So after months of research, we finally submitted our request for our wedding July 17, 2010 at the Grand Palladium: and they're already booked for that date! It's totally a let down, we're set on that date since it's the anniversary of the day we met (yep, we're sappy like that), and I felt like the Grand Palladium was a nice compromise between price for our guests (and they can stay elsewhere if they want to, the only reason we're not going with a Riu) and a beautiful resort.
I emailed the WC about other dates, but we reallly wanted July 17. So we need a backup plan, any help? We want to do our whole (small-10-20 people) wedding/stay/air for around $5000. And I know our guests don't want to pay more than $500/per person for their whole trip (flying from the west coast). I think we can do it with cheapcarribean.com, but I don't want to compromise and get married at a not-so-nice hotel.