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| - My husband and I did a lot of research on Vegas wedding chapels before making our final choice on Chapel of the Flowers. We needed to find one that would do a Wiccan handfasting ceremony. Chapel of the Flowers they said that they had done handfasting ceremonies before and it wouldn't be a problem at all. So about 3 months before the wedding we booked it and paid in full. We picked this place for the most part due to the photos, they are beautiful and that is something that was/is very important to us. The pricing is a bit high but we had no problem paying it because the grounds looked very nice, the service had been ok, not bad but not out standing either and again great photos.
Fast forward to two weeks before the wedding. We get an email from our wedding planner saying that the ceremony we sent will not work. She said that the ministers will not read a ceremony written out like that and that it also seemed to long. Their weddings are about 11-13 minutes, ours was about 12 minutes which I told her so it fit in the time line perfectly. There is a part of the ceremony called the hand ties and she said that they would just use that part in replacement for the unity candle, which was fine since we didn't want that any way but they wouldn't use anything else. She said that they want to incorporate as much as they can for us and asked me what was most important. I told her that a standard handfasting is between one hour to an hour and a half, getting it down to 11 minutes doesn't leave us room to cut it down any further. I asked if she would send me the ceremony the ministers use so that my husband and I could work with both that and what we have so that we get what we want and the minister is happy. Then she tells me they don't have anything written out. What? They don't have anything written out but they can't use the FULL written out ceremony we sent them? I said ok well then how do they do this. She said that each minister will speak with the bride and groom before the wedding starts to get to know us a bit and then just says whatever he feels fits us. She recommended we watch some of the weddings they have on the web site which we did. They are all ok I guess but seem awkward, you can tell that the minister doesn't know anything about the couple, they stumble and it just it's great. My husband and I did not want anything close to the normal "Do you take... blah blah blah" It's not us and not at all what we wanted. We also didn't want someone who doesn't know us trying to be funny about who we are. I told her that I didn't understand why if they don't have a standard ceremony, can't they use ours? She said that they have done it in the past but the couples haven't been happy with it because it doesn't run as smooth. So now we are two weeks before our wedding and being told that they can't do something they said they could and it's kind of the biggest part of our wedding. I talked to the wedding planner about canceling and she said that we could but would have to pay $300. Now had it been my mistake I would gladly have paid that, it would have only been right but it wasn't us, they were not holding up to their end of the contract and what we had been told not only over the phone but in writing. Keep in mind that at no point did the wedding planner apologize for any of the... we'll say, misunderstanding. She just kept saying what they can and can not do.
I talked to her manager who confirmed the same info. She said that they had done "the hand ties before" and that is why they said it would be fine. I told her that in the future she and her staff should ask people if they are Wiccan or Pagan, if so these people may likely want more then just a hand tie and will not want the standard and awkward Do you take... blah blah blah ceremony. I don't think they misled us on purpose, they just aren't educated and they should be since weddings are what they do. I told her that I expected a FULL refund and she did do that.
Now, if you look on the web site and talk to them they tell you that all the ministers are non denominational which is true. However if you dig really deep and hunt for it you'll find that they are non denominational Christianity ministers. I think this is where the problem truly lies. Our ceremony talked of our God and Goddess. I'm thinking this is where the problem is. Again it's ok if they don't want to speak of Wiccan God's and Goddess's but this is another place where education comes in.
Thank Goddess our second choice place happen to have availability the same day and time. We got everything and more for less money and it couldn't have been more perfect.
If you want something out of the norm you must be VERY clear and have them read it before you book and start planning here.
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