HELP Grand Palladium Brides!!!!

[lmdels]

Jax1182 - She called me....My travel agent gave her my phone number. I just looked on my cell and this is the number she called me from - 876-633-8900. I think her phone number is on the bottom of her emails too. Good Luck!!

[~*petals*~]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lmdels Petals - That sucks!!! You already printed menus to, right? You would think that she would have called you to let you know!!!! I emailed her my menu in Feb. and I just had to email it again because she didn't have it! I forgot to ask her do we get a dessert choice or is the wedding cake the dessert?? Does anyone know?

I sure did print menus. But at least they were FREE from Vistaprint....

And from what I've heard & seen, the wedding cake is the dessert.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lmdels I did find out you can choose the kids meal when you arrive, she basicly said find out what they like best at the restaurants and she can order whatever. (chicken fingers, pizza, burgers and fries, lasanga....etc....)

She told me that too, but she still didn't know what the vegetarian entree was, so I guess it'll be a surprise....

Quote:

Originally Posted by lmdels For the centerpieces she said they use the flowers from the ceremony along with candles and colored water(). So I am having about 40 guests and she said 9 centerpieces would be a good total amount with a u shaped table and the ceremony flowers will make 4 centerpieces. For the u shapped table she said the head table section of the "U" would seat 6-8 people.

I'm doing the "U" shape too- she confirmed that we could fit our group of 55 in that formation at the Blue Lagoon. (Yay!) I made inexpensive centerpieces to bring down with me & I think we'll just use the ceremony flowers for the head table.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lmdels I can't believe I will be in Jamaica 2 weeks from today!!!!!

Me too!! It's the final countdown, Memorial Day weekend brides!

[zuzelh]

hey! Ok, so I've also been trying to reach Jascynthia for a week now and I never hear back! It's good to hear I'm not the only one with this problem...

 

Does anyone have an idea what the flowers cost will be? I can't seem to get that information from her! Nor could I find out the prices for the a la carte restaurants. Does anyone have that info?

 

Thanks!!!

[turk]

Hey all future GP Brides!!!

 

I am officially a MRS!!!!!!!!!!!

We are back and had an absolutely beautiful wedding and reception.

I am not going to write much now until I get some pics from photographer (brought our own), family, and friends. Please feel free to email any questions.

 

Jascynthia did a very nice job. I can clearly understand why she does not respond promptly to emails. They had 2-3 weddings everyday we were there(8 nights)! Good news though, they have hired an additional assistant who will just be answering emails starting soon!(hopefully not Jamaican time)

 

Few quick words:

1. If you are planning a sunset wedding at 5pm, it is not quite sunset. We were fortunate though b/c the marriage officiant was in a car accident on the way(unfortunate) and had to go to the ER. So our wedding was delayed 45min-1hour while they got a replacement officiant named Vincent....he was the best...very enlightening! And it was sunset by that time!!!!

 

2. If you are getting hitched on the beach as we did, the sun actually sets on the opposite side of the honeymoon villas so it is not very visible in the direct background. I'm pretty certain if you choose the gazebo overlooking sunset cove, it would be a perfect view.

 

3. Steel drum band was awesome! However, they ONLY ACCEPT CASH! There is an ATM on site and we do not think there was a fee per say from Jamaica, but our bank charged us $15.

 

4. For those of you with a large group of guests....we had 59....be prepared to be very busy and not be as relaxed as you want to. Don't get me wrong, we were extremely appreciative of everyone making the trip, however, we literally could not walk anywhere more than a few minutes without running into someone from our group. It was impossible to spend time with everyone and found it difficult to relax ourselves. In fact, we were exhausted!!! I highly recommend leaving the resort after the wedding and staying elsewhere or make sure your guests are leaving the next day!!!

But we were planning on doing a honeymoon later so we are sticking to it!

 

5. Food was great...although filet was more like a ribeye....lobster out of this world!! Slow service though so plan on a few hours, but it gave us time talk to everyone individually.Cake yummy!!!!!!!

 

6. Entertainment....we chose the Zurelimaka show instead of the DJ.....Let me just say, it was a hit! Everyone enjoyed it including the GP staff!!! We were the first couple to use them and we highly recommend it. Just unbelievable!!!!!!!! We used our ipod for dinner music and it was just fine.....remember people are going to be talking and enjoying themselves so the focus will not be on the music at that point....We had some rowdy guests but it was easy to hear the music.

 

7. Flowers.......Ours included in package......Cost $125 for 3 extra bouquets....one for our single bridesmaid and one for each of our mothers

 

8.Zuzelh....price pp depends on which package you choose (tropical, romance, Caribbean). 1st 8 guests(including bride/groom) included in package price, others additional cost

 

Gotta run, will post some pics soon

[jk1101]

Welcome Home and congratulations MRS!!!! Can't wait to hear more and see pictures!

[~*petals*~]

Welcome back Mrs!!! And congratulations! I'm so happy to hear that everything went so well! Can't wait for your review & pics!

 

How did you have the reception set up? We have 55 people coming so our group is almost as large as yours.

 

So you guys had lobster tail? Jascynthia just told me two days ago that it is unavailable for my wedding , which is 2 weeks from today. My parents are NOT happy.

[lmdels]

Congrats!! So nice to hear you had such a great time!!

I can't wait to see pics!!!!!!!

 

How long did the Zurelimaka show last? Did you also have to pay them in cash?? Were you able to do any dancing? Did you do first dance/father-daughter & mother-son dances

 

I'm still undecided on music/entertainment for the reception and my wedding is only 16 days away!!!!!!!

 

~Linda

[nbro]

Hey everyone, I had my wedding a few weeks ago, and have been so busy since coming back that I haven't had a chance to write anything. I don't have photos yet, but will try to post them when I can. I would describe my wedding as a fairy tale. It really was perfect. All the little details that I thought about like centerpieces etc. really didn't matter in the end. It's such a beautiful place and everyone is having so much fun, that the day kind of comes and go's and at the end you think "oh crap, I forgot to do something". Nobody else notices.

 

A few things I want to mention. We did get a room upgrade, but had to ask for it. You also get late check-out, but again, have to ask. The pillows in the room are not very comfortable. I noticed on the last day that you can actually upgrade pillows. They have a pillow-menu. I thought I'd want to be in the honeymoon villas, but staying in the complexes was better. It'd be best to request a spot in building 26, 27, 28 b/c it's closest to all the action. Nothing on the GP side is far away.

 

We had the wedding in the Gazaebo at 4. It was a perfect time. You'll get to spend the day in the beach/sun/spa, whatever you'd like. It was still hot at 4, but things were starting to cool down by then. The sun is at a perfect spot around 4. It sets in April, May around 6:30, so it gives you time for some photos afterwards. The hotel photographer is not as bad as their website shows, but we had our own too and it was well worth the extra cost.

 

For the ceremony, we had the steel drum band. I didn't get to appreciate them b/c so much was going on. I think it was a good addition, but definitely not necessary. Randomly, the day before the wedding, my sister and I were in my room and had maintenance come fix the air conditioning. The guy fixing my air conditioning was singing to my sister and I. He was really really good. Goosebump good. I asked him what he was doing tomorrow (day of the wedding) at 4. He was thrilled to come sing for us. He's auditioning for Shining Star this month. We tipped him $50, and he sang a few songs during the ceremony. It was a little additional perk that was well worth the cost. His name is Steve Watkins if anyone else is interested in hiring him. You can arrange it through Jascynthia while there, or ask for him to call your room while your down there.

 

FYI: Our best photos were at the Coral beach and the Spa. We got in our clothes the next day too and took some photos at the beach and pool area. I'll try to post some after.

 

The reception was in the blue lagoon. We had 45 people. We rented the projector to show some videos and slide shows and hired the DJ. Paid the DJ $900 and had him play from 8-11. Huge waste of money. Speeches were going on during dinner b/c they were really slow in the service, and by the time the cake was cut, it was after 10. So, we paid $900 for less than an hour of dancing. It was fun while it lasted, but we couldn't convince them to stay around any longer. We went to the disco and had a great time there as well. The speakers didn't work very well. It's also really loud due to all of the other restaurants so I would be worried that Ipod speakers would not project loud enough. The Mic was definitely needed for speeches.

 

I left some glass containers there as well as some gelstones. Jascynthia has them for anyone to use. The gelstones just need hydrating with water and look great in the centerpiece containers. The other glass containers and for the sand ceremony. You'll need your own jar to mix the sand into.

 

Hope this answers some Qs. Any Q's, please ask.

Nat

[~*petals*~]

Thank you Nat!!!! Congratulations!

 

Glad everything went so well-- and good to know about Steve & the DJ!

 

Can't wait for pictures. :-)

[turk]

Hey all

 

Imdels---Zurelimaka show somewhere around 45 minutes, not longer....was just added onto the rest of our bill so you can use a credit card. I'll post some pics as soon as I get them....there is some really cool ones out there

 

We used our ipod for first dance, father/daughter, mother son. We only played 3 songs total, having everyone join in on the last. Worked out perfect. As nbro stated, a DJ will be a waste if you have a large group unless they pick up the dinner pace. They do not play until after dinner. The other option would be to start your reception earlier. I'm certain our dinner was not complete until around 9:30 and that was with the cake being served during the show. We tried to incorporate 1/2 hour of Jamaican dance lessons in between courses....it was fun while it lasted...once again, time was an issue so we cut it a bit short. There is a band that plays upstairs from the blue lagoon until 11:00-11:30p with plenty of room for dancing if you do get done early with the reception

 

Petals..........that really sucks about the lobster....I would be pissed...Hope they offered you something comparable...I won't comment any further

As for set up, we did like a square with a table in the middle. So head table with our backs to ocean, 1 table on each side, 2 tables along the back, and 1 table in the center (we placed our parents here)...so each guest table had 10-12 persons.

 

Upgrades...We actually booked the honeymoon suites because of their limited availability and the fact I am only doing this once!

I would not count on an upgrade to these, in fact Kevin's brother booked and paid for suite in advance and they stated there were none available.....after a few hours they miraculously came up with one. The jr suites are easy to upgrade to a 1 BR suite. We stayed in honeymoon villa 33........if you want sunset, you got the best view in the resort! It was beautiful! The 1 br suites actually have more space, but the hot tub is about double the size in the HM suites and the outdoor shower was actually nice

 

FYI....Look at your marriage certificate before you leave the resort closely as we didn't........Low and behold we found a significant error when we returned....Still waiting to hear from Jascynthia?!

 

Traci