Nevada-Las Vegas

Faith4Keep's Wedding Review | Photos; Budget; Other Final Thoughts

OK - I'm going to use this thread as my final dumping spot for any and all other thoughts on our wedding. Here are my previous posts:

Reflecting on Engagement & Planning:
forums.theknot.com/discussion/1051843/faith4keeps-wedding-review-reflecting-on-engagement-planning
Wedding Weekend Day 1:
http://forums.theknot.com/discussion/1051865/faith4keeps-wedding-review-day-1-of-5-arrival-marraige-license-bachelorette
Wedding Weekend Day 2:
http://forums.theknot.com/discussion/1051950/faith4keeps-wedding-review-day-2-of-5-de-stress-rehearsal-and-photo-tour
Wedding Weekend Day 3: http://forums.theknot.com/discussion/1052145/faith4keeps-wedding-review-day-3-of-5-wedding-reception-later-group-tour-of-strip/p1
Wedding Weekend Days 4&5: forums.theknot.com/discussion/1054661/faith4keeps-wedding-review-day-4-5-of-5-first-days-as-a-married-couple

Let's get to the fun stuff first... photos!

Our photographer, Joy Elan, is a COMPLETE ROCKSTAR. I would whole-heartedly recommend her. Website here: http://www.joyelan.com/weddings/ She lives in Atlanta but will travel anywhere for work (just check out her site!), including Las Vegas. Not only is she far more reasonably priced than those based in Las Vegas, I actually think her photos are better than some I've seen! I was concerned that maybe she didn't know the cool "spots" to get photos from. She had me create a Pinterest board and pin photos I liked; while in LAS she often had her phone popped up to the page and made sure to get the exact photos I wanted. She sent a form a few weeks in advance of the wedding that included a list of photos I must have (specific people), and if there are any very specific details of the wedding that were important to me.

Oh yeah. And did I mention: her standard fee includes all digital rights to ALL photos. She does not do ANY printing as a part of her services, which means you get to pick the means for printing. And you get all of the photos! She provided us both color & B/W of everything, in both high resolution (for printing) and lower resolution (for e-mail and sharing online). Yep, she's amazing.

Photos were definitely the most important thing to me. I'm not a supermodel so our photos aren't wedding-magazine perfect, but I'm still SO happy with how they turned out. I've shared below even more photos than I shared with family & friends because...hello, I would have wanted to see EVERYTHING myself! Just know that my "final" pictures I shared on Facebook and with family was far more pared down.

Engagement / Strip Tour Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/104386845961705749077/EngagementPhotosForSharing?authkey=Gv1sRgCNyq6IOk8ZuyHA

Wedding Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/104386845961705749077/WeddingForSharing?authkey=Gv1sRgCOuoluLzg4_4iwE

I'll reply here soon with some other topics, including our planned vs. actual budget! Spoiler alert: we went over budget.

Re: Faith4Keep's Wedding Review | Photos; Budget; Other Final Thoughts

  • I'll reply here soon with some other topics, including our planned vs. actual budget! Spoiler alert: we went over budget.

    I soooooooooo expect to go over budget on photography.
    image
  • Okay, I gotta know. Do you mind if I hijack a whole bunch of these for my Pinterest photo planning board? :)

    PS, this photo brought tears to my eyes. I remember seeing the posts for you planning that, and it just was so special!
    image
  • @xoeden yes, feel free to use & share! It seems like for weddings in Las Vegas, it's so much less about the picture itself & more about the location you get it in. 

    And yes, I plan on doing exact numbers for the budget post - that's far more helpful than generalities I think! 
  • I'm glad someone else's budget has gone up. Your pictures are beautiful congratulations and thanks for the thousandth time for all the time you have taken to write these posts they are really really helpful :)
  • Great pictures!! Love the Chandelier ones, I wish I had gotten a few pictures there!

    Our photographer took a couple under the Chihuly ceiling in Bellagio, I hope they come out as well as yours!

  • Oh, I've revised my budget so many times.  I think now its about double what I started with... oh well, it'll be awesome!
    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • Thank you so, so, so, so, so much for sharing this.
    image
  • OK, I randomly remembered what the $60 was for - my husband's tie! Despite spending nearly $18,000 (I always have to cough over that number a little...ouch) on a wedding, we did try to be frugal and cut costs wherever possible, like the invitations and save the dates I mentioned. My husband had recently been a groomsman in a wedding and the suit was just fine for him to wear to our wedding...just not the purple paisley tie that came with it. We went to Dillards and picked out a nice silver tie that both he & I liked and that was it for his attire. We were doing a morning wedding...in Vegas...after all, no need for a tux. 

    Transportation & Lodging
    Actual Spend = $3596.93

    I don't have budgeted and real spending for this one due to the stupid budgeting tool as previously mentioned, but I do vaguely remember some budget numbers here.

    Hotel Rooms - Total Spend $1,706.13. This includes 2 nights for me in a suite at Tropicana plus 2 nights for both of us in the wraparound terrace suite at Cosmopolitan. Our scouting trip hotel was free with some points (we stayed just a block or so off strip, it really wasn't so bad!) and my husband's hotel the first 2 nights of the wedding weekend was split between the guys he was staying with. I remember our original budget for this was something more like $1000 but I begged and pleaded to stay in a beautiful suite for our wedding night. At that time we were still considering having people over for a party, too. So we upped our budget to about $1500. Then (as I mentioned in our wedding reviews), things did not go as planned at Tropicana so I overspent there, but in hindsight I am glad I did. 

    Guest shuttle/parking - I believe original budget was like $200, we paid $67!!! This was for transporting guests from wedding (Tropicana) to reception (Cosmo) via shuttle. And our service was amazing! We couldn't believe what a deal we got.

    Flights - Budget ~$1600 - Actual = $1151 - this is for both scouting trip and wedding. Flights from Atlanta are around $430 unless there is a special. On the scouting trip we booked last minute so it was more expensive, and we had a companion pass so we only paid for one of us. On the wedding weekend, we paid the normal price of about $430 each but I was able to bump us to first class due to my frequent flier status (I fly, A LOT, for work). I'm glad we did first class, but it's honestly not something I consider a stand-out memory from everything else in our trip. Oh- I should also note that I really sweet-talked a LOT of Delta agents and tried to get the upgrade without using my upgrade passes ("It's our wedding!")....and that was a no-go. LOL. 

    Strip tour Bus - Budget around $500-$700 IIRC and we actually spent $672. As you know from my reviews, we didn't have a great time and felt this was kinda money down the drain. 10 times more expensive than the shuttle from earlier in the day?? That's a tough call. 

    That wraps up transportation & lodging... more soon!!

  • Who did you use for your shuttle? That is a great price!
    Wedding Countdown Ticker
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards