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karenk

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  1. Hello Caseylynndavis, I was married on April 5th at GP and it was fabulous, we stil talk about how beautiful our wedding was. We did a pub crawl and it worked out really well. Gave a organized way of each family to meet eachother. I kept it super simple and we gathered in the Lobby after dinner at the Whitesands, We took the train and a cart since there were so many of us all the way to the end, I can't remember which resort is at the end, Had a cocktail or 2 in the lobby. My husband & I had brought white t-shirts and markers and had a contest to see who could get the most signatures. (be careful, I ended up with marker on my favorite bra). Then we walked to the next place which I think was the Colonial ( not sure) but they have the entertainment show happening so some of the children watched that and we continued with drinks and just getting to know eachother. We then hit the sports bar in the same location, but they had snack food so everyone could get a bite to eat if they wanted. From there some people (mostly the older guests) went home and we continured by train to the Riviera where we again had a drink in that lobby. It all ended around 11, well that is when we left, there were a lot of people still having fun, some stayed there and others went on to the Disco. It wa so much fun, a highlight of the week. I did not have a rehersal party or cocktail party so this was a fun way to get everyone together before the wedding. We also did a scavenger hunt which didn't go as well. The kids did have fun with it though. Congrats on your engagement and choice of venue, we loved GP. Karen Oaks
  2. Hello Ladies, We had our reception at the Grand Azul, La Laguna was booked already, but I loved it. If you want a lot of privacy this is perfect, you are surrounded by jungle and they do decorate it really nicely. they had blocked it off from other guests and it worked really well. We did have a few people wander through but nothing major and it was no issue. so to confirm the Grand Azul is in the Colonial side and yes surrrounded by jungle and the La Luguna is at Whitesands and has the pool with a more open feeling. Both are beautiful. I will try and find a picture of it to post. I must say, I love seeing all the pictures of brides after me, it brings back wonderful memories of my own wedding and I love to see such happiness from all. thanks for posting. To all the new brides to come, enjoy your day, it truly will be beautiful and full of memories, just relax and enjoy it as it comes. Cheers, Karen
  3. Hello Ladies, Having just gone through a legal wedding I thought I would put in my experience. I agree with everyone, it is a very personal thing and all of us have our own reasons for doing legal or renewal. While it is more expensive and think it around $1000 more, we wanted to have it legally done in Mexico cause I loved the idea. Yes we did have to get the blood tests but it wasn't bad at all. As for once you are in Canada - I am in the process of getting my name changed. Yes I did have to have our Marriage Certificate (which is really cool) translated into English. I email several places that I found on line for quotes. I was quoted from $90.00 - $125.00 CND so they were all close. It took 3 working days for me to get my translated copy and I went with $90.00, a company here in calgary. It came with a letter and stamped that it was translated by a certified company and person.It looks all official to me. LOL I have used it to change my drivers licenence and so far no problems. I still have to do a Federal Change (passport or SIN) but now that I have this document I'm not concerned. As for the wedding we did not have to have anything else translated before hand. My husband was divorced and he didn't even need his divorce papers, I have never been married so that made it easier. If you are considering having the legal wedding, I do suggest you call a government office to confirm what is needed. I called the Alberta Statistics office and they confirmed that as long as our marriage was registered in Mexico we are legally married as far as our province in concerned. I am really happy we had our legal marriage there, it was different and just a little more special for us. One thing that is so different from a Canadian wedding is you put your Thumb Print on the Certificate. A part of the ceremony that was fun and the pictures looked great. Whatever you choose it will be the best and the most special moment for you!!! Definatley no right or wrong on this subject.
  4. Hi Chrestena, I had the app on both my iphone and my Itouch - they are synced so I had the app on both but I had to set it up separately on both devices. I wanted a back up just in case. If you make playlists on Itunes then it is easy to set up. I loved it and worth checking out. It was free when I downloaded but honestly I would have paid for it too. I forgot to make a playlist for while we were having dinner.. duh!!!!! couldnt' believe it so we just picked a random playlist I had on my phone for dinner music.. I laughed at that mistake too. I asked one of my younger guests to be in charge of the music, just showed him how it worked and he did a great job. It is that easy to use once you have it set up. Hope this helps. Karen
  5. Hi Carlota, Im sorry but I don't remember the name of the wines we tried.. we tried a few. I think as long as you go with one you know you should be ok. As for the cable ipod, I think you are referring to their sound system.. we did use the Pallidium system but my own Ipod/Iphone. Because I had the DJWedding app and had alll my music set up for the entire wedding, ceremony and reception is was super easy to use. The sounds system for the wedding and the reception were really good, for the reception it was actually too loud at one point and we had to turn it down until the dancing. the DJ Wedding app - I had 4 songs for Pre Ceremony that just looped over and over, then I had a song for the Groom, Wedding party procession, my procession. Registry signing - 2 sondgs and then a song for after the ceremony. For the Reception, It has lots of options but I just did the first dance and father/daughter dance and then went into the Party playlist. It fades the songs so it sounded very perfessional if you decide not use a DJ. Grace did not telll me there would be a DJ/Pallidium person for the ceremony so that was a little confusing but they used my Iphone and it all went off very well. I was on a pretty tight budget so I could not afford to hire a DJ and just did my own music for everything. It was easier than I thought and now I have great play lists.
  6. Hi Carolta, I used a free app on my iphone called Wedding DJ for everything and the sound was really good as Maybride said. they did everything really well until my song and it went off at one point but they got it going again and it was fine. LOL OH - wine.. honestly it is REALLY hard to get any thing good in Mexico. We like wine and we tried to get some out side our resort on our honeymoon from a wine store in Playa De Carma - $20 USD bottle which I know isn't super high but it was awful too. We have yet to find a good wine there and we have been 3 times now. Good luck on the wine.. we did not have any for our reception because if was so bad.
  7. Hello Ladies, Sorry for the delay, I have been sick the last few days. Maybride2013 - I am so sorry your wedding experience was not what you hoped for. while I did have things go wrong, I had nothing of what you had and all of mine, I can laugh about and just say well we were in Mexico what can you expect! I am pretty laid back as well and made a decison when I booked a destination wedding that I was not going to let things worry me. Nice to say, hard to do. I was not successful either. MyTye2B - We had the Gran Azul (in the Colonial) location for our reception the La Laguna was booked and it was wonderful We had 45 people and yup, just go with the flow. That is the easiest. but consider that extra hour for sure.. coming from Canada I know you like to dance..LOL Carolta1981 - My dinner was the Chicken & Shrimp, I have no idea if the side courses were wrong.. but all that was there was a shrimp ring with potatoe and veggies - It was beautifully set on the plate and everyone said it was very good.. but no chicken! When I got back to Canada I looked up the menu and could not find any just Shrimp menu item so I have no idea what happened. I brought all of my decorations with me to our meeting and my dress I brought myself to the Wedding Corrdinators office a few days before the wedding. Everything was set up exactly as asked. the blood tests. - yes they took 2 vials of blood and honestly I did not feel a thing and had no bruising at all. I can't watch but they were very good. I have good veins they say so I hope yours goes as smooth. Don't watch and just hold your fiance's hand.. They are quick too. Well I have to run, hope I answered most of the questions if not please ask again and I promise to not miss them. Karen
  8. I can shed a bit of light, on my wedding. 45 people and 2 with food allergies. My dinner was to start at 7 and I think it was close to being on time.. I have no real concept of the actual time but the dinner seemed to be served super quick. I say less than 2 hours start to finish. We wanted to do speaches in between courses and really there was no time, they seemed to be coming right away after cleaning the empty plates off. Ended up doing our speaches after dinner.
  9. Claire, - your 12:00 appointment should be fine, mine was for 1:00 and we were at least 1/2 to 45 min late in starting. They can do 4 people at once. My wedding was at 4 as well. you will love the Gazebo, it was perfect and I was so happy I decided to go with a flower in my hair, I really had not made up my mind until the moment but bought the flower as a just in case i wanted it. LOL Grace delivered the hair flowers right the the salon so you don't have to worry about it. Mosquitos - most of the week we did not encounter them until our wedding day for pictures, at sunset we were at the Salt Water Pool - it is the best place for pictures, unreal spot. The mosquitos came out just as we were leaving and they were really bad so be aware of doing anything on the beach in the evening, not sure what its like in the summer time. Maybe it is also just in that area, Im not sure but its best to be prepared for them. Im sure I will have more info as I remember, Im so excited for all of you and your up and coming weddings.. you will have the best and most beautiful weddings. My guests already want us to do a Vow renewal in 5 years so we can all go back. Cheers, Karen
  10. Hello, Christina - I too had a few trials done with my hair and actually similar styles too. But none of them looked this good and I loved my hair. They also have the product for WIND - cause its windy there..LOL I say go for it, it is your special day and it is so wonderful to look and feel like a princess. The flower was real, I had ordered 2 but we used only the 1 and I think they were $10 each. Yes it did wilt by the end of the night but at that point I didn't care.. I wish I knew who did my hair. I thought I had a picture of us but it didn't work. She was really good and I was done way before my bridesmaids. I have been growing my hair out for along time so the last thing I wanted was an updo to hide the length. Even if you leave it down but have them put some curl in it is lovely. I saw that on another bride at our honeymoon resort and she looked lovely. It was simple. If you do decide to do your own makeup. I also suggest either getting some lessons or going on the internet and looking it up for pictures. It reallky does make a difference for pictures having the right makeup. They do use MAC product so it is good quality. The only thing I wish I had brought with me is a finishing spray you can get that helps set your makeup so it lasts longer. I did not even look at where the beach ceremony would be, I saw pictures of the Gazebo and fell in love with it instantly. So sorry I can't help you with that one, Im sure it is just as lovely.
  11. Hello all future palladium brides. Well I am back from our wedding and honeymoon!!!! Where to start - Stunning, Breathtaking, Amazing, Fun I am going to start with a review of the Hair/Make up as I know a few of you wanted this information. The girls there are very good and did an amazing job. My only recommendation is give yourself lots of time. We had 3 weddings that day and one bride that was very picky plus I guess brought extra people and they took more time than they were booked for so my group were all delayed. It was very scary, and we were not ready on time.. but fortunately our judge was late so it all worked out. I did not have a picture of what I wanted but went earlier that week and looked at their books, I had an idea and found what I wanted. They did an even better job than what I expected. The make up beautiful, I gave her full reign on colors as I felt they would know what is better for pictures. A note, the makeup is heavier than what you most likely are used to but necessary for pictures. All of us looked stunning and I would say don't worry at all, every wedding we saw during the week, everyone looked amazing. Wedding locations - we were married at the Beach Gazebo.. so happy with this choice. It was stunning and the way it is located while you will get spectators they are at a respectful distance. Loved this location. Our reception was at the Gran Azul and it was perfect. You are surrounded by jungle and they block it off so very private. They did a really nice job with decoration and I did not purchase anything extra. I loved this location for the privacy for our reception. We had 45 people so yes this was the private pay per person reception. My only thing I wish I had bought an extra hour, we were still ready to keep dancing at 11 when we had to shut it down. the food was amazing but it wasn't what I ordered..we had a good laugh at that one. Service was also really good but they did not serve the head table first. I will be sending this recommendation in which my follow up comment email. Im not sure if this was cleared up in another email but there was some discussion on this forum about a $70.00 Judge fee. yes you do have to give them $70 US cash but it is for the transportation of the judge and then they deduct it from your total so you are not paying anything extra. The blood test is done right at the Wedding Coordinators office and it was very professional and easy. The marriage certificate is one of the coolest things.. with your thumb prints. Love it. If you do have a sand ceremony - I recommend having one of guests look after getting it to a room after the ceremony. My own fault for not doing this and our sand was all mixed up when they gave it back to me. So we will redo it here in Canada. Again - not a huge deal and I blame myself for that one. Wedding Coordinator.. when we got there, they mixed up people (same names) and our wedding letter with date/time of meeting was given to one of our guests. We arrived late at night so it was a little frantic, Finally I got a hold of someone the next day to find out when our meeting was as we did not know their was a mix up with names. Rocio who I did all my planning with ended up not being who looked after us when we got there. No explanation as to why and it was a little disappointing at first but Grace ended up being our wedding coordinator and she was amazing. She did a fabulous job. the Resort - Fantastic. we loved it and for a large resort the food was exceptional. I have food issues, Im Celiac (no gluten) as well as no dairy. The Palladium has a great system for allergies and it worked really well. My Aunt (who is the same) and I had no issues with food and everyone was really good about.it. Everyone of my guests had a fabulous time and loved the resort. I had my Travel Agent request rooms and they did not honor our requests, some of them were met but we were all spread out all over the Whitesands resort. This was a little disappointing. wish I had know about the form on Palladium Addicts site. Well this is getting long so will end here, if anyone has any other questions I would be happy to help answer if I can. Our wedding was truly the wedding of my dreams.
  12. Hello all future palladium brides. Well I am back from our wedding and honeymoon!!!! Where to start - Stunning, Breathtaking, Amazing, Fun I am going to start with a review of the Hair/Make up as I know a few of you wanted this information. The girls there are very good and did an amazing job. My only recommendation is give yourself lots of time. We had 3 weddings that day and one bride that was very picky plus I guess brought extra people and they took more time than they were booked for so my group were all delayed. It was very scary, and we were not ready on time.. but fortunately our judge was late so it all worked out. I did not have a picture of what I wanted but went earlier that week and looked at their books, I had an idea and found what I wanted. They did an even better job than what I expected. The make up beautiful, I gave her full reign on colors as I felt they would know what is better for pictures. A note, the makeup is heavier than what you most likely are used to but necessary for pictures. All of us looked stunning and I would say don't worry at all, every wedding we saw during the week, everyone looked amazing. Wedding locations - we were married at the Beach Gazebo.. so happy with this choice. It was stunning and the way it is located while you will get spectators they are at a respectful distance. Loved this location. Our reception was at the Gran Azul and it was perfect. You are surrounded by jungle and they block it off so very private. They did a really nice job with decoration and I did not purchase anything extra. I loved this location for the privacy for our reception. We had 45 people so yes this was the private pay per person reception. My only thing I wish I had bought an extra hour, we were still ready to keep dancing at 11 when we had to shut it down. the food was amazing but it wasn't what I ordered..we had a good laugh at that one. Service was also really good but they did not serve the head table first. I will be sending this recommendation in which my follow up comment email. Im not sure if this was cleared up in another email but there was some discussion on this forum about a $70.00 Judge fee. yes you do have to give them $70 US cash but it is for the transportation of the judge and then they deduct it from your total so you are not paying anything extra. The blood test is done right at the Wedding Coordinators office and it was very professional and easy. The marriage certificate is one of the coolest things.. with your thumb prints. Love it. If you do have a sand ceremony - I recommend having one of guests look after getting it to a room after the ceremony. My own fault for not doing this and our sand was all mixed up when they gave it back to me. So we will redo it here in Canada. Again - not a huge deal and I blame myself for that one. Wedding Coordinator.. when we got there, they mixed up people (same names) and our wedding letter with date/time of meeting was given to one of our guests. We arrived late at night so it was a little frantic, Finally I got a hold of someone the next day to find out when our meeting was as we did not know their was a mix up with names. Rocio who I did all my planning with ended up not being who looked after us when we got there. No explanation as to why and it was a little disappointing at first but Grace ended up being our wedding coordinator and she was amazing. She did a fabulous job. the Resort - Fantastic. we loved it and for a large resort the food was exceptional. I have food issues, Im Celiac (no gluten) as well as no dairy. The Palladium has a great system for allergies and it worked really well. My Aunt (who is the same) and I had no issues with food and everyone was really good about.it. Everyone of my guests had a fabulous time and loved the resort. I had my Travel Agent request rooms and they did not honor our requests, some of them were met but we were all spread out all over the Whitesands resort. This was a little disappointing. wish I had know about the form on Palladium Addicts site. Well this is getting long so will end here, if anyone has any other questions I would be happy to help answer if I can. Our wedding was truly the wedding of my dreams.
  13. Hello Ladies, Carlota, I promise to give you a review of the spa experience. We are just getting hair and makeup done as I am getting my nails done here in Canada before we leave. She also suggested we go and chat with the hairstylist before so they know how long your hair is and what you want to make sure they have booked enough time. I will not do a test as like you I feel it is expensive. You might want to consider doing one at home with your own stylist and then take pictures. I have done a few trials with my hairdresser. Jenjullage - I'm glad you found something for your sand ceremony you like. I was so impressed with the frame when I got it. I went and had a small plaque made with our names & date at a local engraving store and put it on the bottom part of the frame. Looks great. I will also post a picture of it competed after. As for flowers, I am just going with what the resort is offering and adding bridesmaid bouquets. My groom and groomsmen are wearing short sleeved silk shirts and we decided to put a flower on it would not look proper. So have opted out of mens flowers. Also no corsages with the heat I just don't think they will last. I talked to my mom about it and she was fine not getting one. I will post pictures of our flowers to fore everyone to see. I may get one for my hair, haven't decided yet. Getting super excited. Cheers, Karen
  14. Well hello Ladies, wow, I'm getting close. We only have 12 sleeps until we leave for Mexico and 2 weeks, 3 days until the big day. I'm getting very excited. I was having some anxiety as my wedding coordinator was not returning my emails and i was a little freaked out. I'm ok with week delays when its months away but at this time.. OH well, got it all sorted out and now I just have to wait for the rest when we get there. One thing I did find out, everyone may already have this info but I didn't.. one of my stresses... with no reply. I wanted to make my hair and makeup appointments before arriving and could not find an email for the salon/spa. If you are interested and if you do it via email you will receive 10% off. It is not cheap, north American prices. I talked to a Paula Casas at info.riviera@zentropia-spa.com She was great, responded the same day and i have booked myself, 2 bridesmaids and my mom. They do require a 50% deposit for the booking. She will send you prices and services if you ask. Was great with all my questions. One less thing I have to worry about when we arrive. Anyway, good luck everyone and I will promise to post after my wedding with pictures when we get home after April 15th. We are spending a second week in Mexico but not at Palladium. My fiance' made these arrangements and our honeymoon location is a complete surprise for me. Cheers, Karen - OMG soon to be a Mrs.
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