Grand Sunset Princess Resort

[gujarwala]

Hey everyone, I just got back yesterday night, our wedding was on Dec. 20th.  I will post pictures soon.

 

Overall it was awesome, and all of our guests praised everything, especially the reception setup and the food (the grill buffet, its offered with the private beach reception and I think its the same as what is served at the Thai Beach Club too).  We did do the private beach reception.  They had it set up near the beach and was very well lit and decorated, food was great, lots of servers and bartenders, and the beach bar was exclusively serving us. 

 

The only thing I was not extremely impressed about was the ceremony, we were supposed to be in the Gazebo, one of the reasons I chose it is because the previous wedding coordinator (Sandra, who has now left) told us that it fit 50-55 people inside in total which was more than enough room for our total gathering of 38 people, but of this we had 7 groomsmen and 7 bridesmaids each so I wanted to sure the actual platform where we read our vows was roomy enough, and Sandra assured us the Gazebo would be.  Anyway the Gazebo is in the area that had the blast in November and therefore it is not available, however the current WC had a month to tell me this but did not, and there was no rehearsal.  So the day of the ceremony we are all looking for a gazebo and are confused to find a much smaller setup, basically a wooden "box frame" without much room inside, and chairs set up behind the box for guests to sit in.  So while guests had enough seating room it was extremely cramped for the wedding party inside, and there was ribbons which flowed around the frame making it difficult for guests to see us inside as well as for the photographer to take pictures.  I think if the gazebo was not available we should have been told ahead of time and offered different arrangements to choose from. 

 

Anyway I did compliment the WC overall but still complained about the ceremony mishap, and requested somethign in return as a gesture of good-will.  Specifically, I said I felt I deserved a $200 refund for the inconvenience, which I don't believe is a large amount, especially when you consider the total fees charged for the wedding were about $5600.  However, in response all they did was send to our room two large towels which had embroidered the resort name and the words "our wedding" undernearth as a souvenir and attached a letter to accept the gift as their way of apologizing for the inconvenience. 

 

Oh and one more thing I thought was silly was that the day of the wedding the WC rushed to get me to sign an authorization form for $148 for yellow ribbons on the chairs.  I'm sure this is the standard fee however they must have forgotten to include it originally when we signed our agreement and I made payment, so because of that I think they should have simply eaten up the $148 "loss" rather than rush to have me authorize an additional relatively minor charge the morning of my wedding.

 

I dont mean to sound negative overall, just being honest about the good and the bad, and like I said overall it was a good experience, just could have had some better communication.

 

Also a warning to anyone planning on having a gazebo wedding - as of right now the gazebo is not available even if your WC has not told you so!  I have no idea when it will be available.  You can feel free to tell your WC that the couple that got married on Dec 20th posted online that the gazebo is not available. 

[AlbertaCarrie]

Gujarwala,

Thanks so much for the review... Congratulations on your wedding-glad to hear it was a good experience overall!  I'm thankful you were willing to report back to us.   I'm also wondering how the resort was in regard to the explosion.  Did this affect your stay or the stay of any of your guests and did it affect your wedding at all?  Thanks!!

 

Originally Posted by gujarwala 

Hey everyone, I just got back yesterday night, our wedding was on Dec. 20th.  I will post pictures soon.

 

Overall it was awesome, and all of our guests praised everything, especially the reception setup and the food (the grill buffet, its offered with the private beach reception and I think its the same as what is served at the Thai Beach Club too).  We did do the private beach reception.  They had it set up near the beach and was very well lit and decorated, food was great, lots of servers and bartenders, and the beach bar was exclusively serving us. 

 

The only thing I was not extremely impressed about was the ceremony, we were supposed to be in the Gazebo, one of the reasons I chose it is because the previous wedding coordinator (Sandra, who has now left) told us that it fit 50-55 people inside in total which was more than enough room for our total gathering of 38 people, but of this we had 7 groomsmen and 7 bridesmaids each so I wanted to sure the actual platform where we read our vows was roomy enough, and Sandra assured us the Gazebo would be.  Anyway the Gazebo is in the area that had the blast in November and therefore it is not available, however the current WC had a month to tell me this but did not, and there was no rehearsal.  So the day of the ceremony we are all looking for a gazebo and are confused to find a much smaller setup, basically a wooden "box frame" without much room inside, and chairs set up behind the box for guests to sit in.  So while guests had enough seating room it was extremely cramped for the wedding party inside, and there was ribbons which flowed around the frame making it difficult for guests to see us inside as well as for the photographer to take pictures.  I think if the gazebo was not available we should have been told ahead of time and offered different arrangements to choose from. 

 

Anyway I did compliment the WC overall but still complained about the ceremony mishap, and requested somethign in return as a gesture of good-will.  Specifically, I said I felt I deserved a $200 refund for the inconvenience, which I don't believe is a large amount, especially when you consider the total fees charged for the wedding were about $5600.  However, in response all they did was send to our room two large towels which had embroidered the resort name and the words "our wedding" undernearth as a souvenir and attached a letter to accept the gift as their way of apologizing for the inconvenience. 

 

Oh and one more thing I thought was silly was that the day of the wedding the WC rushed to get me to sign an authorization form for $148 for yellow ribbons on the chairs.  I'm sure this is the standard fee however they must have forgotten to include it originally when we signed our agreement and I made payment, so because of that I think they should have simply eaten up the $148 "loss" rather than rush to have me authorize an additional relatively minor charge the morning of my wedding.

 

I dont mean to sound negative overall, just being honest about the good and the bad, and like I said overall it was a good experience, just could have had some better communication.

 

Also a warning to anyone planning on having a gazebo wedding - as of right now the gazebo is not available even if your WC has not told you so!  I have no idea when it will be available.  You can feel free to tell your WC that the couple that got married on Dec 20th posted online that the gazebo is not available. 

[Margret]

Congratulations Gujarwala,

I am sorry to hear about some of your dissapointments.

I was notified by my coordinator Mara about the gazebo. She even sent me pics of the yuppa set up on the beach. She said she was not sure if gazebo will be open for January 19th. I wish I mentioned it here but I thought that you knew.

I can't wait to see your pictures...Who was your photographer?

Can you tell me how was the weather at night? Did it get chilly for the reception?

What time was your wedding? Mine is at 4pm and I hope it will not get dark too early.

 

I would appreciatr your feedback.

Congratulations again

 

Margret

[gujarwala]

Okay so this is the location they brought us to for the ceremony.  Now that i think of it we should have had the bridesmaids and groomsmen stand outside the box on each side rather than cram everyone in, but like I said we were expecting the gazebo and were caught by surprise with no rehersal so had to decide on the spot.  Otherwise the beach and background looks gorgeous, I will attach more to give you an idea of the background and photo opportunities

 

 

[gujarwala]

 

Us inside the "box" (not sure what its supposed to be called lol)

 

 

[gujarwala]

Bridesmaids with me in front of the beach (yes I'm the odd groom who posts here instead of the birde like most couples :-)  BTW we haven't gotten our package of professional photos yet, these are just to give an idea of how the ceremony and reception will look (on a day with good weather)

 

[gujarwala]

This location is opposite the beach, they have many huts and trees such as this to take photos with:

 

[gujarwala]

Just to the side of the "wedding box"

 

 

[gujarwala]

The reception photos are a bit blurry because we haven't gotten our professional pics yet, these are just ones taken by our camera or friends' cameras.  There were 4 round tables of 8 and one head rectacular table of 6 for a total of 38.

 

[gujarwala]

here's a picture of us cutting the cake, they cake looked nice and had seashells made with white chococolate