Little Church of
the West (Forever True package $1520 incl tax) – A++
Our decision for where to tie the knot was an easy one, this
place is so cute and so unlike any of the other options on the strip. Most of
the other chapels we looked at had décor that we just didn’t like whereas the
simplistic beauty of this wooden chapel is right up our street. We booked
online, choosing a package that allowed guests (including our professional
photographer) to take photos from their seats, as some of the cheaper packages
don’t permit this. All email communication I had with the chapel was through
Lisa, she always replied quickly and was very helpful, especially when I
changed the colours of my bouquet a couple of weeks out from the wedding, and
then again one week before! On the day the two six-seater limos included in our
package arrived early, and the one that I was in left a couple of minutes after
the first to ensure I was the last to arrive at the chapel. Lisa greeted me on
my arrival and explained everything, introducing me to the two photographers. The
minister (Paul Graham) was great, we had the standard ceremony, vows and music
that comes with the package, and it was all brilliant – a lot of people have
commented on how nice Paul’s words were (despite knowing how well rehearsed
they are), it did feel really personal. My bouquet was beautiful, I was so sad
to leave it in Vegas when we moved on for our honeymoon, I left it in my mom’s
room for her last two days there and she said it still looked amazing on the
day they left (5 days after the ceremony). The photographers were very nice and
friendly, the photos are a mixed bag but there are some really good ones in
there, we’ve seen all the poses they make you do from looking at other weddings
on the website so we knew what to expect, although they gave us a bit of choice
and I’m sure if we’d requested certain things they would have obliged. Whilst
we got all of the ceremony photos included in our package we decided to also
purchase a CD containing the posed photos too as the ones of our family groups
are great and we know our guests would have ended up buying them online
themselves so we were happy to save them the money and splash out ourselves.
They had told me to book the DDB to pick us up at 3.45 and we were finished
right on time. Whilst we had our photos taken and were viewing them, our
photographer took photos of our guests in and around the garden chapel as there
was not a ceremony there at the time, it was really nice that they were able to
sit down and chill out there in the shade. (NB: I wouldn’t recommend the garden
chapel as it is parking lot adjacent and I’d imagine would be quite noisy if
there are guests milling about from an indoor wedding that has just let out –
although maybe they don’t schedule indoor and outdoor ceremonies at the same
time).
Joey Allen (8
hours $1175) – A+++++++
We loved Joey’s photographic style from the moment we saw
his portfolio and had seen very good reviews for him so we were pretty
confident with this booking but our experience with him far outweighs our good
expectations. This guy is AMAZING. He is such a hard worker - he arrived early,
stayed late, worked through his dinner break and wouldn’t accept any extra fees
(regardless to say we tipped big!). I had sent him quite a large list of my
photo ideas, which I think had stressed him a little as he thought I expected
us to take all of those shots in our 8 hour booking, and despite me assuring
him they were simply ideas he worked tirelessly to try and get as many as
possible whilst also throwing in his own artistic inspiration to capture things
we would never have thought of. Within two days he sent us 20 sample photos and
then at our request he sent another 70 within two weeks for us to showcase at
our home reception. Two days after that the whole lot were in the post on their
way to us (he normally works to a 3-4 week timescale). You can see his awesome
style and his knack for capturing ‘moments’ rather than loads of cheesy posed
photos on his portfolio at joeyallenphoto.com but I have included a couple of
ours here too.
Make-up in the 702
($770) – A++
I had Keira, Deb and Karen booked from here (I requested
Keira and Deb specifically after reading several good reviews about their
work). I had a trial with Keira and Deb the day before the wedding and then
they did my hair and make-up on the wedding day, Keira also did make-up for my
mom and sister, Deb did my sister’s hair, and Karen did my mom’s hair and my
other sister’s hair. These girls are all fantastic, I LOVED them. Keira and Deb
made my time with them so much fun – they are so friendly and funny and are fantastic
at what they do as well. Whilst their work on my trial was amazing, I decided
afterwards that it wasn’t quite what I wanted, decided to do something
different on the wedding day and they listened and nailed it. My sister and mom
loved their make-up (one of my sisters did her own make-up and Keira copied it
perfectly on my other sister), and their hair was great also. I had loads of
bruises on my legs (and my dress was knee length) so Keira applied concealer
and airbrush make-up to them for me – no need for tights! They arrived early
for the trial as well as on the big day and finished way before the scheduled
time. Their communication on the day was great (Keira was texting me) and the
communication from Megan from the time of my original enquiry through booking
up to the big day was fantastic. Yes she has an overly cheesy style but she replies
within 24 hours every time without fail.
UK based bride, getting married in Vegas on 14th April 2014!