Wedding Day Reviews - 10/3/2013 Part 1 (Aria, Flowers, HMUA, Photography) Edited: Pictures added!
We held our wedding ceremony and post-reception party here. What can I say but WOW. We spent the night before the wedding there and then the night of the wedding. It fit our guests easily and was just breathtaking with stunning views of the Strip. The Sky Suites staff treat you like royalty too! The only downside: late check-out was something like $50. Even though we mentioned we had gotten married the front desk didn’t waive the fee. That is only one minor complaint though, overall the penthouse was just perfect. We will definitely stay there again, maybe for a special birthday or an anniversary!
Blooms By the Box/Whole Blossoms – A+++
I ordered my flowers online in bulk. It was probably one of the best ideas I had! My best friend arranged them for me (she worked in a flower shop in high school and does a lot of weddings on the side). I ordered dendrobium orchids, some greens, cream roses and Picasso calla lilies; the roses showed up looking pretty beaten up and didn’t really recover for the most part, so roses probably aren’t ideal for mail-order. But everything else was in great condition and arrived right on time!
Desert Glamour/Whitney Larios (HMUA): B+
Whitney and her assistant showed up on time and did a really nice job with everyone’s hair and makeup. They were fun and easy to work with and really took our preferences into account. I loved how natural my makeup looked and my veil stayed in place although even though it was being blown all over the place when taking our pictures outside. One of my bridesmaids even remarked that she liked her hair better than how it was on her wedding day! However Whitney ran late and we almost started the ceremony late as a result. I had originally booked her to be done an hour before the ceremony was supposed to start, but they didn’t finish until something like 20 minutes before the ceremony. That would have been okay except for the fact that we weren’t able to put out most of the decorations until after they left because a lot of the chairs and open spaces in the room were being used by them (which is totally fine, no issues there).
Luckily my bridesmaids were real life-savers and cleaned the whole penthouse up, arranged all the flowers and decorations and seating in time for the guests to show up… but if it hadn’t been for their help the guests would have seen me in a mad dash trying to get the room in order right up until the ceremony started. I do understand there could have been a variety of reasons for why the hair and makeup took so long – but I had been very clear when scheduling the appointment that my bridesmaids have a lot of hair that can be tough to style, so really there was no excuse for running so late – only Whitney and her assistant can know how much time they need. In the end everything turned out okay but I was really stressed and frankly irritated that the preparations came down to the wire like that when it could have been avoided.
Todd (Bently & Wilson) A+++
Everything positive people have said on here about Todd is true. He is on time, professional, very flexible and everyone liked him. He was super laid-back and took exactly the pictures I had asked him to take. Personally I prefer more photojournalistic style pictures than what he typically does but he did take a lot of really beautiful candid shots. Ultimately we chose him because I love how he composes his shots and how he frames the Strip into the background of the pictures – and he did not disappoint! In 4 hours he took over 1000 shots and we have over 200 favourites, and no pictures that I actually dislike. I had emailed him a list of shots that I wanted and he brought it with him and actually had most of it memorized which goes to show how much effort he puts into doing quality work. He pretty much just followed us around as we took pictures around the Aria and Bellagio, and stopped when we did. He made a few suggestions here and there but generally was laid-back, friendly and very professional. I couldn’t be happier that we chose Todd!
Re: Wedding Day Reviews - 10/3/2013 Part 1 (Aria, Flowers, HMUA, Photography) Edited: Pictures added!
Otag: we had 19 people including the two of us, plus two toddlers. A few of our guests ended up standing but there were enough chairs in the penthouse for the "older" guests (parents) to sit down. I think we had about 8 chairs set up in total but only four people sat down, everyone else was standing for some reason. We could have sat more people on the couches but it really wasn't necessary.
For the bar, they have a couple of counter spaces, one of them had a cupboard underneath so we stored the alcohol there during the ceremony, and while we were off taking pictures we encouraged the guests to stay upstairs and help themselves. We bought wine, beer, spirits and a few kinds of pop at one of the corner stores, as well as plastic cups and plastic wine glasses. We had a champagne table set up right in the entrance so as people came in they grabbed a glass of champagne to drink before the ceremony. I hope that answers your questions... I will try posting some pictures here if I can figure out how.
We did have music, I believe we hooked up my iPhone to the TV in the living room which I think had surround sound (although I could be wrong, my husband took care of all the technology stuff).
Why we chose the panoramic penthouse... there were a lot of factors that went into our decision, and we went back and forth quite a bit. One major factor was we wanted to do an in-suite wedding, without the chance we may get hassled by the hotel. At the time that we booked everything the Aria didn't offer weddings yet so we figured they couldn't get us in trouble for "stealing" business from a wedding chapel. However by the time our date rolled around they had already started doing weddings at Aria but we still didn't get any problems even with having Travis singing in the room
We also really wanted to have our reception dinner at Julian Serrano downstairs, and we figured it would be easier for our guests to have to only go downstairs rather than take a cab or limo up and down the strip from the ceremony to reception and then their own hotel after. Pretty much everyone stayed at the Vdara so they were nice and close.
Also given some of the reviews I have read on here of the Vista suite, where Mandalay staff either tells people they are being too loud for no reason, or where they book the Vista suite and don't get it, we felt safer going with the Aria since it isn't really a destination yet for "secret" wedding ceremonies or receptions.
I think the other main reason we chose the suite we did is that the layout was really perfect for an in-suite ceremony. A lot of the penthouses, even the super large ones (like at Bellagio, Venetian etc) are crammed with furniture or have a layout that really doesn't lend itself well to a wedding. The panoramic penthouse was perfect, there was basically a pre-created aisle from the bedroom up to the spot between the pillars where we stood with our wedding party, and then the "dining" area was perfect for the guests to sit and watch the ceremony.
Pretty sure those our our main reasons, the full-length windows were another huge draw for us and the whole suite is very modern and elegant. We definitely did our research, we looked at rooms all over the Strip but really the Aria was the right choice for us. I hope that helps!
Vintagecircus: we had our reception at Julian Serrano but only had 19 guests plus two toddlers. I'm not sure if that restaurant could accommodate 100 guests, but they did a fantastic job with our reception so I highly recommend at least asking them. Most of the restaurants at Aria do wedding receptions/group dining, there is actually a downloadable brochure somewhere on the Aria website. If you email their group dining co-ordinator they are very helpful.
We made it the Bellagio and back with lots of time, however we didn't take a lot of pictures by the fountains because it was too windy for them to go off that night. We took the tram which was a good idea for us because we got some great candid shots in, and were able to stop and take pictures along the way to the main attractions like the Bellagio garden and fountains.
Keep in mind that tourists can be extremely rude, nobody was willing to move aside so we could take pictures by the fountains even though they had announced that the show was cancelled. Our bridal party had to form a human wall in places so people would stop walking through the shots - so depending on how busy the touristy areas are around the strip, you may need to factor in time just to get some space to yourself.