HELP Grand Palladium Brides!!!!

[eel2011]

So, you didn't get to dance at all at the reception or play music?? Gulp! I'm really expecting music & dancing. I was considering using the blue lagoon though, so not sure how much they vary. Did you guys play your ipod during cocktail hour?

 

Did you have any troubles getting your photographers on the resort? I'm so anxious to hear your review and see your prof pix Congrats again!

 

Erin

[jk1101]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eel2011 So, you didn't get to dance at all at the reception or play music?? Gulp! I'm really expecting music & dancing. I was considering using the blue lagoon though, so not sure how much they vary. Did you guys play your ipod during cocktail hour? Did you have any troubles getting your photographers on the resort? I'm so anxious to hear your review and see your prof pix Congrats again! Erin

No dancing at the reception at Poseidon - believe me we were disappointed - you can do that at Blue Lagoon definitely - it's much bigger and they can block it off much more easily than Poseidon. We were disappointed, but again, I was somewhat misled/misinformed. so make sure you clearly understand when you discuss with the WC.

They wanted to charge us $600 for playing our IPOD during the cocktail hour but they didn't - they played our music for the ceremony and since the setup was already there, they continued to play the music - seriously - try and negotiate that with them - ridiculous to get charged for that. so we had music for the cocktail hour.

No problem whatsoever for the photographers -
Mine told me they generally book rooms but they were sold out that weekend so they got day passes. The wedding coordinators know them and are fine with it.


What they need to purchase is an event pass - this is what anyone who isn't staying at the resort will need to get into GP
The day pass goes till 6pm - event pass covers till 10 pm and
of course
costs a bit more
I think the day pass was 50 and the event pass was 60

the onsite Photographers aren't huge fans of the off site photographers but they have no choice. i got my 8 pictures that came with my package and it was nice because we had some pictures right away.

And you can take your bracelet off for the wedding and pictures - just save it and they will give you a new one the next day.

I can't wait to see my pro pics either - I heard from Paula monday - it should be soon !

[mswhatever]

Jerseykitten,

Had you requested a private reception prior to arriving in Jamaica?

[jk1101]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mswhatever Jerseykitten, Had you requested a private reception prior to arriving in Jamaica?

you know, I THOUGHT I did. I spoke to Phyllicia on the phone and asked her if it was private and she said yes. I asked her if I could use my IPOD to play music and she said yes. I picked Poseidon because it was away from everything - she said it was a PRIVATE restaurant.

then when we got there she (Phyllicia) said no it wasn't private and it would be another $45 per person. My husband was FURIOUS - unfortunately he hadn't been a part of any of the planning - had the picture in his head of what I'd told him and now it was wrong. not good. That was the day before the wedding. The day OF the wedding we talked to Nina - told her how we were told one thing then another and felt wronged - I think that's why they played the music at the cocktail hour and didn't charge us.

[luv2sun]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eel2011 So, you didn't get to dance at all at the reception or play music?? Gulp! I'm really expecting music & dancing. I was considering using the blue lagoon though, so not sure how much they vary. Did you guys play your ipod during cocktail hour? Did you have any troubles getting your photographers on the resort? I'm so anxious to hear your review and see your prof pix Congrats again! Erin

We had the Blue Lagoon reserved and played our Ipod music during dinner and then had a first dance. They even set up a table for it and gave us an extension cord. We didn't even use the actual dancing area because by the time dinner was done we all went up to the Infinity Bar for the band. They sang us another song which we danced to and then also did our father/mother dances so it worked out perfectly.

We didn't do the cocktail hour because if you get married on a Tuesday they have the manager's reception which had all the beautiful appetizers, that took care of our guests while we did our photos. Just a stroke of luck for us really.

We had a couple photographer friends with us so we didn't have to deal with that stuff. It will be beautiful and perfect no matter what!

[jk1101]

Loved the Infinity Bar and the Manager's Cocktail hour - it was a lot of the same foods we had at our cocktail hour.

[eel2011]

thank you both!! So, does the Infinity bar have a live band nightly? I have heard that dinner can be legnthy which doesnt leave much time for dancing.

I have even been considering hiring a band or d.j. but if there is live music at one of the bars for free not sure I should bother....?

 

Sorry you guys missed out on the dancing Michelle

 

Erin

[luv2sun]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eel2011 thank you both!! So, does the Infinity bar have a live band nightly? I have heard that dinner can be legnthy which doesnt leave much time for dancing. I have even been considering hiring a band or d.j. but if there is live music at one of the bars for free not sure I should bother....? Sorry you guys missed out on the dancing Michelle Erin

They have live music every night in the Infinity bar. Our dinner was from 7 - 10 and we likely headed upstairs between 9:30 - 10. I would not spend extra money on a DJ or band, it's very expensive. It's totally your preference and if you think your group would stick around there all night. We had 31 people and everyone was ready to head up with the crowd and party with the band and other guests. We just loaded up an Ipod and waited to see what happened!

[tiffandmarv]

Quote:

Originally Posted by luv2sun They have live music every night in the Infinity bar. Our dinner was from 7 - 10 and we likely headed upstairs between 9:30 - 10. I would not spend extra money on a DJ or band, it's very expensive. It's totally your preference and if you think your group would stick around there all night. We had 31 people and everyone was ready to head up with the crowd and party with the band and other guests. We just loaded up an Ipod and waited to see what happened!

Thanks for this info ladies.
So did it take 3 full hours for them to serve three courses to 31 people or was a lot of this time spent socializing after the food was consumed? Right now I am at 60 people and I have a DJ planned for the reception but I would hate to waste all that money if he never gets a chance to play any music.

[jk1101]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tiffandmarv Thanks for this info ladies. So did it take 3 full hours for them to serve three courses to 31 people or was a lot of this time spent socializing after the food was consumed? Right now I am at 60 people and I have a DJ planned for the reception but I would hate to waste all that money if he never gets a chance to play any music.

In my case it definitely took a while to get served all of the food (23 people). We had great waiters - we'd actually requested one whom my parents really liked from lunch one day (Dafton) but they are just not super fast there - the drinks were constantly being filled though which kept everyone happy. It may be different if you have a DJ - they are good at controlling the flow of a party.

But, they do have live music every night at the Infinity Bar - and people are dancing. Depends on your crowd and what you're looking for - I don't think any of my guests were upset that we didn't have music.