We chose to have both our religious ceremony and our reception in the Ambassador's Atrium.
They were very flexible with us, and set the room up in a way they never had before s...ince it is what we wanted. The room is beautiful, and even though our day started cloudy, the glass roof makes it special, and the sun broke out just as the ceremony ended.
Our cocktail hour was in the area just outside the atrium. During this hour, we had our formal pictures in the atrium, and the staff "flipped" the room, taking down the rows of chairs and moving the already set tables out from the walls into position for the reception.
At the end of the cocktail hour, we moved back into the atrium, had our toasts and the first dances, and then the buffet was served - which they had set up in the area just outside where the cocktail hour had been. They were masters at resetting things without us ever seeing it! The food was excellent, and again they were flexible, serving all of the dressings and sauces on the side at my request. The servers slid in and out, filling coffee and water, removing used plates, but never disrupting the party.
Lynn was our contact throughout the planning, the rehearsal, and the big day. I just can not say enough good about her! She answered questions gladly, let us come up 3 times to look things over as we were planning, and made great suggestions like taking pictures of the napkin colors to take to the florist with us. She also took so much off my shoulders: she contacted all my vendors the week before the wedding to make sure everything was set (florist, photographer, musician, baker) so I didn't have to. She said to bring all our items (favors, photos, etc.) to the rehearsal the evening before and she would take care of all the set up, and everything was just as I wanted it on wedding day! She came to my hotel room personally to escort me down when it was time for the wedding to start. She offered to put our leftover cake in the fridge overnight, and hold the stuff we brought in as well so we could just load it all in the car after check out the next day which was so much nicer than hauling it to the room.
Having the hotels connected was wonderful, both for me getting ready, and our out of town guests. We had a block of rooms held for our guests, and their feedback was that reservations were quick and easy. They also gave me a junior suite for the block room price, and that was lovely, so handy to have the extra room when getting dressed for a wedding, with people in and out!
The price seemed high when we were first shopping around, but they are such pros at it, we are totally satisfied that we made the right decision. Everything just flowed beautifully, and as I already mentioned, Lynn was amazing. Honestly, not a thing went wrong! And that lack of headaches is worth the price in my book. I highly recommend them!