My Favorite photo... we are adding this to our Thank You cards. :)
Day Before
Sorry, I never wear makeup on airplanes...
Amazing photo Jason caught of the Grand Canyon from the plane.
Our Hotel ·································· The Big Day
My
beautiful dress! (Maggie Sottero - Shirley)
DH always asks me how much I love him.
I'm still trying to figure out where this was taken! The
AMAZING James working his magic
My wonderful MOH Rebecca (& Hidden BM Amy) helping me into my
dress.
Going to find my groom. I was a nervous wreck walking through the
casino.... There was a large group of guys that cheered VERY loud and
got everyone else cheering, it helped me loosen up! :)
DH & I decided to do a first look at the Brooklyn bridge and
then we all headed out to the Vegas Sign.
If you are in a time crunch, make sure you are not taking the public
bus to the sign. It NEVER showed up to pick us back up. We
waited 45 mins before DH finally waived down an SUV who actually pulled
over and gave all 7 of us a ride back. The buses are supposed
to come every 8 mins!
I was laughing at something but DH named this "Bridezilla", lol.
Waiting for our families to show up to do formals.... snuck in some
bridals! :)
If you need to use a bench in Vegas, you will most likely be sitting
next to a homeless person.
On our way back to the hotel to meet the limo and head to the
courthouse.
Getting our marriage license.
Going back to the chapel with the license in hand.
Door way to the chapel.
My grandfather giving me away.
The happiest moment of my life!
(if you use this chapel, be sure to watch out for the candle! I almost
caught on fire... it's VERY close)
The gazebo outside the chapel.
Mom thought birdseed was a good idea, I am not sure I agreed! lol. Mom
looks THRILLED.
Bridal Bouquet
Yolo's mexican grill - Planet Hollywood
Outside of Yolo's
I almost died laughing when I turned around to see DH getting
permission to dance in the Pleasure Pit!!!
(Planet Hollywood Casino)
This is for Steph - A fellow knottie/nestie
·································· Day After
If
you get married in Vegas, you have to get a photo with Elvis.
They are there everyday, all day. (Near Coca-Cola)
The Bubble Butt Bubble Blower. lol
I saw these chandeliers on-line and fell in love with them. This was
really my only MUST TAKE photo, I just wish we could have done it the
day of the wedding. (I got elevation sickness at dinner or we would
have) This photo was taken in Planet Hollywood, downstairs from the
main casino floor. It
took me forever to find someone who knew what I was talking about.
The dealer told me that I have a crappy throw! LOL
The same pit boss that allowed DH in the Pleasure Pit kept people from
walking up the stairs for our photos! She was VERY sweet.
Running to get to the Bellagio Water show. Luckily we did because right
after it was over they announced that it was the last one for the day
so that they could do maintenance. (The photographer was flying out a
few hrs later)
The run was WELL worth it!
Bellagio front gate (this is where I got my dress really dirty)
Brooklyn Bridge - NYNY Hotel
This could be my FAV pic! I love my shoes!!!
I was so lucky to have my grandfather with me to give me away! I love
this picture of us.
Reviews
Photographer
- Jason AngeliniA++
I knew from the day that I saw Jason's work, he was going to photograph
my wedding. There is nothing that I can say about Jason that hasn't
already been said. Jason was absolutely wonderful the whole time he was
with us in Vegas. He really does go above and beyond the call of duty.
Jason will do anything to get the perfect shot which he proved when he
almost got eaten by an escalator & run over by cars (on several
occasions). He was so wonderful with my whole family but especially my
little sister Kellie (she's 11) and she absolutely adored him. We
brought Jason to Vegas with us as our photographer, but he left as our
friend. I am looking forward to our future family and possibly a few
maternity sessions! ;) If you are looking for an amazing photographer,
I highly recommend Jason Angelini!!
Hair
& Make up - Glamsquad
A+
Make up: James is FABULOUS! Everything that you have heard
about him is true. I originally thought that I was spending too much on
hair
and makeup but I am so glad that I did, James is worth EVERY penny. I
had
normal makeup applied and I felt so beautiful on my wedding day.My mother had promised to do my little
sisters hair and makeup and then at the last minute backed out and said
she
didn't have the time. James was so sweet and helped me out with her and
she
looked just as beautiful as the rest of us.
Hair: Unfortunately for the life of me, I can not remember
the girl’s name that did our hair. She was however, just as
fabulous as James.
I got so many compliments, I felt like a princess.
Reception
- Yolo's
Mexican Grill (Planet Hollywood) A+ Yolo's is not a very large place but it was
perfect for our group of 20 guests. They blocked off the back corner of
the restaurant and I honestly felt like we had the place to ourselves.
The decor is so bright and beautiful it made for some gorgeous
backdrops for photographs of DH & I. The staff was amazing and
really went out of their way to make sure everything was perfect, and
that I didn't have to lift a finger. The allowed for a champagne
toast(with out champagne) as well as plates to serve the cake on and
did not charge us for either. If you ever go to Yolo's request Richard
to be your waiter, he was awesome!!! We went back to Yolo's to
eat our last night in Vegas.
Ceremony
- A Special
Memory
ChapelB-
We were married in the "Purple Chapel". It has been recently remodeled
and is very beautiful.
We had a few problems with this chapel. The limo driver picked us up
and went to drop us off at the chapel to "fill out our paperwork", when
I told him I already had it, he stopped there anyway and left us in the
car. When he came back he kicked out our bridal party and dropped us
off at the court house and said someone would be there to pick us up.
It was a man in an SUV who was not only speaking very loudly on his
cell phone when we got in but he also talked badly about every chapel
we passed on the way back. It was very awkward for us and very
unprofessional in my opinion. We chose not to use the limo to take us
to the reception. They shuffle everyone around to get as many tips as
possible and I didn't feel comfortable with the whole situation.
When we got to the Chapel with marriage license in tow, the chapel
tried to not allow us to use our 20% off coupon, that I was told over
the phone that we would be allowed to use.
The "wedding
coordinator" did not do a good job at all. We were all told to just
start walking, when I should have waited. I didn't realize it until I
saw the DVD but the bridal march did not start playing until I was
almost at the alter.
We received a DVD of the ceremony with our
package. The DVD is pixilated/ low resolution. I am very upset about
it, but there's nothing we can do now. At least we have something.
Even with all of the issues.... I still recommend the chapel, the
inside is beautifully decorated, the outside grounds are pretty and the
price was much less than other chapels. We booked them solely because
they allowed us to pay a reasonable fine to have our photographer
there, its all we really cared about. Unlike all of the other chapels
that we inquired about, A Special Memory was the most flexible.
Dress
- Maria’s
BridalA Maria, Shelia & Mary Lou, were absolutely
wonderful to me. I fell
in love with a dress from Maggie Sottero's Spring 09 catalog. I was so
nervous about ordering it without ever seeing it in person or trying it
on. Sheila assured me that "Shirley" was stunning and would look
amazing on me. I took the plunge, placed the order and I am so glad
that I did!! I could not have dreamed of a more perfect dress!! I
received so many compliments on my wedding day... now I just have to
figure out how I can wear her again :)
Hotel/ Honeymoon - ExcaliburHotelF+
I recommend that if you are booking the Excalibur to save
some money, pay a little extra to stay across the street at a different
hotel, it is NOT worth it.
It’s not just rude service, but dirty rooms. The ONLY
reason why this hotel did not receive an F- is
because they recycle. DH and I are huge on recycling and it really
impressed me
that every trash can in the hotel had a note that said they sort and
recycle. We
did not see another hotel that advertised they recycled.
However, everything else
related to the hotel was an
absolute disaster.
Check In: DH and I paid for
ourselves and our photographer to stay in
the "upgraded" rooms in tower 2. Our problems started at check in. We
went to check in and it was actually closed. My stepfather asked if
there was
"Any" way to check in early (he was willing to pay) and they told us
"no, to check in our bags and come back in 2 hours". Okay,
whatever.... After standing in the bag check in line for 15-30mins, we
walk out
and the room check in line was HUGE and they were actually checking
everyone
in. 4 of us stood in line, while I sent DH back to stand in the line to
get our
bags. When we got to the front to actually check in our CSR was
absolutely
rude.
Day 1: We finally “checked
in” and went upstairs to our room... Our
photographers room was 5 or 6 doors down from ours when he went to his
room,
opened the door, the room was turned upside down. Sheets, towels and
trash
everywhere.... It had not been cleaned yet. He went down to speak with
the maid
and let her know that he just checked in and his room was not clean.
She told
him that he would need to wait an hr until she came back from lunch.
(Seriously?)
He literally had to fight with her until she finally agreed to clean
it.
Unfortunately, we did not know about it and he had to sit in the
hallway until
his room got cleaned. Our "upgraded" rooms included a dresser that
was literally falling apart, a comforter with 3 large rips in it and a
shower
that instead of cleaning the grout, they continued to re-grout over it
(you
could tell where the new grout had fallen off and the dirty grout
showed).DH and I took quick showers and
got ready to
go out. While we were out, I got an email to my phone for a $77.20
charge on
our credit card, I didn’t think too much of it at the time. We
came back late
and went to bed quickly (never really having a chance to fully
"inspect" our room).
Day 2: We woke up early on our
wedding day and the chaos started.
At our wedding dinner I ended up getting elevation sickness and had to
go back
to the room by myself to lay down. While I was there I called the front
desk
about the charge. I was told that the girl who checked us in must not
have
closed out of our account and it will automatically put a hold on your
credit
card. I can understand if they hold $75 or $100 but $77.20??? I wonder
if it
would have stayed there if I never noticed it. Anyway, they said they
would
take care of it.
Day 3: DH and I wake up and DH found
roaches in the bathroom. We
then happened to notice that there were bodily fluids on our headboard.
I am
sure you can figure out what it was and it was not from us because DH
and I had
not had a moment alone to do anything like that. DH immediately went
downstairs
and complained to the manager. The supervisor then came up and
whispered to the
manager to make sure he verified it. They wouldn't even switch our room
because
they were "booked". So they told DH that they were "VIPing our
room and would send someone up immediately to clean it." (We later
found
out that “Viping your room” means absolutely nothing). We
left.... Came back at
around 2:00pm and the room was still dirty. Called down to the desk
AGAIN and
were told AGAIN that someone would be up. We left again, came back and
the
"stuff" was still on our headboard. I called AGAIN, this time they
actually sent someone up within 5-10 minutes. When she showed up, she
was
bringing in towels. I told her that I didn't need towels or the room
cleaned,
but the headboard needed to be cleaned and actually showed her what was
wrong.
She told me to hold on, called her supervisor and started laughing
hysterically
after she said what was on the headboard. I got on the phone and the
supervisor
told me that the night crew is not able to clean the headboards, that
we had to
wait until the morning and someone would be there at 10:30. DH and I
were so
disgusted. I tried to call Southwest to
get a flight out in the morning, but we were unable to (read review on
southwest) We slept as far away from it as we could without falling off
the
bed.
Day 4: We went out to breakfast, got
back to our room around noon.
Our room had not been touched. I go to look for the maid and actually
find her
supervisor walking down the hallway. I explained to her what was wrong
and she
gave me a BS excuse about how they marked the wrong room with the
problem and
she would send someone in immediately. The maid showed up and we left.
The room
was finally properly cleaned.Later on
in the evening I checked my bank account again and the charges were
still
there. I had to call the bank myself and fight the charges because the
hotel
never contacted them.
Day 5: We spent the whole day out of
the hotel, so we did not have
any complaints.
Day 6: We flew back home.
Tux -
Tuxedo Junction D
I was assured over the phone that the ties and vests matched in color
and texture. This was 100% not true. The best mans tie was several
shades darker than the vest. My husbands only button popped off 20
minutes into our wedding, from there he literally started falling apart
at the seams. It was a disaster.
Bridal
Shoes - OnlineShoes.com A+
I purchased my bridal shoes from Onlineshoes.com. I could
not have been more happy with my purchase. I purchased my shoes 15% off
plus
free shipping, free returns & they have a 365 day return policy.
You can’t
beat that!
Bridesmaid
Dresses - Charlotte
Russe A
My MOH picked out the BM dresses. They were perfect and very
inexpensive. My girls looked so cute in them!
Travel -
Southwest
Vacations
C–
I love Southwest but I do not recommend booking a vacation through
southwest vacations. If for
any reason you need to get an earlier or later flight
than
scheduled, if you book your ticket through the vacations you are not
able to
make any changes. If for some reason you would like to, you have to
purchase
new tickets.
Planet
Hollywood A+
This is just a general review of this hotel, we did not stay at Planet
Hollywood but we enjoyed it so much, I had to leave a review. I would
say we spent about 85% of our time in Vegas at
Planet Hollywood Casino. The staff is just amazing and they treat
everyone with
the up most importance whether you are staying at the hotel or not. The
beginning of our trip to Vegas was so horrible between our hotel and my
elevation sickness that we were dead set on never returning to Vegas
again. If
we do decide to return, there is no doubt that we will be staying at
Planet
Hollywood.
DH and I were in actually in Planet
Hollywood and ran into Marcus
Collins & John Hagen from the Texas Tenors (America's Got
Talent). We took a pic with them and after speaking with them for about
15 minutes and explaining how we were just married and having a
horrible time because of the problems with our hotel, they made a phone
call and got us tickets to their show!.....Front Row & Center
tickets!!! We could literally lean forward and touch the stage.... Even
Marcus & John were impressed with the seats we got, they saw us
while performing. :) DH was able
to catch Kevin Skinners Guitar pick! It was so weird seeing Jerry
Springer in person and not on tv. We even got to meet all of the
acts after the show. (Even Grandma Lee). DH even saw Audrey Day walking
through the casino while I was in the bathroom.
Please excuse the terrible picture of me!
This was taken from our seat.
If you need any
help or have any questions for me you can reach me at
Savannah6783@yahoo.com
