Faith4Keep's Wedding Review | Day 3 of 5 - WEDDING!! RECEPTION! Later: Group Tour of Strip

Re: Faith4Keep's Wedding Review | Day 3 of 5 - WEDDING!! RECEPTION! Later: Group Tour of Strip

• [Deleted User] member

  

  February 2015

  Originally, I really didn't want to do first look photos. But at some point I started getting really nervous about our timeline, and I wanted to have lots of photos to choose from of my groom and I. I had always wanted to see my groom's reaction to me while I was walking down the aisle, but I read up a lot on first look photos. One thing that spoke to me was that you can have a more genuine reaction when you have a first look because the bride and groom can actually talk to each other, hug, kiss, whatever. That really appealed to me so despite my traditional thoughts, we did the first look.
  
  My groom and I had joked beforehand that I should bring him a drink at the first look and that's how he'd really know it's love. So my sister and I stopped at a bar and we ordered a screwdriver. I couldn't believe they made a bride pay for the drink but it is what it is!
  
  10am - We got to the first look area about 15 minutes late due to the aforementioned delays in getting ready. We met outside at the garden/waterfall area at Tropicana. Our photographer got my groom all set up and then met me to start taking photos. This part was kind of awkward because she'd have me take a step, stop, look at the camera, look away, etc. when I was within 10ft and in earshot of my groom. So, that all didn't play out like I expected but it wasn't bad- just nice to know what to expect. It felt like a game of red light/green light.
  
  I finally reached my groom and his first reaction was a huge smile  Then he saw the screwdriver and burst out in a huge fit of laughter. We had some sips then set the drink down for some formal photos.
  
  Once our photo session was done, we started walking to the chapel!
  
  I'm attaching a photo from our portrait session, this is a "preview" photo from the photographer, I don't get all the photos for another 3-4 weeks.
  
  

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• missbruiser member

  

  February 2015

  This is great! I am really enjoying your reviews. Thank you.

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• finallymrsroberts member

  

  February 2015

  Hurray! I haven't read yet, I'm saving it until the little ones in bed, but I've been checking in very now and then all weekend for this update! Thanks so much for all your effort x

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• hmgiffor member

  

  February 2015

  Your reviews are awesome! Thank you so much for sharing about the timeline. I have finally figured out the photography timeline but not the full day. This was really helpful!

  

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• vegasbaby2015 member

  

  February 2015

  I also appreciate the detailed reviews and timeline! Looks like you had a pretty ambitious timeline! Were you exhausted at the end of it all?!

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• DixeChik19 member

  

  February 2015

  Loving the reviews!  It is definitely making me think about my day... and these details you are including are so helpful!

  

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• [Deleted User] member

  

  February 2015

  @vegasbaby2015 - By 3pm, we were completely DONE. For some reason we had this idea that we were going to be drunk on mimosas and would want to be partying! But we were so exhausted from everything leading up to that point - so many different events, places to be, people to meet, SMILING FOR THE DAMN CAMERA...... we were so excited just to be together and say nothing!!!
  
  OK - I'm writing the next section now!
  

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• [Deleted User] member

  

  February 2015

  So we started the walk to the chapel. It was me, my groom, my sister, and the photographer. We got lots of looks throughout the casino!!
  
  As we approached the Havana Room, we saw a couple of our friends and family standing outside. I had sent an e-mail and posted on our wedding website to PLEASE be early because the Havana Room can be tough to find inside the hotel. We even heard some guests mention that they "found the chapel" but we weren't getting married at the Chapel in Tropicana. So while I did have request to have folks arrive early, the day before was the first time my coordinator told me that the doors wouldn't open until 10:45am. Only a few people knew we were doing a first look - not to say it was a secret, but I think the people standing there were a little shocked to see my groom and I together. The groom's mother was especially displeased but... ah well.
  
  We met our officiant in a side room and went through what we were looking for. As I had spoken about in another thread. I was little concerned about certain parts of the ceremony so we had written up what we wanted exactly but I had left it at home!! By this point we were sort of in a throw-your-hands-up-and-hope-it-goes-okay mode so if the officiant wanted to talk about how our unity candle represented the burning passion of love and eternity blah blah blah I was going to be OK with that. He asked us how long we knew each other and how we met. He also went through the ceremony step by step with us, when we would do rings and we practiced (I might have put the ring on the wrong hand!), and he asked if we would like prayer (no). I was also concerned because I didn't have a bridesmaid to hold my bouquet and nor a best man to hold the rings. This turned out perfectly fine as well because there was a table up front where everything would be set. They let us know the individual unity candles were in a candle holder and that we should use our other hand to steady it before picking up or setting back down the individual candles.
  
  The DOC provided me my bouquet and taught me how to hold it (at my bellybutton, not any higher). She managed to get corsages and buotonierrs to the right people without me ever seeing her do it!
  
  Somewhere in this timeframe, our DOC introduced us to someone who was the videographer. We were a little surprised since we had opted out of this service and had the money for that credited to other services but.....he was there....so we didn't feel like we could say no. By the way, this wasn't the first thing that we opted out of but received anyway - strawberries & champagne delivered to the room comes to mind. It seems like maybe the Tropicana has wedding day procedures that most people don't stray from. OK back to the videographer. We didn't want a video. We're never going to watch it. She said that the videographer would be up at the front and around us. I must have shown visual distress at this point, because the DOC assured us it would be nice and "not cheesy". My main concern was that we had specifically said to many people along the way we did NOT want anyone up at the front or in our faces during the ceremony. We told her we had opted out, and she seemed confused, but they were going to proceed anyway.
  
  But then I remembered that our photographer had specifically asked if there would be anyone else taking photos or videos at our wedding. We had also specifically asked guests to NOT take photos during the wedding so our photographer could capture them, not them taking photos. So I was really relieved when our DOC came back and asked if we didn't want the videographer. We said that no, we really didn't want him to film the wedding. Fast forward to later on, when our photographer told us the guy had been really rude to her, telling her where she could and couldn't stand so that he could get the best shots. You may recall from another post of mine that we paid $850 on top on the package price to opt OUT of the provided photographer, basically paid a fee to bring our own. We really wanted the best possible pictures. So, I'm not pleased that we had a videographer bossing her around, although he was probably used to working with whomever the hotel provides normally. I'm SO SO glad we got to opt out of using him, both for the sake of our photos, and because we really didn't want it anyway.
  
  The next 10 minutes seemed like the longest of my life. I didn't know what to say or do. I just kept walking around the room in circles. Finally, I heard our DOC say to me, "the string trio is now playing the last song before the processional, as you requested." I didn't even realize the string trio was playing up to that point - I was truly in la la land. I had asked them to play more pop/contemporary songs rather than classical music as guests entered. For the actual processional, here is what I was having them play:
  
  Pre-Processional - "When I fall in love" - Nat King Cole
  Processional - "A Thousand Years" - Christina Perri
  Bride's Processional - Canon in D
  Unity Candle - Somewhere Out There from An American Tale
  
  I asked for a pre-processional both because I really wanted that song to play at my wedding (and I didn't have a long group of people to walk down an aisle) and because I thought it'd be a good idea to have a good, long, final moment of "Okay, here we go", while listening to this song. It worked out great. I'm pretty sure the string trio or A/V team started amping up the volume, signifying to guests that something was about to happen. For me it was one of my favorite parts of the wedding, as all of us were standing in line waiting to walk, but all quiet and listening at the same time.
  
  Before I knew it, our small trail of people started heading down the aisle. My stepmom and my brother, my groom's mom and stepfather, the officiant, and finally the groom. They closed the curtains and it was my turn.
  
  Suddenly, I realized I hadn't looked at myself in the mirror in probably 20 minutes, because the side room to the Havana Room didn't have any mirrors except in the bathroom. I heard the officiant say, "Please rise" and the DOC asked, "Are you ready"? Canon in D began playing and I frantically asked, "Do I look okay?!". She rushed over and also noticed that my hair was not curling and did the best she could in about 10 seconds.
  
  The curtains opened and in front of me was a long, dark wood aisle covered in rose petals. I also had the Havana Room set up with lit candles for a romantic feel. All I could see (or at least take in) was all of our friends & family standing and looking at me.
  
  So a few things about this moment and those that follow:
  
  1) I didn't see my groom until I was standing right in front of him. He was kind of standing behind the guests instead of at the end of the aisle. But, I don't know, I think I was just so overwhelmed with everything at that moment that unless I had mentally told myself to look for the groom when the curtains were about to open, I would not have seen him or looked for him. This made me really thankful to have done a first look, because I didn't have whatever "that" feeling was that I thought I was going to have. I did have a rush of emotions when the curtain opened and the walk down the aisle, but it didn't have to do with how my groom was looking at me.
  
  2) I was SO afraid of falling on the rose petals. We had real rose petals on the wood floor and a few days before the wedding I had read on the The Knot that they can get really slippery. Sure enough, my DOC had told me to be careful because she had slipped and fallen on the petals (and she was wearing flats!). I told my dad to HANG ON and to not let me fall and I'm pretty sure I repeated myself as we were walking down the aisle, lol!
  
  3) I couldn't stop looking at my friends and family, all staring at me! It was so surreal to have all of them here, in one place, at one time. It made me, so, so happy. I mean, we have parties and we see people, and it's fun and all. But it really hit me (when they weren't yelling HEY to me ! ) that we were doing something ceremonial and special that day, and it was all about me and my fiance.
  
  4) Again I was in la la land because I don't remember the string trio playing Canon in D at all except right before the curtains opened. It could have been silent and I wouldn't have known the difference. But I'm still glad I chose that song.
  
  OK - one major to-do down. I made it down the aisle without falling! Woo!
  

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• vegasbaby2015 member

  

  February 2015

  I'm really glad to hear about your feelings in these moments! I'm SO nervous about my walk down the aisle, and I'm worried my heart will be racing all day! Any advice to lessen the anxiety?!

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• [Deleted User] member

  

  February 2015

  @vegasbaby2015 - I think that was just one bonus of me having an earlier wedding, I didn't really have much time to think about it!! But I do think the advice of "be emotionally present" is very good. Stress all you want until your wedding day but when it actually arrives, try to forget those feeling and remember that you're doing something really important that day: you are making a lifelong commitment. And that is far more important than a walk down an aisle

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• [Deleted User] member

  

  February 2015

  OK so I made it down the aisle!! Everything from here throughout the ceremony was a real blur. The officiant started the ceremony with "It all started 2 years ago with the borrowing of some books." which made our attendees all burst out in laughter. He took our "how long" and "how we met" story and incorporated it into the first line; which he must do for everyone but it immediately made everyone feel that this was a very personal ceremony. After that he said some things, kind of did a twist on "Love is patient, Love is kind" without actually reading the verse. Then, he asked is if we had anything we wanted to share with one another. That was a surprise! Looking back, we both think that he just probably was in the "zone" and accidentally said that. We both kind of looked at each other and said...ummm...no...?? So that was kind of interesting. 

  
  

  As I mentioned before we had a unity candle. It only takes a few seconds to light a candle so I wasn't sure how we were going to do that since I was having the string trio play a 2 minute song. What they did was begin playing when we started exchanging rings. So the second the officiant handed my groom my rings, they began playing. I thought that would be weird but it totally wasn't. Many people commented about how beautiful this part of the ceremony was. So then we walked over to do our unity candle....

  
  

  After watching numerous YouTube videos of brides catching their hair or dress on fire years ago, all of this fear suddenly came rushing into me. I remember both the officiant and the DOC to say to be very careful with the candles. What ended up happening was that once I picked up my candle, my hand was shaking SO MUCH the candle was going everywhere. The funny thing is that I wasn't nervous or anything for the wedding itself, so in my mind I couldn't understand why my candle was flying around in front of me. Plus my groom was having no problems at all, haha. I was doing some nervous laughter and the attendees were nervously laughing too. I remember trying so hard to get my candle to the middle candle and my groom patiently waiting for me....hahahaha. I recall whispering a comment like, "shit what is happening?!" and my groom saying, "it's okay sweetheart". I was reminded just yesterday that they had put a microphone on my groom for the would-be videographer and just to amp up the volume in the room, so anyone that was sitting right next to a speaker heard that entire exchange even over the string trio.... whoops! 

  
  

  Once that was over all we had to do was repeat the vows! Luckily neither of those flubbed those up, and despite our concerns that we would be vowing things we didn't believe or we felt were "not us", everything was fine. There was only one line that we wouldn't have included, "And I reserve my intimacy exclusively for you". We of course absolutely mean that as a part of being married, it was just a weird thing to vow in front of family. 

  
  

  Before we knew it, approximately 9 minutes later, we were turned around facing our audience and "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis & The News came on and we were dancing our way down the aisle! 

  
  

  By the way - the wedding started right on time at 11am and ended at about 11:10/11:15am. So in terms of my timeline, we're way ahead of schedule!

  
  

  Officiant gets an A (I can get his actual name if someone wants), many people thought he did an excellent job both and not talking too much and saying the right things. 

  
  

  Overall, Tropicana Weddings gets an A-. I so hesitate to put the minus on there, but there were a few things that were just a little difficult to deal with (videographer, coordinating the included complimentary one night stay I never got - more info later, and of course the photography madness).Tropicana hands down provides the best value wedding we could find anywhere even close to the strip. We had what I think was the most expensive wedding package, and they allowed us to sub-in for things we weren't using (like bridesmaids flowers), so I didn't have to pay for things I wanted (like candles in the room). I wish that I could have had this same exact wedding closer to the heart of the strip, but quite a few of our friends did walk to/from Tropicana to the strip so it really wasn't that far away. Also, the fact that Tropicana isn't beautiful on the outside or a highly memorable hotel are both things that were bummers to me, but what mattered most was the wedding venue and value for our dollar, and Tropicana really offers a lot compared to everywhere else. Even with the added money for the photographer, we came in way under the package prices for Aria, Cosmopolitan, Bellagio, Paris, Wynn, etc. and got many other things we would have had to upgrade at those places, like the String Trio. Would definitely recommend you give them a shot. 

  
  

  So this was a tricky part - we had to get 1/2 of our guests onto a shuttle bus over to Cosmopolitan. We didn't have official ushers so I had written a program based on the "So You're Going to Sit Through A Wedding" that you may have seen on Pinterest and put all the info in there. Everyone was really well-informed after reading it. We also put our seating chart list in our program too, eliminating the need for an actual chart or really anything else at the reception. We had assigned one of the groom's friends to stay on our shuttle bus the entire time to "direct" the bus where to go- this was a requirement of the company. Overall this process seemed to go really smoothly. We had those we wanted in family formal stay behind (they would go on the second round of shuttling with us). Remember we didn't have huge amounts of family present so this only took about 10 minutes max. 

  
  

  Since the shuttle still hadn't arrived back from Cosmo, we decided to try to get some more of the bride/groom photos we wanted. We headed over to the casino. Recall that it is 11:25am! We first started at the roulette table and changed $100 and put some money on 2, 7, and 15 - our wedding date. Our photographer tried to take photos you know...kind of sneaky... but since the casino was pretty empty the dealers and pitboss crew saw her. They actually invited her into the pit to let her get a better angle!! That was a big surprise and a very nice gift of the Tropicana to do that. Next we went over to craps and had some photos taken there. The coupiers were not having it, but she got a good amount of photos before they told her to stop. Kind of funny, considering the craps table was just 2 tables away from the roulette table.

  
  

  We walked back over to the shuttle area and the bus arrived just a few minutes later! Here's a picture of me walking out the doors to the shuttle bus my stepmom took! Sorry I can't get it re-sized for some reason!! 

  
  

  
  

  

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• missbruiser member

  

  February 2015

  I love the Tropicana. Glad to hear it went well.

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• vegasbaby2015 member

  

  February 2015

  Thanks for the advice. That's exactly what I will try to do!

  You look beautiful! Love your dress!

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• xoeden member

  

  February 2015

  Talk about an adorable dress! What a perfect mix of bridal glam and Vegas sunshine!

  

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• zoevegas2015 member

  

  February 2015

  Thanks for the wrote up, great reading and gorgeous dress How big was your group for the strip tour?

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• Knottie83318556 member

  

  February 2015

  @faith4keep the suspense is killing me - keep going with the rest of the day as soon as possible!!

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• zoevegas2015 member

  

  February 2015

  Yes come on... We need more!

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• [Deleted User] member

  

  February 2015

  Sorry friends!!! I'm back!! We were just on a business trip / mini moon in Mexico. I should have warned you in advance  
  
  Also you GUYS!! My photographer came out with some preview photos of our wedding day!! Check them out! You can sort of piece together my story with the photos haha : http://www.joyelan.com/2015/02/20/married-pam-ted-destination-wedding-vegas/
  
  Transitioning back to wedding day story (insert smoke & fog & dreamy music here!)
  
  Our shuttle bus arrived in just a few short minutes- the timing of everything worked out perfectly. All of our guests hopped on and we got on last. We sat in the front seat for a short ride over to Cosmo. Our vendor for this was Bell Transportation and they were by far my husband's favorite vendor. Total cost was $72 (!!) for an hour's worth of a 20-person shuttle bus. It was probably the nicest shuttle bus I've been on. It was no party bus, but very clean, leather seats, pleasant driver... very nice. It was a great value and they were easy to deal with ahead of time. We only wished they did Strip tours too! A++!
  
  After arriving in Cosmo- our driver entered a back way, but still dropped us off at the normal taxi/car drop off area if that makes sense- we separated from our group once again for some pictures inside Cosmo. We took a few in the check in area, on the infamous purple couches, then headed up the escalator to the chandelier bar.
  
  In the meantime - our guests were enjoying bloody mary's & mimosas at Wicked Spoon while they did the guest book activity and mingled a bit. I'm not sure if I already mentioned it, but I had sent 2 friends ahead of everyone else (they took a taxi instead of shuttle) and they made sure everything was set up perfectly. They were in charge of setting placards on each table (we made each table a Las Vegas hotel), ensured the room was set up per contract, cake was set up, and guest book area set up as well.
  
  We took pictures in the chandelier area for probably 10 full minutes before a security person stopped us. I mean we were in full on photo shoot (not just quick snaps) and we think we got everything we wanted and much more in that little session. But- security did eventually kick us out. I think we just hit the area at the right time in the security person's rounds.
  
  Finally, we were ready to head to our reception! Early even. I had planned on us making it in around 12:30pm, but we made it there around 12:10/12:15pm.
  
  Since we were not adding anything to the private room (not even our own ipod of music) we just had a family member of mine introduce us. This is one of my favorite memories from the day! We walk in and the room goes WILD literally!!! Everyone was up and out of their chairs screaming and clapping and wooing!! And it just didn't stop! It was very overwhelming!!
  
  We calmed everyone down, thanked them for coming, and sent them off to the buffet!!
  
  Our wedding cake & cake topper was a huge hit - this was definitely the most photographed thing at the wedding. The cake was something that was originally not a big deal to me and ended up being a last minute item, and I couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out. The cake tasted absolutely amazing. We took the entire first tier home - had way more than necessary (as expected). For decor, I gave them this image from pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/174514554285076985/  and told them to make it 3 tiers and square. Pretty good right (check out the photo link above)? The pastry chef at Cosmopolitan gets an A+!!
  
  We wanted everyone to get at least 2 rounds at the buffet in before starting toasts so that everyone was all settled. Toasts were planned to begin around 1pm. A couple of mistakes I made here: we did specifically ask people to give toasts, but never provided an order for these people, which made them anxious. Second, we never told them what time we'd be doing toasts. I told my Aunt to please start telling each table to not return to the buffet once they were seated again so we could do toasts. My Dad was to go first, and he was all ready to go, but we were mysteriously missing my friend who was giving a toast. I didn't want to start until she was back in case she was up but she wasn't there. People could see that (mostly) everyone was seated and ready and even started clinking glasses....but my friend still wasn't back. Her strange disappearance was never explained to me but we waited a good 10 minutes. Looking back, I should have told them all a specific time to avoid that awkwardness.
  
  The toasts were all amazing. They made me both laugh and cry!
  
  Immediately after toasts, we were going to cut the cake. Again, we didn't have an MC, so this was (for me) kind of an awkward transition. You know... "Yay toasts... OK.... now we'll go cut the cake". It seemed really awkward to me and looking back, I wish I had designated my aunt as the overall MC and let her sort of lead all of this. Anyway, we went to go cut the cake. There was a knife set out but no plates. We asked a server for some but ultimately went ahead with the cutting. This is another thing where I recommend you look up online about how this is supposed to go, because we had no idea and had lots of people telling us how to go about cutting the cake, haha.
  
  After the whole shoving cake in each other's face, we were ready for cake to be served. But- no servers were around. We had friends asking the servers and manager on staff for plates (...again) and help to cut the cake. It seemed like it took an extremely long amount of time to get anyone in the room to help us - probably 20 minutes or so... while we awkwardly made our rounds around the room again to keep guests "entertained". Finally we got a pastry person to help cut the cake and slices started going out. Again- the cake tasted wonderful. But at this point we were cutting it close on our room time - around 1:50pm. The manager said we could stay for an extra half hour if we needed, but I know how this goes. We needed to usher everyone out of the room as soon as possible.
  
  So I shouted, "OK, I'm throwing the bouquet!!" But we had to do this out in the hallway due to space. So I tried to corral as many girls as I could out in the hallway (and out of the room!!). Once I had a crowd I made a very nice, lofty toss if I do say so myself! Luckily one of the engaged ladies did in fact catch the bouquet
  
  I was ready to head on out, but I was missing my groom. This is where things start getting a little crazy. People kept trying to say goodbye but I was also trying to usher people to the hallway for a group picture and in the meantime, trying to get people out of the room! Ugh. That was kind of a cluster. Again, I probably would have structured all this a little more and put someone in charge of executing it all rather than being in charge myself.
  
  So let's talk Wicked Spoon: in terms of pre-coordination, they get a C or D. They were not fun to to work with, starting from the very first time we reached out to them and received two very different quotes for minimums (2500 from one person, 3500 from another person). I made my groom deal with them. I also had a lot of issues dealing with the cake as well - they charge per-person instead of quoting by cake size which drove me up the wall (i.e. when we changed our total from 50 to 40, our cake price dropped by $130 - for the SAME CAKE, number of tiers, etc.). They were not very responsive to e-mails and not responsive at ALL to phone calls. For day-of execution, maybe a B or C. Service was not great. We had one server for our entire room of 40. I realize that most drinks were pre-served and a buffet only requires cleaning plates off, but we could have used a little more attention. The whole cake service issue threw everything a little off schedule and we lost some steam. The actual food at Wicked Spoon was of course amazing, and gets an 'A'. Our guests loved it. But from an event planning standpoint, it was not easy.
  
  After saying our goodbyes, we went downstairs to check into our hotel room at Cosmo. Our photographer followed us there since the room was incredible- wraparound terrace - and we took some more photos on our terrace. As well as some specific photos I was looking for.
  
  Around 3pm we said goodbye to our photographer and relished in the silence. My groom helped me out of my dress, I helped him out of his suit, and we proceeded to crash on the bed. We laid in silence for a long while. It was really nice to just be quiet for a little bit, not have anywhere we needed to be or things we needed to do, people we needed to see or cameras to smile for. We had our first kiss without a camera in our face in about 2 days, and that was nice.
  
  Originally we had an idea to have our friends up to our suite before the Strip tour (scheduled for 8pm that night) but since we were staying at Cosmopolitan and most of our guests at Tropicana, we decided against it. We did have some friends come over to drop off the leftover cake for us and their reaction to our room suddenly made us regret not having everyone over.
  
  Next up was the strip tour - meeting everyone at Tropicana around 7:45pm!
  

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• finallymrsroberts member

  

  February 2015

  Brilliant, you photos are wonderful and you look beautiful, thank you for sharing!
  I'm also using Glam Squad, and having Cosmo do my cake and having our reception in a Wraparound Terrace. Your reviews have been so helpful!

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• hmgiffor member

  

  February 2015

  Thank you for sharing your photos! What a beautiful day

  

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• missbruiser member

  

  February 2015

  WOW! WOW! WOW!!!!! Amazing! Love the pics.  What a fantastic wedding!  Love the drink you brought him, lol.

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• [Deleted User] member

  

  February 2015

  @missbruiser I'm so excited for how the photos of that moment turned out, it perfectly represents us!! Ha!
  

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• [Deleted User] member

  

  February 2015

  Ohh I forgot to add about the reception:
  
  1) We had exactly 39 guests, 41 including us, so we did 4 tables of 10, and we sat at a booth together off to the side. That was SUPER WEIRD. Would not recommend. Find a way to sit at a table with your guests. Just my opinion.
  
  2) We did get to eat, unlike what most people say. I actually took two rounds at the buffet myself (but not the dessert area, sad!). Looking back I might not have eaten if it meant I got to spend more time with my guests.
  
  3) Due to the lack of service we received, I definitely would recommend the pitchers of mimosas on the table (we had to request this specifically). I thought this would look really tacky, but they put mimosas in these silver pitchers- not glass carafes as I had envsioned - so it looked fine.
  
  4) We came in way, way under the minimum. We had told people we would be covering bloody marys and mimosas, and that is all people drank. In reality, we would have covered anything else anyone had ordered, but no one did!! I plan on doing a post about all of our financials so I'll talk about that more later.
  
  5) We had one guest under 21, and Wicked Spoon was nice enough to not charge us the drinks fee for him. Of course it didn't matter (due to minimum) but a nice touch.
  

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• Knottie83318556 member

  

  March 2015

  Strip tour! Strip tour! We want details on your strip tour!

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• lauradean89 member

  

  March 2015

  Thank you for the reviews of wicked spoon. I don't think we will come close to the minimum either so we are just planning on having our dinner in the main restaurant.

  
  

  It seems really weird that they charge you per portion size but dont actually make the cake smaller if you have less people.

  
  

  We are having a maximum of 28 people including us (it will probably be closer to 21 once people have RSPV'd). Did you just order a portion of cake for everyone present or did you cut it down a bit lower? In our party we are going to have at least 3 children under the age of 7 as well. I can agree with you about Wicked Spoon being quiet difficult to deal with. Did you pay your dinner total before the wedding? They seem to be asking us to pay much of the total on the day of our wedding which is probably going to make my UK bank have a meltdown (even if I do tell them I will be doing this beforehand). 

  
  

  I love this review though thank you so much

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• [Deleted User] member

  

  March 2015

  Hi! Sorry I've been neglecting you guys. It's been crazy with business travel lately. I'll get a review done before the end of the week on the strip tour. Also I'm having an issue responding to the forum on my Surface (anyone else?).
  
  @lauradean89 - that's the thing! I wanted to do exactly what you are saying. They wouldn't let us order less cake! I wanted to order enough cake for say 25 of my 40 guests because I didn't think some people would eat cake. But they wouldn't let me. They were going to charge per portion based on my total # of guests who attended. So it seemed whether I ordered a two-tier 6" + 8" or a five tier monstrosity, they were just going to charge my guest count times the portion cost. It made absolutely no sense to me. When we changed the guarantee count the cost of the (SAME EXACT) cake changed.
  
  I'm sure you can work something out with them, especially since you have to guarantee a number in advance. We did pay the full bill on a credit card at the end of the reception.
  

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• tcnoble member

  

  March 2015

  faith4keep said:

  Hi! Sorry I've been neglecting you guys. It's been crazy with business travel lately. I'll get a review done before the end of the week on the strip tour. Also I'm having an issue responding to the forum on my Surface (anyone else?).
  
  @lauradean89 - that's the thing! I wanted to do exactly what you are saying. They wouldn't let us order less cake! I wanted to order enough cake for say 25 of my 40 guests because I didn't think some people would eat cake. But they wouldn't let me. They were going to charge per portion based on my total # of guests who attended. So it seemed whether I ordered a two-tier 6" + 8" or a five tier monstrosity, they were just going to charge my guest count times the portion cost. It made absolutely no sense to me. When we changed the guarantee count the cost of the (SAME EXACT) cake changed.
  
  I'm sure you can work something out with them, especially since you have to guarantee a number in advance. We did pay the full bill on a credit card at the end of the reception.
  

  Regarding the cake situation... our venue is similar, except we are bringing our cake in from another vendor. We have 135 guests, but about 200 servings of cake... they charge us per guest (135) but will serve the ENTIRE cake if we want. Really, makes no sense, but not much about the wedding industry does!

  

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• lauradean89 member

  

  March 2015

  Ha yeah this I am learning quiet quickly. 

  
  

  We don't mind paying the balance on the day its more because its going to be an international payment, even if I do tell my credit card company I am going away and will be making a big purchase they will probably decline it to start with and then I will have the stress of trying to call the UK to get them to allow the payment! (happens to us quiet a lot when we go abroad). They always think it must be fraudulent (which I suppose is helpful if your card has actually been cloned) less so if you are trying to make a genuine payment.

  
  

  I am sure we will work something out though. Keep the reviews coming they are amazing and exactly the kind of detail that is really really helpful  

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• [Deleted User] member

  

  March 2015

  OK! Picking things back up late afternoon on my wedding day, before the strip tour.
  
  We laid around and napped until about 5pm, when said friends came over to drop our cake topper. Around 6:15pm we decided we were a little hungry so we popped over to one of our favorites, Secret Pizza, and each had 2 slices for dinner.
  
  We left Cosmopolitan in a cab and arrived around 7:30 to Tropicana. One of our two party buses from Earth Limos was there already for our 8pm tour time. We had 40 people at our wedding total and expected about 30-35 to join for the tour. We had tasked a few friends to be in charge of grabbing alcohol for the 2 buses. To keep things simple we asked them to only buy water and champagne. I gave them $200 to buy those items and they bought PLENTY and handed me back about $100. We also had leftover alcohol from both the bachelor & bachelorette parties that we brought on the bus, too.
  
  We had told everyone to meet us at 7:45pm in the lobby, but the buses were actually located at the bus pick up / drop off. So, I stood in the lobby and directed people there. Luckily everyone was very familiar with the location since we were there earlier in the day. I stayed at the lobby until about 7:55pm waiting for people (we had texted everyone we could, but weren't sure if they all got the message) and then met the group at the bus area.
  
  We ended up reserving 2 buses, a 35 person bus and a 28 person bus. This probably seems like overkill since we thought we'd have 35 guests max. But, we had to reserve buses before we started getting RSVPs in, when we thought we might have 50 people. Second, 35 seats on a bus is very crammed in. We wanted people to have plenty of space to feel comfortable and move around. We needed to do a party bus instead of a DDB because we weren't sure of the weather situation in February.
  
  Our tour itinerary was supposed to hit the following spots:
  
  Las Vegas Sign
  Bellagio Fountains
  Mirage Volcano
  Sirens of TI show
  
  As you can see on their website (http://www.earthlimos.com/vegasstrip.php) the total # of stops is dependent on number of hours. In our communications via e-mail, the company told us for our 2 hrs we could do 4 stops. Originally our tour had Freemont Street, but for several reasons we didn't want to include that (mostly we thought we'd lose people and it's an expensive cab back), so we asked for their recommendation and they suggested the Sirens of TI show.
  
  When we met the drivers, neither of them had a list of stops we had decided on with the company. No big deal. But when we told them where we had planned on going, they first scoffed and said "No way we can get to 4 stops in 2 hours. We'll get to two, maybe 3." And then informed us that the Sirens of TI show has been closed down and not running since NOVEMBER OF 2013!!! Seriously, WTF. As you can see Earth Limos still has Sirens of TI listed on their website as a possible venue. But then to have done all that coordination on the 4 stops with the back office to have the shuttle drivers be on a totally different wavelength was very, very disappointing.
  
  Since we had two buses, we decided we (husband and I) would alternate between the two buses. We started on the bus that had most of our family and a few friends on the bus. So we take off and head first for the Las Vegas sign. We were able to get parked and off the bus pretty easy.
  
  It was a little crowded at the sign, but I think everyone was able to get pictures. After about 5-10 minutes, we headed back for the bus.
  
  This time we get on the second bus with most of our friends. Our second bus was a serious party bus. Everyone was having a fabulous time, dancing, singing, it was awesome. A little bit of a different scene than the first bus
  
  We get to Mirage, and hop off the bus. We walk over to the fountains and ..... there's a sign saying that the show is currently closed and not running due to renovations / continuous improvement. Wow. This was a serious bummer! I was livid (internally) at this point because COME ON. If you run a business that coordinates tours to these places, you should know if they are closed, whether just for good, for renovation, or just closed tonight for winds or whatever else and suggest alternative up front. It was a huge waste of time for us to get to, park at, and walk around at Mirage only to find out there was no show. We stood there for about 3 minutes and went back to the bus. This was a serious let down for me.
  
  So back on the bus. We got back on the bus with our family on it and found that any friends that were on that bus had abandoned it and gone to the second bus with all the friends. It was just our family (my parents and his parents & grandmother) on the second, 28-passenger bus. It was awkward with a capital A. Of course none of our friends want to party with our parents.
  
  We headed over to the Bellagio for the grand finale. The bus parking area there is great with dedicated restrooms in the bus area. The fountains are a short walk from the bus area. Unfortunately, the sidewalk leading to the fountains is narrow and very busy, but I do think everyone was able to snag a good spot before the next show. We arranged ourselves on the sidewalk area that faces Paris, not the Bellagio, which I think is a better view anyway. The show was great - everyone loved it.
  
  This was the last stop and at this point, quite a few of our friends were very happy and wanted to party on the strip, so probably 20-25 friends ditched the bus and stayed at the Bellagio. The bus company tried to get us to combine the people on the two buses so they could get one bus to the next venue, but it was so awkward with our family on one of the buses we just asked them to please send both buses back to Tropicana. Once back at Tropicana, we said our goodbyes to those remaining. We then used our rental car to get back over to Tropicana- my rental car had been sitting in Tropicana's lot since my spa day on Friday afternoon.
  
  We got back to Cosmopolitan, dumped the leftover waters & champagne in our room, and decided we'd go to do a little gambling as husband & wife. We ended up running into some of our drunk, happy friends but hit the hay relatively early.
  
  So based on how the strip tour went, we absolutely would NOT have done it again and have the following suggestions for those of you planning a strip tour:
  
  --> Don't use EarthLimos. They don't talk to their drivers. The back office people are clearly clueless if they suggested to us a show that doesn't even exist.
  
  --> Consider how your different family/friends will interact. Instead of a strip tour (total cost $600 + $100 in additional alcohol we brought) we wish we would have hosted a post-reception party / second reception in our wraparound terrace suite in Cosmopolitan. We could have probably spent $250 on food & beverage and had everyone up to our very spacious suit we were already paying for. Our family probably would have come and said hello and hung out for 30 minutes and made a quick exit, which would have made both them and our friends more comfortable with the social situation. Alternatively, we might have invited friends only to the strip tour although I'm not sure how in the world we would have pulled that off without being very rude.
  
  --> If we were going to do an event like this - whether strip tour or in-suite reception - I wish my photographer was still there. It would have been a nice touch for folks to get good photos in front of the Las Vegas sign or with the fabulous strip view we had in our room. There were also just a lot of fun moments that I wish we could have captured forever in professional photographs.
  
  --> Our strip tour began at 8 and ended at 10. There wasn't a good time to begin/end the tour and allow people to grab dinner. Personally we had dinner early around 6, but I think most people were still stuffed from the buffet that lasted until 2pm. I thought the timing was OK for us, but I would have given some guidance on restaurants and timing on the wedding website.
  
  --> We really struggled with pickup & dropoff location since about half our guests were at Tropicana and the other half were all over the place. I think Tropicana was the "right" choice but it definitely felt like it was a little inconvenient especially at the end of the night. Again, had we not had our family whom we felt obligated to get back to the Tropicana, we probably could have jammed in another stop and just ended the tour at Bellagio (no return to Tropicana). Freemont street could have also been an interesting end to the tour, and another place that most of our guests- many of whom were first time Vegas visitors - would have never seen. I could have provided little slips of paper to everyone with instructions on ways to get back to the strip from freemont (the Deuce, taxi stands, etc.).
  
  Overall the Strip tour was not a good experience for us or our group since we really only got two "real" stops. Most people were going to go see the Bellagio fountains anyway, so the only thing that was of real interest was the Vegas sign. It was a waste of time & money. I wish we would have partied in our suite instead. I think our friends on bus 2 had a great time in between stops partying
  and hanging out with people and enjoying the bus itself but I do think the tour part was a flop. I know that everyone has varying experiences and some people had GREAT experiences with EarthLimos (this is why we booked them!) but I guess what I'm saying is YMMV. I'd be happy to answer any questions about the strip tour & my experience.
  
  I still have so much I want to share with everyone, including our final budget vs. actual numbers! Also, all of my wedding photos are in now, yay! Can't wait to share!
  

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• Knottie83318556 member

  

  March 2015

  I can't wait either!! Thank you so much for your reviews they are amazing.

  
  

  I can't wait to see your photos :-)

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