Any Grand Palladium brides?

[rachelw29]

JND, were the prices Transat holidays quoted you with or without taxes? We are going with them too and got a group quote about a month ago and I thought it was quite high.

 

Mandy, have you heard from them on booking dates yet? I have emailed but nothing yet and I just phoned but no one was in.

 

Ok, I dont know all the lingo yet but what does TTD mean for the pictures?

[JND2012]

Yeah, taxes were included.  We were given the quote at the end of January.  I haven't heard anything back about booking the dates either!  Getting a bit anxious!  TTD = trash the dress!
 

Originally Posted by rachelw29 

JND, were the prices Transat holidays quoted you with or without taxes? We are going with them too and got a group quote about a month ago and I thought it was quite high.

 

Mandy, have you heard from them on booking dates yet? I have emailed but nothing yet and I just phoned but no one was in.

 

Ok, I dont know all the lingo yet but what does TTD mean for the pictures?

 

[rachelw29]

JND, wow you got a way better price, I got a quote in Jan , from Edmonton for Feb departure it was $2005, that was staying at the white sands.

 

TTD, got it, thanks!!

 

If I hear about the dates I will post it as soon as I know.

 

 

[Manda123]

Hi girls!

Woah! Lots of action on here today!

 

JND - my booking scenario is the exact same as Stephy's. We reserved as many spots as we thought we needed (50) by putting down $100 dollars a spot, so we shelled out $5000 to start, then had our friends/family give us $100 to reserve their spot and passed their names along to our TA. Right now guests are in the process of putting down their deposits of $250. They have until 60 days before the wedding to pay the balance. There is no expiry date on the deposits; deposits are meant to hold their spots. We were able to secure an additional 25 spots at no extra cost too. We think we will have more than 50 guests now.

We booked through Transat. Our tentative dates are Dec 31-Jan 7. Our TA said that our actual dates won't be confirmed until August when Transat releases their flight schedule for 2012. Did your already confirm your dates? I'd imagine you are in the same boat as me since you are also in January.

My guests are paying $1560 taxes included for the Colonial from Ottawa. I know that the rates have gone up since we originally got that quote in January/February. We booked at a really good time, before Transat got wind that the school holidays are a week later next year so people are still on Christmas vacation (which is what was important to me since I am a teacher!)

 

Rachel - no word from Rocio. I sent an email, called and my TA also sent an email. Starting Monday I will be hounding her till I get my date! I;ve already sent out my STDs with Jan 5th... and the timelines are so tight in Mexico since we need to be there for 3 business days. If you arrive on a Saturday, the best day to get married is definitely the THursday. Who wants to be hungover on the plane ride home?! Not to mention, a day to unwind and to a TTD after the wedding is definitely key!

 

Stephy - Are you planning on posting some of your pics when you get them back? I'd love to see them!!

[JND2012]

That's actually probably not that bad - we're staying at the Kantenah, and now prices are close to $2000. 
 

Originally Posted by rachelw29 

JND, wow you got a way better price, I got a quote in Jan , from Edmonton for Feb departure it was $2005, that was staying at the white sands.

 

TTD, got it, thanks!!

 

If I hear about the dates I will post it as soon as I know.

 

 

 

[JND2012]

Yeah, for us we just had to put 2 deposits down immediately and then everyone else paid their $200 within 90 days, so I guess it's not too big of a difference.  In a way I wish we were able to give guests more time, however, our friends are major procrastinators so I think it ended up working out best for us!  They had to really decide if they wanted to make the commitment or not.

 

I just heard back from my TA who had contacted Rocio about the dates - looks like May 15th is the day they'll begin taking requests!
 

Originally Posted by Manda123 

Hi girls!

Woah! Lots of action on here today!

 

JND - my booking scenario is the exact same as Stephy's. We reserved as many spots as we thought we needed (50) by putting down $100 dollars a spot, so we shelled out $5000 to start, then had our friends/family give us $100 to reserve their spot and passed their names along to our TA. Right now guests are in the process of putting down their deposits of $250. They have until 60 days before the wedding to pay the balance. There is no expiry date on the deposits; deposits are meant to hold their spots. We were able to secure an additional 25 spots at no extra cost too. We think we will have more than 50 guests now.

We booked through Transat. Our tentative dates are Dec 31-Jan 7. Our TA said that our actual dates won't be confirmed until August when Transat releases their flight schedule for 2012. Did your already confirm your dates? I'd imagine you are in the same boat as me since you are also in January.

My guests are paying $1560 taxes included for the Colonial from Ottawa. I know that the rates have gone up since we originally got that quote in January/February. We booked at a really good time, before Transat got wind that the school holidays are a week later next year so people are still on Christmas vacation (which is what was important to me since I am a teacher!)

 

Rachel - no word from Rocio. I sent an email, called and my TA also sent an email. Starting Monday I will be hounding her till I get my date! I;ve already sent out my STDs with Jan 5th... and the timelines are so tight in Mexico since we need to be there for 3 business days. If you arrive on a Saturday, the best day to get married is definitely the THursday. Who wants to be hungover on the plane ride home?! Not to mention, a day to unwind and to a TTD after the wedding is definitely key!

 

Stephy - Are you planning on posting some of your pics when you get them back? I'd love to see them!!

 

[JND2012]

Also - they didn't say anything about our dates not being exact!  I hope they're 100% confirmed, it would really screw things up if they changed them after we got our wedding date confirmed, etc.

[Ellabaja1983]

Alright, I'm back!!!!!!! 

 

Wow, what a wonderful week we had!!  We arrived last Wednesday (4/27) and our wedding (Renewal of the vows) was on Friday, 4/29 - saw some posts from that day, thanks ladies!!!

 

Overall, I loved everything.  There were a few problems, but I didn't let them get me down.  We arrived late Wednesday, so we had a 9:30AM appointment with the Wedding Department.  We met with Erika, who is absolutely amazing, and I didn't even deal with her through the whole planning process.  When we arrived we went over all the details and finalized the price for the whole wedding package.  Our package was about $2,900.  We had 23 guests total, so we paid about $350 extra for people at the ceremony.  When going through things, Erika asked what color we wanted to have our sashes on our chair overs...I was actually shocked because I didn't think that was included, but it was!  After going through everything, we gave them my dress and DH's suit to be steamed. 

 

During our meeting, Erika said she'd setup my pickup for 1:25 (for a 1:30 PM ceremony)....well, the pickup never came....  Finally, I had one of my BM call the lobby to request a pickup, while I was finishing pictures with my parents and the other girls.  Once we got to the ceremony site, I found that there was no music being played (which I specifically told Erika what play list I wanted to use when people were waiting for me to arrive).  Anyway, the ceremony was great!!  The only complaint I had was that, it was our hottest day there...98 degrees!!! 

 

From there I went and had pictures done at the beach with my parents and our wedding party.  It was absolutely wonderful!  Because we weren't having our dinner until 7:00 pm, we had plenty of time to do whatever!  After our photos, we ended up all going to the pool (after changing of course), and swimming for the afternoon.  (We were very careful of our hair and make-up though!)

 

For our reception...things were okay.  I can't say they were great, because I personally didn't enjoy the food...  I'm a very picky person, but we chose an option that I knew I'd like....  The best part of our meal (for me) was the wild mushroom soup!  SO good!!  (We picked menu #8.)  My beef sirloin was SO dry...but after asking around, it all depended on which plate you received.  DH's sirloin was pretty good, he shared with me!! 

After dinner we did our first dance and then some more dancing.  I did the music myself on an iPod, and it worked out very well!!  We took a short break during the dancing to do the cake cutting...  this is honestly were my biggest complaint comes....  After we did the cake cutting and they served the cake to people, one of the "waiters" decided to take care of the rest of the cake...now, my cake topper and some other flower decorations were still on it.  I sat there and watched this guy take my cake toppers (it was two pieces, a bride and groom) off the cake and (literally) throw them on the table.  After he walked away I went over to get my cake toppers and fount that he broke the arm off the bride.  I was really, really ticked off about this...  I couldn't believe he actually sat there and did this....  After dancing a little more Rocio came over to see Erika and while they were both talking, I went over and talked to them and told them how happy I was with everything they had done...with one exception.  I told them about my cake toppers and their mouths dropped to the floor.  Erika asked to see it and her and Rocio came over to where it was.  Erika told me to let her know how much it was, because they would reimburse me for it.  I didn't tell them because I wanted reimbursement...I knew DH could fix the arm with super glue when we got home, but I felt they needed to know.  After that, things were good!

 

The only other issue I had that was related to the wedding department was on Thursday (night our guests arrived) we had planned a welcome dinner at one of the buffets.  I had coordinated it with Rocio to have tables put together so we could all sit at one place.  When we arrived, there were not tables TOGETHER, just an area for us.  I spoke with the supervisor that was working that night and he actually brought me to where his paperwork was, to show me exactly what he received from Rocio.  She had not given him the information I had requested.  But, he asked if it was okay that they did two separate tables right next to each other for the 23 of us.  He was absolutely wonderful and even checked in with me throughout the night to make sure we were happy!

 

Overall, I wouldn't change a thing!  The resort it really big, but absolutely wonderful!!!  On three different occasions, someone in my group lost something, but we were all able to retrieve it (this includes me, when I left my key card holder (with $40, my debit card, and my room key) at the Japanese restaurant).  Everyone there is SO friendly and I couldn't not complain about the service.  We did do a lot of tipping...whether it was 1, 5, or 20 USD, and there was definitely a difference in service as I had read on palladiumaddicts.com! 

 

My only recommendation is make sure when setting things up, you are very clear with what you want, and make sure you confirm EVERYTHING when you arrive!!!

 

(Sorry for the lengthy write up!  Let me know if you have any ??'s!)

[StanandHilary]

Hi guys a little late to jump on this post,.... could i get a copy of both of those emails?? its v hard getting answers about the extras.... thnks!!!!   s_shurb@hotmail.com

[StephyD]

Congrats EllaBaja!!! :)

 

I'm sorry to hear that you had a couple of things go wrong, but am glad to know that you still had an awesome day!

 

I agree with you, you have to be very precise about instructions on how you want things.  Honestly, I came prepared with tons of lists and spreadsheets and I even made some drawings of how I wanted things on the tables and what not.  You can never be too organized   Althought, I think Rocio thought I was a freak, lol!   I'm glad to say that everything was perfect on our day.  Not one little hitch (except the petal toss, but you can't control the wind, right?)

 

How did you like El Grand Azul???  How were your flowers?? 

 

I can't remember who you booked as a photographer… was it Claudia Rodriguez?  Did you do a TTD?

I'd love to see some pictures

 

I'm hoping to get my profesionnal pictures within a week or so… I'll post some more whenever I can.