Continuation of my wedding weekend review, Day 1 here:
http://forums.theknot.com/discussion/1051865/faith4keeps-wedding-review-day-1-of-5-arrival-marraige-license-bachelorette
Itinerary for Friday:
9:30am = Informal Group Breakfast (Tropicana)
11:00am = Spa Appointment at Qua, 1.5 hrs
12:30pm - 3pm = Hang out in Spa Facilities, Relax
3pm-4pm = Blowout
4:30pm = Rehearsal
5:15-6:15pm = Rehearsal Drinks
6:30pm = Dinner reservation at Eiffel Tower, just the parents
9:00pm = Meet photographer & limo back at Tropicana for photo tour
12pm = Back to Tropicana, SLEEP!
I woke up on Friday morning a little before my alarm and decided to go to work
on writing my note to my groom. We had originally decided to do our own vows,
but it was really stressing us both out trying to write profound expressive
statements of love and commitment. So instead, we both got each other a card
and wrote our vows to each other in it to be opened morning of the wedding. It
ended up being a wonderful idea as I got to express so much more than I felt I
would have in vows. I was very tearful even writing my card!! I followed the
general guidance of : say things you love about him, say things you commit to,
then say what your hopes for the future together are.
After that, we had a casual breakfast at Beach Cafe in Tropicana at 9:30am. I
wasn't sure how many people would show up, since it was 9:30am after the
bachelor / bachelorette parties and we knew not everyone was staying at the
Tropicana. I sort of assumed it was going to be a huge empty restaurant (for
early Friday morning), and I also decided that if a lot of people showed up it
wouldn't be a big deal for everyone to sit at a table or even in the same area,
that I would make the rounds. Because of all that I didn't make a reservation and
didn't show up even a few minutes in advance. So. I was wrong about a lot!
First, it was packed, and we were lucky to be sat in just a few minutes.
Second, the group that showed up was 8 people total, groups of 2, 2, and 3, and
then me, which made it really weird to be separate at all. We ended up with one
table of 6 and one table of 2 right next to each other but it was just weird.
Looking back, I'm not sure I would have coordinated this at all. We weren't
paying for our guests at this breakfast, but I read some great advice early on
that at a destination wedding, you should really make it a point to make
opportunities to hang out with your guests that have traveled so far to be
there for YOU! So this was one of those opportunities. As I think it over again,
I probably would have done it, but would have shifted the day so that breakfast
was maybe at 10:30 or even 11am, and I would have made a reservation.
Beach Cafe itself was OK. Definitely enough room for a small group (i.e. 20 or
less). They had a buffet which was very small compared to "real"
buffets on the strip but overall looked good for $21. Or you could order off
the menu (what I did). Many other people went to Beach Cafe for other meals due
to its convenience and good price point. Everyone's reaction was a "It was
fine" kind of reaction. I would do breakfast there again, especially if
convenience is a factor. They get a B!
The reason breakfast was so early was because I had an 11am appointment at the
SPA! Woo!!! I have always wanted to try Qua in Caesar's palace. After breakfast
I made a quick exit and drove to Caesar's. Big mistake. Definitely should have
taken a taxi to/from Caesar's just to save on time for the day. I was
definitely stressed out about getting from point A to point B and back to point
A in accordance with my timeline. Easily could have shaved 20 minutes off each
of those trips with a taxi.
I had advertised my day at Qua as a "girls day" and had dreams of all
my girlfriends and I chatting it up in the sauna. Sadly that was not my
reality. Although *I* value really incredible spa facilities, it appears that
not many people attending my wedding did - they all opted for other activities.
I was surprised as I found the price for a day pass pretty reasonable. I only
had 3 girlfriends join me, and while I got to spend a TON of time with them I
definitely missed out on time with others. I'm not sure how I would have
changed this, since I really did want to do the spa as a part of my wedding
weekend. Maybe paid for some people? That would have been really, really pricey
and since a lot of girls were there with significant others they wanted to
spend the day with them, anyway. Also, I overestimated the amount of time I
wanted to spend in the facilities. I allotted 2.5 hours and probably would have
been fine with 2hrs or even less. Normally I could spend ~5 hours in a spa and
be really really happy about it, but with so much on my mind and a timeline to
stick to, I wish I would have spent less time there.
OK but. Let's talk about Qua. It's INCREDIBLE. It is by far the most amazing
spa facility I've ever been in. It feels like you are in a water oasis. I can't
recommend it highly enough. I had a "morning dew" treatment and paid
for it with SpaFinder gift cards, which you can get at Costco for a discount,
reducing the actual cost of your treatment. One thing that was weird was that I
paid up front before the treatment, but the front desk didn't return me a card
with unused credit. It was a small-ish amount but still ~$20, so that was
weird. I figured maybe she just auto-added to the tip. After my AMAZING
treatment my therapist returned me back to the spa area. Later I realized I
hadn't had an opportunity to tip him! My girlfriends said that when their
session was over their hairtie or another item was sitting on a piece of paper
that showed where you could tip. I was in such bliss after my treatment I just
grabbed my stuff and got out of there and didn't notice such a paper. So, that
was odd. Also I got locked out of my locker not once but TWICE and waiting for
"management" to come with a master key is not how you want to spend a
day at the spa. I was mostly upset because the staff thought I was incompetent
at their locks but I demonstrated both times I was in fact doing it correctly.
Despite the two shortfalls, I would still rate Qua an A+ and a MUST VISIT if
you like Spas!!! The steam room, and various pools, were just incredible.
At some point, my wedding coordinator had called and left a message that she
was "just checking in". I thought that was odd because we were going
to see her at the rehearsal in just a few hours....hmmm....couldn't call her
back though due to spa policies.
I had decided that because we were having a photo tour that night (our
substitution for engagement photos) that I'd get a blowout. Originally I was
going to go to Sam Villa's Hair Show because the blowout was cheap at $35. At
the last minute I changed it to Color, which is right outside Qua, but it is
wayyyy more expensive at $95. Again, this is another change I'm so glad I made.
I'm serious - if you've got a crazy itinerary, do what needs to be done to save
yourself some time. I would have been twelve times more stressed if I had to
get in the car and drive somewhere else just to save $60 and almost definitely
would have been late to my rehearsal. The blowout itself didn't seem like
anything special, but was definitely one of the better blowouts I've had. A for
the product/service, C for the value.
When I got back to my car, I called my coordinator even though I knew I would
see her in less than an hour. She let me know that the dress steaming company
had found a hole in my veil!! They were going to try to steam it so that you
couldn't see it, but were also going to provide a secondary veil that they had
just in case my veil didn't work for me. In my mind, I was thinking that a
little hole wouldn't be a huge deal, so I wasn't freaking out too much
externally... but internally I was!! I just wanted to see the veil!
I went back to the hotel room to pick up my programs and change into my
rehearsal / dinner/ photoshoot dress. I was a few minutes late to the
rehearsal. This was the first time I'd seen my groom in a full day!!!! So glad
to see he survived his bachelor party 
We had a short meeting with our
coordinator where we met our main coordinator and the a day-of coordinator who
I had never heard about before, and I started to become a little nervous as I
had originally been told my coordinator would be there. After a few questions I
discovered they both would be there, which was a weight off my shoulders and
nice to have some extra help. We rehearsed the ceremony - no officiant - and
overall it went pretty smoothly. We didn't have a bridal party so it was just
parents and us.
After the rehearsal, I went to go pick up the dress (and veil!). I tried to
undo it while I was with my coordinator but it was all wrapped in plastic. Once
I finally got up to my room, I unwrapped the veil to find a hole about 2inches
long!! The backup veil was 2 layers which I don't like the look of, so I was
going to have to suck it up and trust that no one would notice.
Off to the rehearsal drinks! We did a non-sponsored hour at the Tropicana
Lounge, Tropicana's main bar. This was where we got to see most of our guests
all at once and hang out! Tropicana was running a 2 for 1 happy hour during the
time frame we were there and our guests LOVED IT and no one seemed put-off that
they were paying for their own drinks. In fact everyone thought it was a
stellar deal. We had an excellent time hanging out with everyone, this was
definitely one of the positives throughout the weekend in terms of getting to
see people and hang out with them. This was also the time frame where some of
our guests were arriving in from out of town, so it was perfect. I'm sure
guests stayed a little longer, mingled with each other, and made dinner plans
with each other while they were there. This was an A+ in terms of success of
event. Tropicana lounge gets a B- for execution, as the service was a little
slow. Would definitely have done this again, maybe would have elongated by a
half hour if there was time. I also would have let Tropicana know we were
bringing 30 guests to their bar in advance; they might have staffed up more. I
just really didn’t want to have to pay for anything extra (i.e. a reserved
area) so we were OK with risking it without a reservation of any kind.
Promptly at 6:15pm, we made an exit with my groom’s parents
and my parents, hopped in two taxis, and headed for Paris! We were going to
have a very small – and very expensive – rehearsal dinner at the Eiffel Tower
restaurant. Our parents had never met each other, and this was a good
opportunity to spend some quality time with the folks that had contributed
financially. At one point in time I was looking into getting a limo for the
to/from and I’m glad I didn’t. While it would have been memorable, it wasn’t
important in the grand scheme of things.
We checked in at the Eiffel Tower desk right at our
reservation time of 6:30pm (made on Open Table) and the dinner took exactly the
2 hours I had allotted. I probably should have put in the reservation or at
least told our server that we needed to leave at 8:30pm but it worked out just
fine anyway. We were a little slow to start at dinner but ended up having an incredible
meal. My parents had beef wellington and wouldn’t stop raving about it. At one
point in the dinner, I asked if they would share some marriage advice. This was
probably the best decision I could have made. Their eyes all lit up and they
just beamed with excitement that they were going to have “this special moment”
with their children. Of course, their advice was wonderful and well-taken, but
their reaction to us even asking was worth it. I wish I had thought of more
questions in advance to ask as a conversation since this went over so well with
both parents. Maybe, “What do you remember most from your wedding day?”. Eiffel
Tower provided us with a special dessert to help us celebrate! Overall, Eiffel
Tower gets an A, but I will almost definitely never eat there again due to
cost. A truly memorable experience for our folks though. Keep in mind, that all
the tables right next to the window are tables of 2. Larger tables sit further
back and don’t have as great of a view.
We hopped in taxis and headed back to Tropicana. This is
where we left the parents, and met our photographer, for our tour of the strip!
This was going to sub as our engagement photos since we decided we are SO not
the couple that walks hand-in-hand through a park smiling while looking in the
distance. We just didn’t want photos like that. So, I created a map of the
places I’d like to visit (see thread here: http://forums.theknot.com/discussion/1048893/las-vegas-strip-photo-tour-w-map-timeline)
based on the photos I had seen on Pinterest. Based on the feedback I received
in the thread, we extended our time in the limo from 2 to 3 hours using some
extra credit we had.
Our limo (Presidential Limos) picked us up right on time at
9pm. I wanted to knock out the Las Vegas sign first. We arrived, and there was
NO ONE there!! It was amazing!! The only people that were there were the people
trying to sell you their photography services- haha. We were out of there by
9:15pm. Off to Wynn – we did some photos inside the hotel and then some by the
waterfall. Since we were so ahead of schedule, we decided to walk to Venetian.
We got a lot of photos along the way including one of the Las Vegas Blvd sign.
I really like the doors they have at the Venetian, so we spent a lot of time
there. We had the limo pick us up at Venetian and take us to Bellagio. We took
photos of the Bellagio Fountains with the Eiffel Tower in the background. This
is seriously my new favorite spot to watch the fountains and take pictures!! It
is just a few steps past the valet/taxi area. Next- Paris. We only took a few
photos here because we were all fading, FAST by this point. I couldn’t remember
exactly what pictures I wanted or where to get them – I was just letting my
photographer take the lead and she didn’t appear very inspired by the
surrounding area. Although we had an hour left of limo – we were all just DONE.
We dropped my groom off first, then the photographer, then me back at Tropicana
where our driver presented me with a rose. Presidential Limo services gets an
A++ for being totally flexible throughout the night, very responsive, and we
never had to wait for more than just a few minutes. He was great. Also there
was champagne and water provided, which was nice.
As for the strip tour….despite being exhausted I would have
done this again. The big problem was I loved all the photos of brides in their
dresses on the strip tour, but since I was having a morning wedding, I wasn’t
sure how we were going to accomplish evening photos without completely abandoning
our guests way later on. This was the compromise. I’m sure the photos will be
incredible, but boy. We were tired. Maybe the time change effect again? In the
moment I wished we hadn’t done it. But maybe, during the scouting trip instead
of the wedding weekend. Or- since we actually stayed an extra day, we could
have done this on Sunday night instead. Not sure. I’ll let you guys know how I
feel once I see the photos
I seriously passed out after this – BUT – I took the advice
of a recently married friend and still took a sleeping pill that night, because
there was a possibility I wouldn’t be able to sleep due to jitters!! Seemed
pretty unbelievable with how tired I was that I wouldn’t be able to sleep, but
I really didn’t want to take any risks with my slumber. I needed my energy!