Hey guys! So I'm back from Vegas (have been for 2 weeks but it's been busy!) and I want to start off by saying it was the BEST 8 days of my life! It was my first time in Vegas and will NOT be my last
I live in Toronto, Canada so all planning for this wedding was done from Toronto. The first time I saw everything was right before my wedding, or the day of my wedding.
WestJetB+So it was just a regular no-frills airline. Some airlines have a closet that you can store your dress in, but not WestJet. I had a lace wedding dress so I literally shoved it in my carry on, and put some emergency clothes in my DH carry on. We gave my MIL our wedding favors to take over with her, so we didn't have much wedding stuff to bring on the flight. The flight attendants were nice, no major delays, the only thing were the people on my flight. We left Toronto for Vegas on Thurs June 6th at 9:00 am EST and our flight go in at 11:30 am PST with the 3 hour time difference and everything. Sitting in front of us on the flight was a bachelor party, rowdy and ready to drink. To the left of us was a bachelor party, equally as rowdy and more ready to party. Behind us, a group of girls on a 30th birthday weekend. It was a loud loud loud flight. The flight attendant finally cut everyone off of alcohol, she simply said they ran out. There was personal satellite tv's for everyone, no meal but snacks, soft drinks, tea and coffee were complementary. You could buy other food if you really wanted. We left Vegas for Toronto on Friday June 14th at 11:40 am PST and got into Toronto at 7:30 pm EST, again with the 3 hour time difference. The only thing that really irritated me is with WestJet it doesnt matter if you have your travel buddy in the same booking as you, if you do not check-in online 24 hrs in advance you run the risk of not getting seats side by side. I ended up sitting in the middle seat (ew) behind my DH. But it was only a 4 hour flight so and I slept most of the way. So thats pretty much why I gave them a B+, they also don't tell you a head of time (or at least they didn't tell us) about this advanced check in thing.
BUT the views are absolutely amazing flying in from the East coast. We went over the rockies and the desert was so pretty.
Aria Resort and CasinoA+++++++++++++++++++++++
I love love love this hotel. It was fantastic, it's located in the City Center next to Crystals and the Monte Carlo. You can access both places directly from the resort. There is also a free tram that run between Monte Carlo, Aria, Crystals, and the Bellagio. It runs every 2 mins up until about 4 in the morning. The Aria resort is new and modern. We started the vacation off in a standard room, king size bed, bathroom and a small seating area next to the bed. The decor was really well done, it was tastefully modern. What I really loved about all the rooms in the Aria is they have a master control panel that does everything for you. It looks like a little iPad. You can open/close the blinds, turn on/off any light in the room, contact the hotel services and even change the privacy on your room door. Pic 1. My dress and my wedding flowers (I will get to those next) 2. the view out of our window.
So our room was on a non-smoking floor, and on Sunday we really started to notice the smell of marijuana in our hallway when we were walking to and from the room. By mid-day Monday the smell was really strong. My DH is a police officer and was kind of upset about it. So we went down to speak with the manager on duty at the time, Sabrina, and she was amazing! My DH said it was our honeymoon, we're in a 5 star resort and this was not something he expected he would have to deal with. He also mentioned that he was a police officer and he didn't want to be around that kind of stuff. She was so apologetic about the situation and upgraded us to a corner suite. That upgrade would have cost us an extra $3000. And I almost died when I saw this room. It was amazing. It had a massive sitting room, powder room, extra fridge at no cost WITH an ice maker so it was handy we didn't have to leave the room to get it, large bedroom with a king size bed and the bathroom. MY WORD, I could have spent the rest of our honeymoon there. Panorama shot of our bathroom, I'm seriously obsessed with it.
Total cost of hotel for 8 nights and round trip air fair for 2: $2,200 CDNBunchesDirect.Com
A+
So being a frugal bride I wanted to save money wherever I could. I watched some tutorials on making bouquets for weddings and tested some out at home with flowers from the market and it was honestly really easy.
As I live in Canada I ordered the flowers I wanted 2 weeks in advance and had them delivered to the Aria. They held them at the business center for me, they charged me a $10.00 fee for holding them, and the flowers were waiting for me when I checked into the hotel. I put them in water to rest until Friday night around 7:30-8:00 when I made the bouquets. I wrapped the stems with ribbon the next morning. Anyway I had 10 hydrangea's, 10 medium sunflowers, 10 small sunflowers and 50 carnations. The flowers arrived in perfect condition, in full bloom with no damage to them whatsoever. I had 4 bridesmaids bouquets, 4 boutonnieres and my bridal bouquet. The only shot I have of my bouquet is after a photo shoot in 106 degree weather so the hydrangeas took a bit of a beating.
Total cost of all flowers: $157.00 USD
Al Phillips Formal Wear and Tuxedo Rental
A+
So we rented the tuxes from Al Phillips and it was really good. They have a really good selection of suits/tuxes and a HUGE selection of vets and tie colours and styles. You take all your measurments at home and order the tux online, a minimum of 1 week in advance. You can pick the tux up (the store is located in the Flimingo Hotel) or you can provide your hotel information and they will drop it at the hotel and pick it up the next day, all at no cost to you. If the sizing is wrong or you need a tailor they will send someone to your hotel room to fix any issues you have. We had 4 different guys all at different hotels and everything went smoothly.
Total cost for one tux: $160.00 USD