2014 Grand Palladium Punta Cana bride needing feedback

[Feltzwedding]

Hey ladies!!

 

Thanks for all the posts!!  Dec.1 is approaching quickly and I still feel like I haven't completed much.  

 

Do any of you know outside vendors for flowers?

 

I just need to have a quick rant….it seems like every turn I take with the wedding plans there is an extra cost; and its not just a slight cost.  They are charging $22 per guest for the ceremony but for what?  A chair? We are expecting about 100 guest so for the 10-15 minute ceremony we are looking at $5000-$7000 which includes the wedding package, our guests and a few extras.  I never thought having a destination wedding would cost so much.  We were also planning on having a private reception and a beach bash afterwards but we might have to change our plans because of the outrageous costs.  For the beach bash they charge $35 per guest plus the charge for the beach bash itself and it only goes for 2 hours from 9-11.  Ugh…its getting frustrating because I'm going to have to cut things that are important to me just to cover the cost of ridiculous things that should be included (or not nearly as expensive).

 

Does any one have any other suggestions on our we can get around the crazy costs that they are putting on us??

 

Thanks!!

[Kerrierf]

Hi @@Feltzwedding!

 

Congrats!  I'm glad there's another bride here in the planning stages. We're only getting married in May, but I'm taking a Masters degree part time during the year so trying to get as much of the planning done now.

 

I THINK the $22 extra per guest includes the semi-private reception, so I'm not sure how it works with the private reception or the beach bash (which we were hoping to do too).  It IS impressive how quickly the "little details" seem to add up, when you don't seem to be getting very much.  I keep thinking there's something I'm missing?

 

Keep us posted if you find out more details.

[Feltzwedding]

Has anyone done a semi-private reception??  If so, what did you think of it?  How many of your guests were there and how many other guests from the resort were there?  Were you able to have a dance and such or was it strictly just for dinner?

 

Thanks!

[1BeachBride]

Hi Ladies,

 

Just got back from my wedding there. It was a beautiful day and my hubby & I are still on cloud nine...

I can answer some of your questions. Give me a few minutes and I'll respond to @@Feltzwedding & @@Kerrierf.

[1BeachBride]

Okay, I'm back...

Now I had 50 guests attend so it was a decent size group. We got married on the beach. The chairs were decorated with the sashes and I have to admit seeing it in person was much better than the pictures on the website. It really was a nice set up. The package was for the guests to attend the wedding and a semi-private dinner. The prices for all of this destination wedding stuff are inflated because DW's are the popular trend now. So the hotels are definitely capitalizing on it! Nothing you can do about that... we were overcharged but oh well!

 

I had a semi-private dinner. Here's the bad & ugly part: We did not get to select which restaurant we wanted to have our dinner in. We were told the restaurant is chosen for you based on your number of guests and availability. We didn't find this out until we were sitting down with Kenya (WC) to finalize things. We wanted to choose a restaurant and couldn't so we were quite annoyed with that! Then we were told it was going to be in Bamboo restaurant. So we left the wedding coordinator's office that evening, & went to go scope out Bamboo. It was okay (asian themed). Since it was air conditioned, we were fine with that especially since there was no other option.

Well, after the wedding ceremony on the beach, we had our own private train just for our wedding guests, that came & took us all to the restaurant. (It also picked up all my guests & dropped them at the wedding location for the ceremony.) I'm thinking we were going to Bamboo with air like we were told but found out Kenya told us the wrong restaurant name. It was Tapeo, actually next to Bamboo & was outside the main part of the restaurant in the HEAT!   (Other resort guests were inside in the air.) Well let's just say we all lost weight sweating that day & my uncle got sick in the heat & had to leave dinner to get medical attention. Dinner was horrible, no music playing at all, service was extra SLOW, the food sucked, and the dessert & cake tasted terrible as well. But our guests were all so pleasant & polite that no one complained (except me). I also didn't like that everyone had to eat the same meal. We had salmon which was mediocre at best.

We cut the cake after we ate so people could have cake and the discusting puffed pastry apple thingy as dessert. The cake was so much fondant we barely could cut into it. It was designed really cute though.

Next the train came to take us to our Beach Bash. Well one third of our guests had to leave to go back to their rooms to freshen up & change because the heat was unbearable & people were drenched in sweat. So these people walked or got a golf cart to their rooms & would come to the Beach Bash late. The rest of us got on the train & went to the location. Well, they were still decorating when we arrived at the site so we had to sit on the train in the heat for about 5-10 minutes more & wait. We made the decision after the wedding ceremony to move the beach bash from the beach to the outdoor pavilion because it was forecasted to rain. Good thing we did because it rained toward the end of the beach bash. If this happens on the beach, you don't get any money back.

So, the Beach Bash was a cute set up & this is where we did our first dance, mother/son dance... it was really a fun time but this was because of our group. We MADE it fun- we had brought our own laptop with playlists we made at home, so our guests enjoyed the music. The DJ guy kept asking if he could play his music so I let him for a few songs. (OMG!!!) Why did this dude play the most vulgar songs- Lil John, Shots (unedited), something else with a bunch of profanity. I made him put our playlist back on. Didn't think it was appropriate to have my parents & older family members hearing about "they wanna suck our c*ck"! 

The party food at the bash was 3 trays of mini pigs in a blanket, & pork lunchmeat with crackers. Mind you, about half my guests don't eat pork. We got no option & coordinator knew about the no pork thing from when we selected our dinner menu, we had told her. We assumed she would respect the dietary restrictions for the beach bash but NOPE!

 

All in all, I got great wedding shots because we brought 3 photographers (family) with us. The set up on the beach looked beautiful also. But the wedding dinner was terrible & overpriced. We could have gone to a buffet and been happier. The Beach Bash was way overpriced! We only did it so we could have a reception. The liquor was all cheap stuff.  

 

I saw a really cool boat while we were on vacation that was for weddings. They pick your guests up, take you all out sailing & you have dinner & drinks on the boat after your ceremony on the beach. Not sure how much or the info but if I had known about that option, we definitely would've gone with that instead. 

 

Don't mean to sound negative because my special day was wonderful but I'm giving my honest opinion. It could've been better in several areas for as much money as we paid the resort. Hope that answered questions.

[shevette925]

Hello ladies, 

 

Stumbled upon this site yesterday and immediately became addicted. Everything that you all have posted so far has been very helpful to me. I am just starting my planning for my wedding on November 7th 2015.  We just decided to go with Grand Palladium Bavaro because the wedding sites looked beautiful and they accommodate catholic ceremonies, but now after reading some of your all experiences, I'm wondering if we made the right decision. Gah! We are using a travel agency/wedding planning service who specializes in destination weddings and so far they have been fantastic, so I am hoping that will eliminate some of the communication issues that you ladies have experienced. 

 

After reading this, I am considering having the ceremony at the resort and reception off site. FYI, I was also asked to pay 300 dollar deposit to hold the date, but have not paid it yet since they have yet to confirm their availability.  So I think I have some wiggle room there, but Im pretty locked in on staying at the resort since we already placed our deposit in for room blocking. 

 

So glad I stumbled upon this site. I will definitely be back with questions and  any information that may be helpful to the group. 

 

P.s. 

 

Shout out to all the 2015 brides! Woot Woot! 

[Kerrierf]

Hey!

 

Has anyone heard from Carolina lately?  I haven't heard much since we made our deposit, despite emailing twice to ask about the possibility of getting the ceremony translated into French as well as English.  I know it's tough and may require an extra charge, but I really just want to hear back!

 

Any advice?