Hi everyone
Well i'm back in New Zealand after an amazing three weeks in the US. Absolutely loving being married and finally have time to share my reviews. We only had a very small wedding party (five people) so only a few vendors to review:
The Cosmopolitan Hotel A+
We spent six nights at the Cosmopolitan
in a Wraparound Terrace Suite. I didn't book online, instead I
contacted the hotel and they put me in touch with a wedding
coordinator who was able to give me a much better price for the
wraparound suite then what was advertised. It cost extra to reserve
a suite with a premium view (overlooking the Bellagio and Strip) so I
didn't bother and took our chances at check-in. When we checked in
we asked to be upgraded to a premium view and they said that we could
but the cost would be an extra $30 per night. This was still much
cheaper than reserving the premium suite straight off. The hotel
room was amazing. So big and plenty of space to have visitors. The
balcony was huge and we were so glad we booked the premium view as we
spent lots of time out there on the loungers watching the fountains.
The kitchen has no cutlery, crockery or utensils. The refrigerator
is full of mini bar items but there was still lots of room for us to
put our own alcohol and groceries in. There is also a wine
refrigerator in the kitchen so there was never an issue for space.
The only thing that disappointed us was the fact that the wraparound
suites no longer have washers or dryers. When I questioned the hotel
about this they said that they were in the process of removing all
the washers and dryers from the suites, I'm not sure why? If you
want to play music you need to play it through the tv so you will
need to take your own auxiliary cord. Otherwise you can purchase one
from the hotel for $10 and keep it. We had a small reception (only
five people) in the hotel room after the ceremony and before the
photographer arrived. A couple of days before the wedding I drove to
Wholefoods and purchased food and alcohol for the reception. I
think that we had about eight wholefoods bags in total and we walked
from the carpark to our hotel room passing many hotel staff but no
one questioned us. We were advised that we weren't allowed to take
photographs in the hotel apart from our hotel room. After our
photographer took lots of photos on the balcony we took our chances
and walked through the hotel taking photos in front of some of the
amazing art and sculptures they have there and no one said anything.
We even had photos taken in front of the chandelier bar and nothing
was said either so all in all the hotel was great!
Sahra Spa in the Cosmopolitan A+
Myself and my bridesmaid used the Spa
for our spray tan. I always have concerns with spray tans as they
can look streaky and fake but this one was so natural and looked
great. We started with an all over body exfoliation then a pre tan
full body moisturiser, I really think that both of these things
contributed to how well the spray tan looked and how long it lasted
for. We were able to make use of the spa throughout our treatments
and we felt so relaxed afterwards.
Jennaleigh Bridal A++
I made enquiries about Jennaleigh
bridal after reading another persons review of their services. I
took my wedding dress to the shop on W Flamingo Road as we had
transport and it wasn't a bother to drop it in to be steamed and
pressed. I dropped it in on the Tuesday and it was dropped back to
me on the morning of the wedding (Thursday). They made arrangements
for someone to meet my bridesmaid at the belldesk at 9.30am in the
morning. They were met her there on time and the dress looked
fantastic. They did a wonderful job and I was so happy I used them.
The cost was $90 for the steaming and return of the dress.
Makeup in the 702 A++
Wow! These people certainly live up to
all their reviews. I had concerns about booking hair and make-up as
I was booking from New Zealand so was relying on the reviews I had
seen on Wedding Wire. The service that they provided up to and on
the day was outstanding. Megan was really friendly with all
her communication prior to the wedding and on the day I had Tanya
doing our make-up and Karen doing our hair. I didn't have time for a
trial so I made sure that I knew what I wanted done with hair and
make-up. I used pinterest for inspiration and showed them exactly
what I was after. They both nailed it! It was only a small wedding
so only had one bridesmaid. Karen worked on my hair while Tanya
worked on my bridesmaid make-up, then we swapped. My bridesmaid hair
looked great but she just wanted to make a small change and Karen was
so accommodating, nothing was an issue. Tanya kept showing us our
make-up as we progressed to make sure it was what we were wanting and
it was fantastic. We both loved our air brush make-up and it stayed
until the early hours of the morning. The price included fake
eyelashes and a full size lip gloss for touch ups throughout the day.
Chapel of the Flowers A++
Just like all the other reviews I have
read for COF, these guys were great! Everything was so professional
and we felt so special and looked after. We had Al as our officiant,
and he put us at ease and was able to make the ceremony really
personalised. Lots of people commented that they thought he was
fantastic. We didn't purchase an extra photography package as we had
arranged our own photographer for later in the day but the
photographers that took our photos during the ceremony were great.
We went back to see the the photos and ended up purchasing more than
what was allocated to us in our package as they were fantastic
photos. They even gave us a free mouse mat which had one of our
photos on it. You really can't go wrong with this chapel.
Top Banana Photography A++
I knew I wanted to use Laura from Top
Banana after I read some reviews on Wedding Wire and saw her
portfolio. We went with the extended photo adventure which cost $749
for 2.25 hours and included copyright release to all the photos.
Laura immediately put us at ease as we started taking photos in the
hotel suite. Although I told her I liked the more candid photo shoot
she made sure we didn't miss any of the important shots. She would
tell us how to place ourselves so that she was getting the most
flattering shots and would suggest locations that we hadn't thought
of. We kept our photo shoot to the strip but she has another package
which includes a limo so you could go anywhere within the allocated
timeframe. We haven't seen our finished photos yet. She emailed me
a few days ago to say that she was nearly finished and would post us
the DVD. She is also going to put the photos on Dropbox so that we
can view and share the photos. She showed us some of the photos on
her camera during the shoot and what we saw was great. We are so
looking forward to seeing the final photos!
Scarpetta A++
I spent so much time trolling through
tripadvisor and reading different reviews for different Las Vegas
restaurants. As we only had a small ceremony I really wanted
something that had amazing food and ambience. Scarpetta didn't
disappoint. It was great that they were located in our hotel aswell.
I asked for the five of us to be seated by the windows overlooking
the Bellagio fountains and we were. The service and food was
unbelievably good and well worth the $$ to have an amazing wedding
dinner.
Vegas was the perfect destination wedding, have fun planning your weddings ladies!!
:-)