My Wedding Day Preview
Palladium Hotel Group offers a wedding day preview where you can go and check out the resort before committing to it. The cost was $550 for 2 nights for the couple to stay at TRS and $450 for 2 nights for the couple to stay at one of the Grand Palladium Resorts. We did add on a night since flight times were terrible. For this, we did have to pay full price for the room for one night, which was only about $350. WORTH IT! Plus, the $550 or $450 gets credited back toward your wedding. We got to scope out the resort, meet with our coordinator, and test out different restaurants.
Before we went, I had reviewed menus of restaurants to scope out for our "rehearsal dinner." I say this in quotes because the resort doesn't really do a traditional rehearsal beforehand. Basically, it's just a dinner with everyone the night before the wedding. One of the restaurants we wanted was booked, but our wedding coordinator pulled some strings and got us in. It ended up being the restaurant we wanted for the rehearsal dinner.
ARRIVAL DAY
We got to Mexico fairly late (I'm a get there as early as possible to get a full day out of it type of person). We sat at the back of the plane since we flew American Airlines and didn't want to pay for more expensive seats.
*Travel tip... get the seats as close to the front as possible on the flight that lands in your destination.
Because guess what? All those people that sat in front of us were now in line ahead of us in customs. It prolly took about an hour to get through customs. It was about 10pm, so they weren't in full swing anymore. They only had about two or three lines going.
But, once we got out of customs, we headed out to the transportation area. (We didn't have checked luggage to save on $$. Plus we were only staying 3 nights)
*Travel tip... don't stop anywhere but at your transportation. There are people inside, and right outside the door to the airport, that will try to get you to ride with them to your resort. Don't do it. Your transportation company will send you an email saying where they are and what to look for.
We were quickly put in our private transportation and off to the resort. The ride to TRS from the airport took about an hour and a half.
When we arrived, we checked in to the hotel and were immediately met with champagne. We got a room upgrade upon arrival, which is always great. We were then taken to our room by the golf cart along with our luggage.
Our room was awesome! Updated and modern with a balcony. We had a view of trees, but it faced the ocean, so you could hear the waves over the soft music they were playing by the pool.
We arrived too late to do any of the a la carte restaurants. We could have opted for a buffet or the sports bar in one of the hotel lobbies, but we decided to wash the travel day off and order room service. Room service when staying at TRS is included. If you stay at one of the other resorts on property, you have to have a $35 minimum per order.
DAY 1
We woke up with enough time to grab some breakfast from the beach club restaurant, Helios. Food was amazing! They had buffet choices with different stations. They also allowed you to order off of the menu. Some of the menu items they did not have on the buffet such as Eggs Benedict.
After breakfast we walked around a bit trying to make our way to the Colonial Lobby where we’d be meeting with our wedding coordinator. We did get lost because the resort is HUGE. But we were picked up by one of the many golf carts they have for guests’ transportation around the resort.
We met the coordinator in the wedding office and got our own golf cart to go check out some of the wedding and reception venues. We considered Kantenah Beach for the reception, but we ultimately chose Las Olas since it was covered and had a floor. Many brides opt for the Kantenah Beach reception venue for the Beach Bash option.
We also looked at ceremony venues. We had already made a decision, but wanted to see them all in person. We definitely made the right decision in going with the beach gazebo.
**Pro Tip: bring your swatches to help decide on bridesmaids dresses
Once we got back to the wedding office, we discussed details. We made about 90% of our decisions right there in the office. They had samples of colors and photos of different weddings they’d done. They made it so simple.
We picked colors, table settings, sheers to go on the beach gazebo, the cake, tables, and buffet menu. We also went over timeline for the day of and our package and collection details. We had all of our questions answered and she even got us into one of the restaurants we wanted to try for our rehearsal dinner with everyone.
Our Package
We chose Party Lover's Deluxe since we were expecting about 40 people. This
includes:
up to 50 people at a private reception for 4 hours
Open bar with Bartenders and servers for the event
Buffet or plated dinner (depends on the venue you select)
DJ for 4 hours
Selection of table centerpieces
White folding garden chairs with chair caps/scarves
Price (2022): $7,900
Our Collection
Waves of Love
Starfish garlands and seashell aidle decor
4 aisle marker arrangements
Signing table with baby's breath accent
Chair caps
Two tier cake
Sheer curtains
Price: Included with Party Lover's Deluxe
After our meeting we went to the TRS infinity pool.
They were also serving lunch at the pool. We ate at Bahia e Brasa, which was amazing! It's a Brazilian style steak house. If you've been to Texas de Brazil, it's the same concept. This restaurant is on the family side of the resort, so we chose this restaurant as our rehearsal dinner.
When we arrived back to our room, we found that we'd had turn down service (which is included). They even left water on each side of the bed as well as honey (it's said it's a natural sleep aid).
DAY 2
We got up and went to eat at Capricho. You've got buffet options and you can order off the menu. This was my cute little latte.
After breakfast we headed to the TRS beach.
...I started to get a little excited
After the beach we decided to WALK to the infinity pool.
For perspective, this picture was taken where I was sitting on the beach.
The blue circle is the beach gazebo.
The red arrow is where the TRS side is.
I don't recommend walking if you've got mermaid thighs lol. There are carts that will come pick you up every 20 minutes from the TRS beach. They'll bring you anywhere on the resort. Especially if a tip is involved.
On our walk we passed by the kids swim area. I just knew Kason would love it.
Behind here was the child care area where you can drop off the babies (or kids if you've got older ones) and have a few hours to relax. They do close from 1-2pm so the staff can have breaks.
We finally made it to the beach gazebo, so I made Blake take a selfie with me.
Soon after leaving the beach gazebo, we figured out that you could either take a dirt path that went along the rocky beach or you could take the side walk that had a more greenery scene to it. Obviously we chose the dirt path, but it was absolutely worth it. Beautiful.
Eventually we made it to the salt water pool. This pool has actually won awards for being one of the top pools in the world. (See the wedding post for my trash the dress pictures--a full wedding video will be posted first).
We stayed by the pool for the rest of the afternoon until we had to get ready for dinner. Dinner was at Tentazione, which is an Italian restaurant exclusively for TRS guests. I don't have any pictures from this trip, but Blake loved the grilled octopus so much he wanted to have a welcome dinner with our bridal party here. Literally the site of it made me nauseous, but apparently he absolutely loved it.
DEPARTURE DAY
Naturally, I chose a late flight (kinda not by choice this time since it was in the middle of covid and flight times were terrible), so I absolutely made the most of our last day, even if it was half a day. We went and ate breakfast and went back to the room to pack our carryons since that was all we had this trip. The butler told us to leave the luggage in the room and it would be waiting for us in the lobby when we checked out.
I drug Blake to the Colonial pool since we hadn't hung out there. It was awesome.
Now on this side of the resort, you won't usually get pool side service. You'll have to walk to the bar, which is not far at all. They have lunch right there as well. They make it super convenient. I did like the lounge chairs in the pool over here.
I just HAD to get more fresh tuna before we left, so we went to Capricho for lunch one last time. They did take an awfully long time, and we almost missed our transportation to the airport, but ABSOLUTELY WORTH IT!