2014 Grand Palladium Punta Cana bride needing feedback

[1BeachBride]

Welcome @@Feltzwedding!

 

I imagine you will be quite busy planning in just 7 months! Use the forum as a resource. The ladies have a lot of good ideas and can tell you where to look for stuff too.

 

Your flowers will depend on which wedding package you selected. There are different flowers and color combinations for each package. If you don't like the standard ones, there are options of other flowers if you look at extras or options (can't remember how it's worded on the site). I think they are like $100 extra and up per bouquet.

 

I wanted the color turquoise for my wedding. I looked at the wedding packages on Grand Palladium's website and selected a package that I liked as well as the color options for the different packages. Then I chose my package which has a blue option. I came up with complementary colors for my turquoise. So it will be different shades of blue for my wedding too.

 

We are having a Welcome Party for our 50 guests. Figured it'd be nice to break the ice and have guests get comfy by mixing and mingling with each other. But I'm not giving the hotel any extra money for that since guests are paying for all inclusive and we are already paying for extra stuff like reception & beach bash. We decided to do a welcome party at one of the pools close to food) and then move it to a lounge or club for those that want to party late. We will decide the exact location when we get down there ahead of time and can scope things out. All we need is music & drinks and my group is lively.  We will just tell guests the party is at __ location at __time. Our guests already know we're doing one so they'll be asking for the time anyway.

 

I was going to give OOT bags at the party but I decided against it because they will be in the way of fun. I decided to 1)have the hotel distribute to my guests as they check in or 2)have them distributed to rooms.

 

You have a lot of guests. Why not use the resort and keep your money? Have a welcome party at a central location somewhere on the resort. There's so much there, I'm sure it would work out & still be fun.

[Julia Eskin]

Hello everyone,

We are a team of two Canadian wedding photographers based in Punta Cana! If you are looking for a wedding photographer, feel free to e-mail me at [email protected]

[jaj1230]

Just got back from our wedding and it was amazing!!!

I will try and write a detailed review when i have the chance but if any of you have any questions or concerns please feel free to ask, as i was just in your shoes not too long ago!

I will say this, there were some minor issues that i had to let slide, i was not so impressed with the wedding department at the grand palladium, DJ MANNIA and our photographer (Photoshop Caribe) were the two best investments!

[Meandhim]

@@jaj1230 I have so many questions for you!!! I will wait for your review first... Looking forward to hearing about what went right and a little scared to hear about what you had to let slide....eeeek

 

 

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[1BeachBride]

@@jaj1230 Congrats again!

 

1.What were the issues you had besides cost differences?

2.Why were you not impressed with the wedding department? I hear they do a great job, especially with small details.

3.How much is DJ Mannia? (a rough estimate is fine)

[jaj1230]

So here it goes...

 

Check in for us took about an hour.. our room was not ready (not a big deal). The front desk did however give me one of our guests receipts and vice versa and we were told we would get a new one to our room (never happend, but again not a huge deal). They upgraded us to the royal suites, to one of their newer villas, which was nice, however we were soooooooooo so sooo so osooooo far away from where our guest were going to be that after the first night we actually asked to be moved. we moved to a different part of the royal suites where the rooms were not AS nice but we were right next to our guest in the palace section so it was fine. They were very accomodating in switching our room though!!

 

So we arrived tuesday and upon arrival we got our note telling us we meet with our wedding coordinator on Wed which was perfect because most of our guest werent arriving until late Wed.

 

I was expecting to meet with Carolina and go over every single last detail of the wedding, from menu, to how we walk down the aisle, to color schemes, etc. This did not happen. We ended up having Kenia as our coordinator. She was very nice and sweet, but i had been in contact with Carolina for the past 12 months.. anyway she has a file with our information. I had my heart set on get married on the beach! That was the reason we were going to DR to get married - for the beach! Immediatly she steered me away from it saying how it is brutally hot on the beach and there is no covering for your guest and also that since it is not private you would have people in their bathing suits.. yes speedos.. lerking around and in the background of your pictures. So instead we were talked into the Gazebo which in the end was def the better choice!!!! It was beautiful, and more private, and we still took pictures onthe beach, but i have to say it was def atleast 10 degrees cooler on the beach. it was h-o-t hot at our ceremony.

Besides that, we were supposed to have a private reception in one of the restaurants. Well that wasnt even an option, we were told that we would have it at La Uva which is an outside deck. Again, in the end this was beautiful and turned out perfect, but this is not what we had planned. It was hot and we wanted indoors with AC. Those two minor details being changed in the end was not a big deal because like i said it was perfect after all..

Now, the day of the meeting with Kenia we were also meeting with the photographer and DJ, and a big chunk of our guests were arriving, so to say the least my mind was in a million places. I just felt that Kenia should have asked me more questions and made sure i had everything covered, but she didnt. She showed us our menu (again, ended up being fine), we told her what color sashes, and that was it. If i had not previously filled out that check list with the flowers im pretty sure she wouldnt have even asked. I was expecting her to "reconfirm" and "explain" everything which didnt happen. We were done in about 35 minutes when her next couple walked in, who happened to be getting married tha same day as us , just two hours earlier.

Needless to say after the fact i thought of a bunch of questions, concerns that werent addressed and couldnt get in touch with Kenia. When i called i was told she left and to come after 11 the next day. Well, we had more guest arriving that day and the wedding department is located on the other side of the resort and i couldnt make it there. When i called again same thing, they didn't want me to leave a message just to either call back or come and stop by.

So now its friday, the day before the wedding, and my questions have still not been answered. My bridesmaids needed their dresses steamed, I wanted to change the bridal bouquet color, I had my cake topper and other things for the wedding that i needed to know when she would get it, in addition to not knowing how we were having everyone walk down the aisle because she said we didnt need a rehersal. I finally got in touch with Carolina who helped address some of these issues. She told me to leave whatever was needed for the wedding on the bed and Kenia would be there to pick it up the day of the wedding. I was also told my flowers would be delievered around 12 and left in my room.

So now fast fwd to the day of the wedding... I was out all morning at the spa but stopped by between hair and make up to find that she did infact come to pick up everything i left for her. However flowers werent delieverd yet, i had table cards for her that she didnt pick up, and a few other things needed to be discussed. I tried calling the wedding dept several times and got no answer. The photographer went to my fiance at his brothers room at 1:45 to start with pictures of the groom getting ready... no flowers yet. They needed the boutoneirrs. Again, im calling Kenia - no answer. A little after 2 the flowers finally arrive.. perfect and beautiful.. minus the flower girls petals for her basket. This pissed me off that i couldnt get in touch with the coordinator, or anyone in the dept the day of the wedding.

Any way, the show went on, we get to the ceremony, Kenia performed it and afterwards we took pictures. Our guests were taken to a nearby lobby for drinks and we met them there. We were told someone would pick us up and bring us to La Uva. the party was supposed to start at 6:30. Well at 6:45 were all still at the lobby. One of my bridesmaids walks over and she said they were still running around getting ready and Kenia told her we should all walk over. So we did... and when we got there everything was beautfiul.. except for the wine bottles with price tags placed on each table. Now, we were PAYING for open bar at an all inclusive which was ridiculous to being with, but now on top of it they put bottles of wine that needed to be paid for?!?! NOT ACCEPTABLE.... of all the little bumps (that to other brides would not be so little ) i bit my tounge... the fact that they were not prepared for our welcome dinner (yes thats another story), the fact that i couldnt get in touch with her, or that they never delived flowers for my flower girl, Or that they never picked us up from the lobby, or a few other things, i just didn't copmlain and went with the flow. This to me was tacky and disgusting, they should have asked us first and removed the price tags. I had my sister in law who speaks spanish go and speak to them and they immediatly removied them. After the dinner part of the party, Kenia was no where to be found. In fact, i never heard from her or anyone from the department after the wedding. Not a call to see how it was nothing... Just a standard note in our room with 2 t shirts.

 

For those reasons alone, i was not impressed with the wedding department. In the end yes, everything was beaitufl, everything worked out perfect, but i was jsut not happy with the way we were treated. They 1000000000% do know what they are doing, and maybe thats why they dont feel the need to go over every detial with you, but to me, they should have went over everything and covered everything instead of me having to constantly try and get in touch with them.

I will write my review on the other things like mannia, photoshop caribe, and Otium transporation, etc another time as that rant just took forever ... lol

[Meandhim]

@@jaj1230 Thanks for the review! Looking forward to seeing some pictures!

[DJMannia]

Hi Jaj1230,

 

To book our services and prices information please contact your wedding coordinator from Grand Palladium , 

 

Best regards, 

 

Mannia Punta Cana

[Meandhim]

@@DJMannia I think you misunderstood, Jaj1230 just came BACK from her wedding.

 

 

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[DJMannia]

@@Meandhim , uupps , sorry ,