Here are my reviews and a link to our professional pictures from our wedding ceremony!
Air Canada - *B* we are from Canada and used Air Canada both to Vegas and back. I was super nervous about flying with my dress and chose to take it as a carry on (I would have been wayy too nervous to check it!). Flight from St. John's, NL to Toronto, I was told I could put it in the overhead bin as soon as I boarded the plane. My dress laid flat across one overhead bin compartment and we placed our 2 other carry on pieces under my dress. No other passengers used the bin, which was great! From our flight from Toronto to Vegas, the flight attendants let me hang my dress in the first class closet! Flights down were pretty uneventful, but returning flights were full of delays from the beginning which resulted in us missing our connecting flight in Toronto, however we were accomodated on the next flight to NL that night. My luggage arrived in NL badly damaged with items missing from my luggage due to the damagae. My bag has been taken by Air Canada for possible repair, however I have to go through the claims department to see whether or not they will consider replacing my lost items.
Caesar's Palace - *B* We got married at the Venus Gardens at 11am. We were originally supposed to be in the Juno gardens, but as a lot of you know, this location is now closed temporarily due to construction. I loved the Venus Gardens when I saw them once we arrived on Monday and was happy with the location. We had 22 guests attend our wedding and they fit perfectly in the gardens. Had we had a large number of guests, I feel as though the Venus Gardens may have been a bit crowded.. To me, the front benches are quite close to where the bride/groom and bridal party stand, and I am glad our guests sat 2 rows back as they didn't feel as though they were on top of us during the ceremony. It was a HOT day when we got married, but the service was great! Brian Ross was our officiate and he did an amazing job! He made me feel so comfortable when he met with me prior to the ceremony, and my husband (holy !! I still get chills writing that!) said the same thing. The ceremony was exactly what we had wanted and despite the heat, I wouldn't have changed a thing! Lindsay was my wedding coordinator and she did a great job - she replied to emails within a day or two and was great in suggesting options and ensuring I had all important decisions made.
We stayed at Caesar's Palace from Monday - Friday and were upgraded to a one bedroom suite during our stay due to the inconvenience of having to relocate to the Venus Gardens. While our room was spacious (which was great for immediately following the ceremony when our guests came back to our room for drinks and pictures), I wasn't entirely impressed. Our room wasn't cleaned thoroughly when we first arrived and it felt like there was furniture missing in the living room area (it just had an "empty" kind of feeling). We stayed in the Palace Tower which was so convenient as we only had to go down the elevators and walk about 100feet and we were at our wedding location.
Flowers *A* We used Caesar's palace for mine and my MOH bouquets and bout's for husband, best man, and my dad. Flowers were exactly what I wanted, however they didn't stand up to the heat very well throughout the day. I give them an A because they definitely got the look I wanted down perfectly!
Harmony Artistry - *A++++++++* I cannot express how great Harmony was! Myself and my MOH had a hair and makeup trial done on Tuesday (day before the wedding), which I recommend to everyone! I had an idea of what I wanted done with my hair, but was open to anything, as long as it didn't involve having my hair down (I have long and super thick hair and knew that it wouldn't hold throughout the day). I'm not a huge makeup wearer, so I had no idea what I wanted in terms of that, but knew I didn't want to be too "overdone". I gave Harmony my hair accessory and told her to do whatever she thought and told her my feelings about the makeup and she nailed both hair and makeup on the first try for both me and my MOH! Everything was replicated on the day of the wedding with no problems at all! She was so easy going and made us so comfortable! We both had airbrush makeup and false lashes which I would also recommend to anyone! Harmony is well worth every penny that she charges!
Imagine Studios - *A* We had Imagine Studios (from Caesar's) for our ceremony and immediately following the ceremony as it was included in our wedding package. They were also responsible for our wedding video. We were really pleased with how our photos came out but we definitely weren't interested in the $600 to purchase our 83 photos on a DVD. Our wedding video was good quality and we had no issues around that. We get 20 4x6s included with our wedding package and haven't yet received those, so I can't comment on print quality.
John Morris Photography -
*A* We had John Morris for 3 hours after our ceremony for pictures. We did a few shots outside Caesars and shots outside the Bellagio and went to the Vegas sign. We don't yet have any photos back, so I can't comment on that, but John was great to work with. He was very easy going and gave us great direction for shots. He was very comfortable to be around and we can't wait to get our photo's back!
Presidential Limos - *C* We had a 8 person limo for 2 hours for our mini strip tour when getting our photos done. Our first limo we had was great - AC worked wonderfully! However when we got to the LV sign, our limo overheated and broke down.. We were waiting 20+ minutes in the scorching heat for a new limo, which, when arrived, had the worst AC setup ever - it was actually cooler when we rolled down the windows while driving. Because we were stuck in the heat, our limo driver offered to take us around for another hour, but at that point, we were done with being outdoors and just wanted to go back to our hotel (didn't help that the AC in the second limo sucked either). We went back to our hotel and were only charged for one hour of service. If there was any good point about the limo breaking down, it was that it happened at our last stop, because once we got back to the hotel, we were so overheated ourselves that we wouldn't have been able to continue having photo's taken anyway - that and all of our flowers had wilted so much due to the heat that they weren't much good to be photographed anymore.
MGM Grand Buffet - *D* We had chosen to do an informal supper with our family after we were done photos and since the majority of our guests stayed at the MGM Grand, we chose to do the buffet there as our guests had said they wanted to do a buffet for selection and speed. We are also having an at home reception, so we did not care to have a big, formal dinner in Vegas. We changed out of wedding attire and everyone wore casual clothes. I had called the buffet prior to leaving for Vegas and asked about reservations, however I was told it wasn't necessary and that we could all show up and be seated in the same area with no problems. We did not all have to sit at the same table - we just wanted to sit in the same area. When we arrived, some of our family members went ahead and spoke with the person doing the seating and was told it would not be a problem and we would all be seated in the same area. When myself and my husband, along with our parents and siblings arrived, we were rudely told that it couldn't happen. I explained that I had called previously and was told it would be no problem, and that we had family already seated who were told it would be no problem, and I was ignorantly asked if I would like to be seated at a table by myself. We were seated across the restaurant from family who had already arrived, and our siblings were sat even further away from us, despite the fact they were directly behind us in the line. I would have understood if the restaurant was full, however it was not and not 10 minutes after we were seated, multiple parties were sat with our first family members who were seated.
Double Decker Bus - *A* We did a DDB tour from 9-11 the night of the wedding - it was excellent and everyone enjoyed it to the fullest! We did a strip tour and caught the 10pm light show at Fremont Street! I would recommend it to anyone!!
Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino - *A* We stayed here from Friday - Wednesday. Good, clean hotel - Miracle Mile shops were great and so convenient to visit! Both myself and my husband thought the buffet here was great and we ate there a couple times during our stay.
Here's the link to our professional pictures from Imagine Studios!
www.imaginestudioslv.com .. click on my photos then follow the link that comes on that page - look through recent photos for the Strowbridge gallery and the password is strowbridgec