2013 Grand Palladium Jamaica Brides

[mrsjones2014]

Beautiful! Your photos make me excited for when I finally get there! I may have missed this, but where was your reception held?

[happyfamily]

We actually did not have a reception.     We decided to  have a cocktail and appetizer hour and then dinner reservations at Xayamica restaurant. 

 

  Our initial intentions when we decided to be married on a Fri. was to utilize the Beach BBQ that is held which always has the steel drum band and sometimes the dancers. So we both decided that after our wedding on the beach we would have a Cocktail and appetizer hour held outside of Miss Lou's on the top floor of the Palladium and after that our guest would make there way down to the Beach BBQ however  our incredible wedding coordinator (Lorraine Yapp)  kept reminding us that the beach BBQ is not a given and we should exercise other ideas.     We had a group of 30 so dinner reservations could only be made at a couple restaurants and we choose Xayamica which happens to be 50 yards from Miss Lou's  which turned out to be a perfect combination.  We had the back and it was very private  and a very nice setting and the food was excellent...     We choose the coconut shrimp and pumpkin soup along with the jerk chicken,  vegetarian meals were  Rasta pasta  and the kids meals where chicken nuggets..      we had our own music and were allowed to play it...     we had our cake cutting here and a few toast and the best man speech.....    

 

We can not emphasize enough how much the cocktail and appetizer hour added to our experience.   We had our first dance there and our photographer had  time to take pictures of our guest...    

 

I would like to add that we our so proud to say our Photographer was Brain Nejedly.    He is amazing....  We originally wanted Merrick and he was unavailable.  We asked him a very honest question and asked him if he would recommend a photographer to us and recommended  Brian Nejedly....    He was perfect...    

[Chelsea Wolfe]

I don't realize we could upload pics on here! So here is my wedding pic from grand palladium married January 25th,2013 <3 Congrats to all you future brides !

[IrieBride]

Originally Posted by happyfamily 

 

Hi Sarah.  Thank you.  It was all so amazing.  We did do gift bags.  I think there was a picture of it...we did a Jute bag and my husband  made a stencil and spay painted it on each bag.  "Jamaica est. 2013"  In the bags we had 22oz insulated travel mugs with straws.  We made a logo label and put it on each one.  We also included a first aide kit, advil, chapstick, hand sanitizer, drink mix.... . We made candles in little tin buckets to put in and added the door hangers and a welcome brochure. The door hangers we made on vista print and google translated them into patois.  I attached the brochure below.  I would say the things most used were the bag, cup and advil.

 

We did not do any excursions.  We thought of going to Ricks but everyone was so relaxed, it was silly to leave the resort.  We spent most of our time at the pool, so we did have everyone go with us to the beach for the jerk hut one day.  What we did do, is the night before the wedding, we rented the beach for a private cocktail party for two hours.  It was amazing and was only $12 pp.  We drank, listened to our IPOD (we brought a portable dock) and lit off our sky lanterns.  I would totally recommend it.  They set up a lovely bar, had lights on the beach and tall cocktail tables with table clothes.  IT was so beautiful!

If you want to pre-arrange something, you totally can.  Let me know if you need a contact person.  How many people are you having?  

Any other questions, just let me know. Happy planning  

 

 

.  

WOW thank you - this is awesome. How did you know about the bar and the tours etc; had you been to the resort before? So was your bonfire on the beach the cocktail party for $12/person? That sounds amazing!!   Did you have more than 50 people in order to have the beach bbq for your wedding day? We have about 30, but I would love to have dinner on the beach...

[happyfamily]

Originally Posted by IrieBride 

 

WOW thank you - this is awesome. How did you know about the bar and the tours etc; had you been to the resort before? So was your bonfire on the beach the cocktail party for $12/person? That sounds amazing!!   Did you have more than 50 people in order to have the beach bbq for your wedding day? We have about 30, but I would love to have dinner on the beach...

Hello.  We have been to the resort before.  This was my second trip and my husbands 4th!  lol.   We did not have a bonfire on the beach, just a private cocktail hour (2 hours really) and we lit our sky lanterns that we brought with us.  We did not have our dinner on the beach, and I'm not sure about the private beach bbq..  The Grand Palladium hosts a beach bbq (actually by the pool on the beach volleyball court) most Friday nights.  We ended up not doing that.  We had a non-private dinner in the Jamaican restaurant instead.  You could totally do cocktails and hors d'vors on the beach as a private party if you wanted.  I believe the cost is $15pp for the first hour.  If you just want drinks (no food) its $6 pp per hour.  

Let me know if you have any other questions

[canadiangurl]

Originally Posted by Chelsea Wolfe 

 

Hello,

 

 

Yes i had the steel drums play at the ceremony!     Yes i had music i was supose to bring to be played off the speakers but actually forgot it. My WC actually already had the music downloaded on her phone (thank goodness)!!!              The steel band play 15 minutes before the ceremony, then for our sigining we had choosen a song & when we walked back down the aisle as husband and wife we played another song we had choosen.  We got married January 25,2013 and pd 350.00.       The steel band played whatever songs they played. They were amazing!  I hope this helps

I'm more than happy to anwser as many questions as possible

 

Congrats!

 

 

Your day will be amazing!

Chelsea Gauthier

 

 

Awesome, thank you! We were quoted $500 to have them play-should I ask to have them cheaper if we are using a few of our own songs as well? I was planning on using a song for my walk down the aisle as well as one when we walk down the aisle together as husband and wife:) Otherwise, I was going to have them play the rest of the time. 

[MrsJones1]

Wow sounds like you ladies had a blast.Well I will be leaving on Thursday of THIS WEEK and getting married on saturday!!. im so excited I cant stand it!!!! Glad you shared your experiences and pictures. I will update new brides when i get back as well. 

[IrieBride]

Originally Posted by happyfamily 

 

Hello.  We have been to the resort before.  This was my second trip and my husbands 4th!  lol.   We did not have a bonfire on the beach, just a private cocktail hour (2 hours really) and we lit our sky lanterns that we brought with us.  We did not have our dinner on the beach, and I'm not sure about the private beach bbq..  The Grand Palladium hosts a beach bbq (actually by the pool on the beach volleyball court) most Friday nights.  We ended up not doing that.  We had a non-private dinner in the Jamaican restaurant instead.  You could totally do cocktails and hors d'vors on the beach as a private party if you wanted.  I believe the cost is $15pp for the first hour.  If you just want drinks (no food) its $6 pp per hour.  

Let me know if you have any other questions

Can I ask how you did the door hanger on Vistaprint? I love that idea and am gonna steal it lol!   Another question - did you get upgraded to the honeymoon suite? We booked one of the Villas but are hoping to have a bit of seclusion from the rest of the group (and a GOOD oceanview is very important to me!). Man I would hate to end up being next door to our parents or something! haha. Thanks again...Sarah

[Csmith2013]

Hi all brides, I'm getting married May 7th at 4pm in the gazebo. I have so many questions.... Have any of you found a good supplier for centre pieces ? I really don't care for the ones included with the package (island pearl) I was thinking about bring them down with me but have heard horror stories of glass breaking. Have any of you brought your own down? Also I have been hearing bad reviews of the spa for hair and make up, do any of you have a good contact down there? Thanks for your help!

[happyfamily]

Originally Posted by IrieBride 

 

Can I ask how you did the door hanger on Vistaprint? I love that idea and am gonna steal it lol!   Another question - did you get upgraded to the honeymoon suite? We booked one of the Villas but are hoping to have a bit of seclusion from the rest of the group (and a GOOD oceanview is very important to me!). Man I would hate to end up being next door to our parents or something! haha. Thanks again...Sarah

Haha.  That happened to my sister.  She came to the wedding with her new boyfriend and her room was next to my dad's!.  We did not have a honeymoon suite.  I have 3 little boys, we needed something they could crash in.... they did stay mostly with family though.  We actually enjoyed being with everyone and did not mind not having much alone time.  I actually wrote to the reservations asst. manager about a week before we left and requested that we all be in building 11 (we stayed on the Jamaica side).  We had 12 rooms booked and they were all in building 11, most with ocean views.  

 

On Vistaprint, we used the rack cards.  The background was one you could choose from.  I just made sure my script was down a little to keep room for the hole punch.  We then bought a 1.5" hole punch at Michael's and cut a slit from the top corner to the center of the hole....It ended up that the way the door handles are at the hotel, we did not need the slit.

Your guests will love them!