to, but at least she's wonderful and we'll have a fun week together. 

 

We ended up deciding to do a TTD and went with Cancun Wedding Photo whose prices were really great compared to the rest.  If I could change, I’d probably go with them for our photography too.  I should have looked around more.  I wanted to do a TTD with someone local because I figured that they can bring us to some really cool places that our photographer from Canada wouldn’t have access to or know about. 

 

Kylie, we went with DJ Mannia for a DJ.  He comes with cold fireworks - $900 for 4 hours but that seems about standard and honestly they’ve been AWESOME to work with.  They’ve been really receptive, actually coming after ME when I have been slow to respond haha.  They wanted to ensure that they got all of the songs that we wanted to play throughout dinner.  I’ve heard really good things about DJdoremixx too.  This was Tyrel’s one want.  We weren’t going to have a DJ at all but then we went to my girlfriend’s wedding in Punta Cana in January and he totally changed his mind.  He thought it made a party like you said, and I totally agree! 

 

Pamela we are not switching resorts after the wedding, but in hindsight I wish that we were going to have a few days to ourselves afterwards.  We are leaving on the same flight as everyone else to go home too, and I really wish we’d have some alone time.  Let us know what you decide.  I’m very excited to have the whole week with our family and friends, but wish that we would have extended our stay, or switched for the last couple of days.  Luckily we have a few days ahead of time to be by ourselves, but when people started saying they were coming early because it was cheaper I thought it was selfish too haha – but I’ve given up worrying.  We’ll just go for a walk and hide, but I have a lot of trouble saying no to people and I often want to please everyone.

 

Casey I have been thinking a LOT about the tipping lately too.  If anyone can offer any input on my numbers below I'd love to hear them. 

 

Like Carlota, I believe that Vanessa has been an incredible planner and I plan to tip her $150-$200.  We have a DJ and I will tip him.  How much, I don't know.  Since it's $900 to begin with I just don't know what's appropriate.   Also we should be having 3 waiters, I’ll tip them, probably $25 each or so, the girls at the spa who do my hair and makeup and trial I will tip probably $10 each, the Trio who are playing after our ceremony, probably $10 each so $30.   The minister we will probably give $20 (I don’t think we pay extra since we’re having a renewal).  The videographer I have nooo idea what to tip - it's $400 for 2 hours, our photographer (also nooooo idea how much - she's from Canada) and the TTD photographers we will tip too. 

 

UGH!  That’s a lot of tipping in addition to just our here and there tipping too!  I’m even thinking there are the people who drive the golf cart to and from the wedding will need little tips, but it’s not like I have big pockets in my wedding dress lol.  Tyrel has put his best man in charge of tipping everywhere – the night of the wedding, the days at the pool.  He is an ‘industry’ guy so he likes to do that kind of thing.  That takes a lot of pressure off – even though there’s still the financial pressure haha.   

 

Ok that is a lot out of me for today.  I'm going to go get started on our menu cards and OOT bags.  I have my first dress fitting tomorrow and then a wedding tomorrow night to attend.  I'll let you guys know how it goes!

 

Lauren