| rev:text
| - Tough review to write, because it's hard to separate how happy I am in my marriage from how happy I was with the wedding. But, this review needs to be written.
Nichole was our wedding planner. It was a small wedding, just 20 guests total. That isn't an unusual size for the Forever Grand chapel. There are two chapel rooms, one for weddings about our size and one for weddings about twice that size. It would be easy to say that we didn't get the stellar customer service because of the size of our wedding (oh, they must have been focused on bigger events) which is why I bring up the size. If anything, this is in the sweet spot for Forever Grand. Events the size of ours should be where they excel.
Most of the folks who get married here do not live in Las Vegas. It's a destination wedding, and we were no different. We were really taken by the Hollywood Glamour package, which was around $1200 and included vintage hair and makeup, some flowers, some photos, videography, the chapel, the officiant, and the services of a wedding planner. The price seemed very reasonable. And no running around trying to schedule and arrange all those different services? Was exactly the "no muss, no fuss" we were looking for.
We booked four months in advance. From the very first contact with Forever Grand, I was nervous.
The first email reply from our wedding planner, with the contract for us to sign and deposit to make to hold the chapel? It was wrong. In fact, it listed that day's date as the date of our wedding, and listed that as the date to pay the remaining balance as well. Not a good start. First contact and the attention to detail is not there. Any bride (or groom who has a bride) can tell you, weddings are ALL about details. You go on a website like theknot.com and you find out you have a couple hundred decisions to make before your wedding. You need all of those to run smoothly.
But hey, maybe it's just a one time thing? So we get the corrected version of the contract. It looks ok. Send it back. Yay, we have a wedding started!
Next couple emails are pretty slow replies. But hey, she is mostly working on weddings that are only a few weeks out, so no worries right?
We get the questionnaire via email that lets us make about 100 different decisions. So we spend a couple weeks getting those nailed down and send it back. Our wedding is really simple. Just a matron of honor and a best man. No other bridesmaids, no groomsmen, no flower girl, no ring bearer. No rehearsal. Should be as easy as pie.
The only real customization we had was that we wanted red and cream sand for our sand ceremony, we wanted a completely civil ceremony (not religious at all), some upgraded flowers at the front, and special music to play when we exited (which we provided on CD). Four things total that we were deciding. Everything else was pretty much, do whatever you normally do.
So we get our confirmation email, and it has someone else's name and email address on it. WTF? Seriously? Another call back to Nichole. Oops, sorry, we will send you the right one.
Ok, here we go. Check it over, looks good, looks, good. Hey wait a minute. Our contract said there was a $100 weekend premium. This says $200. Another call to Nichole. Oops, sorry. Send you the right one.
Alright, I am now pretty nervous about whether anything is actually going to turn out ok. And mind you, I am the groom! I shouldn't be nervous about anything other than oversleeping the morning of the ceremony.
So we show up a couple days in advance to Vegas. We stop by the chapel. Everything is good. It's all going to be fine. Sigh of relief. We will be ok.
Or not.
Day of the ceremony. Everybody getting ready. Stand here. Walk there. When this happens, you do this. Ok, we are good to go. Stand. Wait. Stand. Wait. aaaaaaaand. Here Comes The Bride! Yay! We are getting married! Father of the bride makes his handoff. Female guests are crying. We turn to face the officiant.
He starts in on bible verses.
WHAT. THE. FUCK.
What part of "we want a civil ceremony" was not understood?
Now mind you, I have been to church plenty of times. And the bible verses used in weddings aren't exactly the worst sentiments ever. Heck, we all like to hear that we are going to be happy forever with the support of our families. And I am sure some of the people in the audience were happy to hear those verses. But we didn't ask for them.
Go through the steps of the wedding. It is far too late to try to change anything anyway. Just take them as kind words. It's a beautiful day. Smile and enjoy.
Time for the sand ceremony. And, the sand isn't red. It's tan. So instead of the red and cream, we have tan and white. Sigh.
As we leave, our music plays. And we are caught up in the joy of being married. It is a wonderful day with friends and family.
If you don't care about details, Forever Grand is 4 stars.
If you do, or your bride does? Expect maybe half of your requests to be honored and accurate. Two stars.
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