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| - Susan saved the day! We love Vegas, got engaged in Vegas, so why not get married there too! We originally planned a small (us and 4-6 friends) wedding on July 4th and then our little wedding grew to over 40 people just a few weeks before the wedding date. I was a basket case trying to figure out how to pull it off. So, my fiance and I came to Vegas to get things sorted and on a whim popped into the Forever Grand Chapel. I had checked it out online months before, but it didn't seem to meet our smaller needs based on what I read online. We walked in and Susan greeted us and asked if she could help. I explained our predicament and she said that they could absolutely offer a solution that fit our size and budget. The wedding planners were booked the rest of the day, so we came back the next day. We met with Kenzi and within in 15 minutes everything was set. As this was her last day, Mari Cruz became our wedding planner and we met with her as well.
My fiance was happy that I was again happy and not stressed out of my mind. He really doesn't like all the detail bits, so he gave them his credit card and headed back to Los Angeles while I worked out the specifics.
We opted for a package that is only offered certain times of the year and on certain days - why the restrictions I don't know, seems silly. Had I known about this package a few months earlier I would have gone with Forever Grand from the start. And, in the end, we added lots of little extras and ended up with something similar to a larger package. I would love to see the starter package (J'adore $600) that got us interested on the website. We had to get approval to buy the special package, but it was granted.
We had always planned a morning wedding and so, 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 4, 2015, it was and the chapel was available. There was a Saturday premium that started out at $300, but somehow became $400.
I upgraded the floral package and provided pictures of what I was looking for in my bouquet and those of my attendants. They came out spectacularly well. I was thrilled. Exactly what I wanted. And, added boutineers for the guys. (about $375 add'l)
We went for the standard music picked from the website. We were going to make our own CD, but just ran out of time. It would have been nice to just pay them for the music, but it worked out fine.
We chose a civil ceremony as part of our package and it was lovely. We handled the marriage license paperwork ourselves; it's a snap online. The ceremony took about 15 minutes and the photography after about 20 to 30 minutes.
What is super cool is that there is a bride's changing room that is part of the package. I was able to put on my gown there with my attendants to help. We ordered champagne and had that while I got ready. The groom and groomsmen also have a room to wait in. Everyone but the bride needs to be ready when they arrive.
We upgraded the photo package as well to include a photo session after the ceremony with ourselves and wedding party. Then, after that we had a session with the photographer with just my husband and I. ($135 ish) NOTE: There are not photography or videos allowed to be taken inside the chapel, so if you don't do the photo thing, you wont have any pictures.
We opted for the online broadcast/ webcast ($69) and that was fantastic as my husband's family live a 29 hour plane flight away and it wasn't possible for my family to fly either. People could watch the ceremony live and we opted for it to remain available for a month afterwards. We also bought the DVD ($200).
The day after the ceremony, you meet with the Cashman Photo rep (our rep was Kathy King and she was so delightful) to see your photos. And, you have the opportunity to buy lots more stuff! My husband said he trusted me implicitly to pick the right photos and so he didn't come with me. When I arrived there were a few flown up photos of us and they show you a photo montage. There are basically two choices of what to buy as far as packages. It makes absolutely no sense to buy the cheaper one because for $100 more you get basically everything. So, I opted for the 2nd package. I think it was about $1,000 but you get 2 big pics to take with you, a 4x6 of all the pics, a cd with all the pics (high and low res), a photo album, thank you photo cards, one giant print or two 16x20 prints or a 20x30, and an 11x14 so like I said it is a no brainer to go with package #2. You can buy things individually if you want to as well. The pictures were great and we were very happy.
The one thing, I don't recall that they offer was retouching and I would have liked that on some of the pictures. I'll sort that out and update my review. We had no issues at all with the process and we were on incredibly short lead time. We are so thankful to Susan, Kenzi and Mari Cruz who pulled it all together for us and to the floral arranger, photographer and minister who put the finishing touches on our day.
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