So, we got married in the summer but have only just got around to reviewing our vendors as we came straight back from honeymoon & got snowed under with work! It was also quite depressing being back in the UK after having such an amazing time so we were putting off thinking about it. We planned our wedding from the UK & had never been to Vegas before so hopefully this will help some of you doing the same! :-)
The Cosmopolitan Hotel - A
This place is lush! We only had one issue with noise from a club opposite the hotel the night before the wedding BUT they responded well to our complaint and everything else about this hotel was totally amazing. The balcony overlooking the Bellagio was the main reason we chose this place and the decor was very opulent & luxurious so we felt really spoilt! The wedding photos we had taken inside the cosmo, especially in the chandelier bar, came out really well. We are booking to go back for our anniversary! The casino is ok but my DH was disappointed with the lack of poker tables.
Amelia C hair & make up - A+
I was unsure whether to book someone to do my hair & make up, as I had a bad experience at a trial in the UK and was thinking I might just do it myself. I'm so glad I changed my mind! The email exchanges we had before I left the UK were really helpful. Amelia arrived promptly for the trial the day before the wedding and immediately put me at ease. I gave her very little direction other than to show her my veil/extensions & briefly describe the kind of wedding we were having; she was friendly and chatted all through the process and I LOVED the final result. I had that evening to keep my extensions in & see how the hair & make up held up in the August heat & there were only minor adjustments needed on the big day. Amelia made me look and feel totally amazing and I cannot recommend her enough (and I'm usually someone who hates having my hair done!) The hair and make up lasted well into the night on the wedding day and looked great in pictures. I'm totally going to book her again one day just so I can feel that fabulous again!
Bentley and Wilson Photography - A+
We really feel that Todd under-sells himself! When we started planning our wedding we knew that photography would be one of the most important things as we eloped and wanted a record of our day together that we could share with our families when we got home. We felft that the pictures on his website were slightly underwhelming but his prices were reasonable so we went with it and booked him for 8 hours. He arrived promptly at our hotel and immediately started snapping pics. He was easy to talk to which was a relief as he was going to be following us for a long time! He shot pics of us getting ready, first looks, around the hotel, at the chapel, the Vegas sign, the Neon Museum, the Bellagio fountains & casino. He was really good at clearing busy areas and making sure he got the shots he wanted! We had a 'lively' wedding which involved a smoke machine & quite a lot of dancing but he took it in his stride & somehow (despite no prior warning about the nature of our ceremony) got great candid pics. We had the photos delivered to us in the UK about 3 weeks after the wedding and were nervous opening the package but WOW! They are beautiful! He gave us approx. 800 prints and a disc of everything, I'll try and post some examples on here soon. Top tip! Ask him for some shots at the 'Hangover parking lot' at night, you get great pics with the strip & luxor pyramid in the background :-)
Neon Boneyard / Museum - B
We booked the Boneyard for an hour for a photo shoot. The email and phone contact we had with them prior to the visit was good, it was expensive but we thought it would be worth it! We deliberately booked it for just before sunset to capture some low sunlight & this really paid off. They were friendly on the day but they are VERY strict on timings, you get your hour exactly (understandable, they start running tours again right after you leave). The only reason we gave it a B is because although the signs are beautiful & make a good back-drop we just felt like it wasn't curated particularly well, there are some signs not really visible as they are heaped on one another. Not sure if this is a space issue but we just felt they could be doing more with this place. We really didn't want to say anything negative about them because we totally support the restoration work this place is doing but... there it is.
Viva Las Vegas Chapel -A+
We booked the Elvis 'Pink Caddy' package in the main chapel. As we had no family attending we contacted the 501st division of the Neon Garrison (Star Wars characters) and had 2 storm troopers, Boba Fett and Darth Vader as our attendants! Yup we're geeks. The 501st are a charity so we donated to the 'Make A Wish' foundation via them and the chapel were really good about letting them stand at the altar with us. The ceremony was very Vegas, we made our entrance through the smoke in their pink caddy, Elvis sang & we danced & there were some themed vows thrown in. We loved it but I'm sure it's not everyone's cup of tea so do your research if you're considering it! We watched lots of the chapel's weddings on youtube to get a feel for it so we knew exactly what was going to happen & how long it would take (10 mins!) The red rose bouquet included in the package was a much better quality than I thought it would be, I'm just sad we had to throw it in the bin at McCarren airport when we left Vegas as we couldn't take it on honeymoon with us! The wedding was streamed live via the internet to our family and friends back home & the web link worked fine, we also got a copy of it on DVD & paid for the 30 day video archive on the website which meant we could watch it in our hotel that night! Our 'Elvis' performed brilliantly, he probably has to do that job a zillion times a day but we didn't feel rushed. We paid to have Todd come in & do our photos instead of using the chapel's photographer so I can't comment of the quality of that.
Presidential Limos - A+
We hired a limo to take us on our strip tours for the evening. No complaints, the driver was friendly & got us to everywhere we needed to be. Easy breezy!
Hope this will be helpful to someone, I was stalking this forum continuously when we started planning our wedding so felt it only fair to give something back! :-) x