Our Vegas wedding at Chapel of the Flowers
Originally posted on Chapel of the Flowers website Photo credits: Vanessa Reynolds Fulcher
After watching so many Hollywood movies and sit-coms with scenes taken place at Las Vegas, it was my teenage dream to get married in an elegant chapel in the Sin City. Last summer, Johnny and I were travel companions and Vegas was the first destination of our trip. Soon after, we decided to be travel companions of our life journey and we planned to tie the knot in Vegas as this place has a special meaning to us.
Johnny and I spent hours on the Internet doing research on wedding chapels in Vegas. Some chapels are really old-fashioned and cheesy, I would say, and the packages they offer brought us a good laugh—Halloween wedding, vampire wedding, Egyptian wedding, to mention but a few. I was totally shocked as mentioning death or the ghost is a strict no-no in a Chinese wedding. After a few more clicks, we reached the website of Chapel of the Flowers and both of us thought that we could call it a night as ‘that is it’! We felt more assured when we found more and more positive customer reviews on different wedding websites.
With one-stop service, elegant chapels, beautiful bouquets, live Internet broadcasting and last but not the least, the artistic photographers, Chapel of the Flowers is our ideal pick. Johnny and I have done a pre-wedding photo shoot at a studio in Hong Kong. Those pictures are quite good with pretty costumes, nice backdrops and Photoshop. But those shots are pretty standard. What I have always dreamed of are pictures which are more creative, artistic and natural. And that is the reason why we picked a photography package with a 45-minute on-site and a 2-hour off-site photography session on top of our ceremony package with Chapel of the Flowers. We love every picture on the chapel website. They are art!
It was Johnny who emailed back and forth with our wedding planner, Melody. She always gave us prompt and detailed reply with more suggestions and ideas. I left all the communicating work to Johnny because I had a more important task—picking the dresses and accessories. I felt grateful that I found a nice bridal shop in Hong Kong and the staff were really helpful. As soon as they knew I was going to get married in Vegas, they were very excited. I wanted my wedding gown to be simple but elegant without heavy beadings. Because the more the beadings, the more expensive and heavier the gown will be. I did not want my luggage to be overweight. At first, I was looking to choose a blue or deep purple dress for my off-site photo shoot but the staff suggested that a pink one would suit the energetic and vivid environment of Las Vegas more. I hesitated as pink is usually for the dresses of maid of honour or bridesmaids in Hong Kong. However, once I put the dress on, I loved it! I also got a pink hair pin which was made of the feather of a peacock to go with the dress. Later, I borrowed accessories such as a pearl necklace and a pair of wedding gloves so ‘something’ borrowed’ is done.
I admit that I was an anxious bride so when I met Melody for our consultation, I asked her a list (literally I got a list) of questions. She totally understood that brides always want every single part of the wedding to be perfect and she answered my questions patiently and gave us a lot of useful advice.
Finally, the big day came. The make-up artists from Glamsquad arrived 10 minutes earlier at the hotel room while I was sipping my morning coffee. They set up immediately after I showed them some photos on my computer for their reference. My make-up and hair were done perfectly in less than an hour so I had more time to get ready and took pictures with Johnny and his family. They even left me a bottle of hair spray and some hair pins just in case.
As soon as we arrived at Chapel of the Flowers, we were welcomed by cheerful smiles of the professional team. Before the ceremony started, we had a chance to meet Jerry, our minister, who briefed us the rundown of the ceremony and made sure he pronounced our names correctly. I felt excited when I saw my bouquet. It was far prettier in person than in the photo. I love calla lilies so it was a must to have and the red roses went well with my pink dress. Most important of all, roses symbolize love and romance and they matched with the roses on my gown and hair. The wedding ceremony went smoothly and the Unity Ceremony was a very special touch to our wedding as it symbolized when two becomes one. That was a thoughtful idea to have our candle to bring home as a keepsake.
Next came our photography session. I took my veil off and put on my gloves and a silver hair accessory to have a different look for on-site pictures. Vanessa, our primary photography, did a wonderful job. I explained to her that we had our studio photo shoot in Hong Kong and I longed for something more spontaneous and creative. She captured every detail of my dress, accessories, the rings and more importantly, our love. We adored her style and creativity and she was cheerful all the way through which made the photography session a joyful experience. Unlike some photographers, she kept listening to what I want and incorporated her ideas into mine. During the off-site photo shoot, Vanessa helped us carry big bottles of water in her backpack under the hot weather. How caring of her! Credits also went to Kyle, my lifestyle photographer. He literally went all over the place, such as across the street and a different floor of the mall, to capture the precious moments. The best thing to get married in Vegas is that almost everyone on the street applauded and congratulated us on our marriage. This made me feel special and make the wedding even more memorable.
Just as Johnny and I thought, the photos we got from Vanessa and Kyle are breath-taking and remarkable. We loved the Las Vegas Strips and different locations at the Chapel featured in our photos. Initially, we were thinking to have another outdoor photo shoot in Hong Kong this fall. But now we did not think it is necessary because we had enough beautiful pictures to show to our guests at the wedding banquet to be held next summer in Hong Kong.
All in all, Chapel of the Flowers was better than we expected; everything was well planned out. It was wonderful to know that all we had to do was showing up while the staff at the chapel took care of everything else. We were so happy to have an intimate service, at an elegant venue, with legendary pictures at the Chapel of the Flowers.
