09/12/07

Perfect Day

by jason_x

We just got back from getting married at the chapel at Treasure Island. Everything went very smoothly. Our ceremony was on a Friday afternoon and we had about 55 people. It seemed like that was pretty close to the capacity of the chapel. Our concerns going in were that the chapel and the flowers, etc., were going to be cheesy or very basic, but they were not. The Elegance (basic) package we purchased included a beautiful bouquet and boutonniere. The chapel is small but well decorated and traditional in appearance. Even though I am sure the minister had performed a million of these ceremonies, he did a wonderful job in making the ceremony feel very personal to us. The ceremony itself was around 10 minutes and you have a choice of religious, or civil. We chose the civil and we're very pleased. After the ceremony, we had our dinner at the hotel buffet. For a large group, I would highly suggest this. Food and service were great. We had a couple young ones with our party so keep that in mind when planning a dinner as very few restaurants here allow children.

Tips:

* Go to the chapel in advance to talk with them. We didn't know ahead of time that we needed to do this. We were just stopping by to check it out but apparently they needed us there to finalize some things with us.

* Make sure the wedding party knows in advance of what the plan is after ceremony. We were whisked away for pictures with the TI photographer. Our group was hanging out wondering what to do until I was able to break away for a second and tell them all we'd meet them downstairs.

* Buy the bulk of your photos online after you get home. I think we got caught up in the moment and bought more than we needed.

* When getting the marriage license downtown (which took a whole 5 min) buy the certified copy of the wedding license. This is an extra $7 but that's what is needed for name change, etc.

* Feel free to ask me any questions at jhayez@gmail dot com.

• Pros: Value, Service, Very little planning needed on our part
• Cons: Must use TI photographer - but he did good job