Earn cash as you plan. Get a $20 gift card for every 200 points with The Knot Rewards
Nevada-Las Vegas
![[Deleted User]](/)
[Deleted User]
member
Photography @ Tropicana (from Little Chapel of the Flowers)
We were all set on the Havana Room at Tropicana. The last piece of the puzzle was photography. Photos are THE most important thing to me. Photography is included in the package and so I asked who they do photography with. Tropicana uses the COTF (http://www.littlechapel.com/products/Photos.aspx#slideshows) and there is absolutely no guest photography.
I looked online and the photography from COTF is everything I absolutely **do not want** for my wedding photos. I swear that planning has been nearly no stress and easy peasy...and this is the first time I feel like I'm going bridezilla. I've looked at the photos in their portfolio and other brides who got married at COTF and posted a link to their photos and I'm really not impressed. The photos fall very flat for me and also include photos that appear to be from points where the photographer is all up in the bride & groom's space during the ceremony, and I absolutely hate that.
Soooo what do I do here? Start looking at other venues? Has anyone convinced Tropicana to allow outside photography (if so what are the magic words?!! )? Or should I suck it up and deal with it? I know that if I don't get shots of the wedding that I like, I will forever regret it. And since we're not allowed to have guests photo the ceremony at all, it's totally in their hands which is REALLY freaking me out!
As an aside. We really want to bring our own photographer (we have an aquaintance who does fantastic wedding photography). I'm going to try to convince my fiance that we *need* to still have her along for our strip tour photos, getting ready photos, post-ceremony photos, and reception photos.
I looked online and the photography from COTF is everything I absolutely **do not want** for my wedding photos. I swear that planning has been nearly no stress and easy peasy...and this is the first time I feel like I'm going bridezilla. I've looked at the photos in their portfolio and other brides who got married at COTF and posted a link to their photos and I'm really not impressed. The photos fall very flat for me and also include photos that appear to be from points where the photographer is all up in the bride & groom's space during the ceremony, and I absolutely hate that.
Soooo what do I do here? Start looking at other venues? Has anyone convinced Tropicana to allow outside photography (if so what are the magic words?!! )? Or should I suck it up and deal with it? I know that if I don't get shots of the wedding that I like, I will forever regret it. And since we're not allowed to have guests photo the ceremony at all, it's totally in their hands which is REALLY freaking me out!
As an aside. We really want to bring our own photographer (we have an aquaintance who does fantastic wedding photography). I'm going to try to convince my fiance that we *need* to still have her along for our strip tour photos, getting ready photos, post-ceremony photos, and reception photos.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Photography @ Tropicana (from Little Chapel of the Flowers)
"Is there absolutely no flexibility on outside photographers?"
"We do not allow any outside photography"
I completely agree with the other comment above. This has got to be the biggest disadvantage to getting married in Las Vegas. Vegas gets a rep for the "quick and dirty" ceremony, and if that's what I wanted then I expect to be paying a HECK of a lot less for my ceremony and I'd be okay with whomever for my ceremony. But when I'm paying thousands upon thousands of dollars for a package, there should be some flexibility on all items, including photography.
I sent my coordinator an e-mail back: "Is there an outside vendor fee we can pay for photography? Frankly, the photos shown on the website are absolutely everything I do not want. If there are no other options then using your provided vendor, it is likely a deal breaker for me." We'll see what happens!
You guys might think we are crazy, but we are going to take the deal. Our friend is charging us $1300 for flying out to LAS, an "engagement session" substitute for ~2hrs, we're going to do a strip tour, plus 7 hours on the wedding day of getting ready, wedding, and reception photos. She retouches ALL of the photos and provides us with a USB of everything and all copyrights. (Can you say best friend/photographer EVER?!)
Here's our reasoning. We assumed that it would have cost ~$600-$700 to get these additional photos from another photographer, and I would almost definitely want the digital photos from the photographer at the wedding. So it's $700+$795 = ~$1500 for taking the included photographer + all extra photos, or $1300+$795 = ~$2100, overall difference of $600. We have no idea how much it would cost to buy photos from this "additional" photographer so that's an added cost. Then, there's the stress of coordinating the additional photographers. THEN, we'll have all sorts of different styles of photography across the whole thing. At least with our friend, we can talk to her about what we're looking for way in advance, she has a great feel for us, and her photography is beautiful. So for all these reasons (but mostly the stress/coordination issue), we are taking the $600 hit and accepting the absolutely bonkers $795 buyout fee.
FWIW, my coordinator offered to help me pick out the "right" photographer from the photography team by looking through photos on the Little Chapel of the Flowers facebook page. Since they employ different photographers we could maybe find someone that is more our style. My fiance and I looked at all the photos...then looked at our friend's photos...there was just no contest. Hers are just WAY better. Photos are just so important to me, the cost is worth it to put my mind at ease.