Writing Assignment: Wedding Makeover!

It's that time again with Mama Kat. This week I couldn't pass up. As soon as I got to prompt #2, I just knew that was the one for me to do....

2.) If you could do your wedding over, how would you do it?(Inspired by this tweet “I am watching TLC’s wedding shows and this makes me want to get married again. Same groom but a totally different ceremony.” by Jen @BuriedWithKids)

My husband and I got married 9 years ago, June 9th, 2001. Before we had decided on the venue, we had looked at local spots and I just had my heart set on one place that I just loved. It was at a golf course in the town next door to us. One of the "must-haves" were palm trees. I really wanted palm trees in our wedding photos. Only thing was, this place was well out of our price range. We were paying for the wedding ourselves and this just wasn't in our budget.

When we came to the reality that we just couldn't afford the local places for what I wanted, we had to make one of two choices:

1. Either wait a few more years to save up the money so we can afford it. Sure, this doesn't sound so bad but by this time, I had already waited 8 yrs and I didn't want to wait any longer.

Or

2. Get married in Las Vegas. Which is what we did.

Sure, I never wanted to get "hitched" in Vegas terms so I wanted to make sure we did it at a nice place and not at one of those Elvis chapels or Drive-up window chapels. Oh, and can't forget the palm trees.....that's a MUST!


So, we started checking the websites for the hotel chapels. By this time, my "soon-to-be" husband and I already knew Vegas. It was basically our second home. We went there often, so we knew what the hotels looked like, just not the chapels. First on my list was the Mirage. I knew they had palm trees galore. Only problem....no chapel. Next! Mandalay Bay Hotel. The chapel was very pretty and it had the palm trees I wanted. I double checked the other hotels but none compared to the Mandalay Bay. In February 2001, we took a trip out to Vegas to check things out and discuss packages, dates, etc. It was confirmed! We we're getting married!!!

Then...we checked the rooms online for the reception cause again, we couldn't afford a hefty price tag so we found the Terrace Suites at the MGM Grand Hotel. Perfect! It was a 1,300 sq ft two-story suite with a 786 sq ft balcony (I know!! Awesome, right?!). We called the hotel to check rates and it was $700 for one night. We booked it!! Everything is going perfect!

I should have known it was too good to be true, because.....

A week before the wedding, since my dad has back problems, he wanted to go into the doctors and get a shot to ease the pain for the drive to & from Vegas so he could enjoy his time. Apparently, a few days later he he was in pain and then the doctor said that the shot had meningitis in it and he needed to get to the hospital. There were a few other people that got the same shot that same day my dad did and they were infected also. A couple of those patients ended up dying too. It was all over the news. It was so scary! Fortunately, my dad was being treated and was okay but he had to stay in the hospital for a week which in turn, missed my wedding.

Once at the ceremony though, the priestess lady held a cell phone with my dad on the other end so he could hear the whole ceremony and my grandfather walked me down the aisle.

Once we got to the MGM Grand for our reception, we learned that supposedly our room had a water break (*cough* bullsh** *cough) and we ended up with a smaller room which didn't allow enough mingling. With that, I was so upset and mad and refused to ever stay at MGM Grand again because they lied to us (Come on now! We all know they gave our room to a highroller. I'm not stupid. Sorry, still a little bitter :/) and only gave us a refund of $100. Oh boy! That really covered the difference. I think NOT!

**Disclaimer: Next month we are going to Vegas and um...yeah, guess where we're staying? After 9 yrs, I have decided to suck it up and stay at MGM Grand hotel. We're gonna try and suck a deal out of them though!! :D

So, if I could do my wedding over, I would have my dad there to give me away. That moment he missed really tore him up and I only hope that next year we can afford to have a beautiful simple ceremony and renew our vows so we can make it up to him.

Also, we would have had the reception at the RIO Suites instead. It was a toss up between the two hotels and in the end chose the wrong hotel. Oh, and when I was 6 months pregnant, we stayed in the suite at the RIO Suites that we were considering. Beautiful too!! Wish we went with that one. Perhaps it would have been a better reception.

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Now it's your turn. Head on over to Mama Kat's and see what others are blogging about.