Hilton Tucson El Conquistador Resort

I also felt pricing was very transparent (no hidden fees) and information was provided early on, which is so necessary for planning. Our wedding day was beautiful. The bar staff and waiters were above and beyond with their service. Hiring security was worth the cost it as well. We heard from guests many individuals from another party tried to crash our event, but they were all turned away appropriately. My husband and I never once saw an uninvited guest! And I'm happy my family and friends didn't have to act as a bouncer all night. We held the ceremony on Sunset Point and cocktail hour/reception in Sundance Cafe + patio. Having access to the patio all night was wonderful for guests overheated from dancing. We were notified early on in planning that based on our reception location (cafe is right off the lobby and sound can travel easy, compared to their ballrooms), if any hotel guests complained about noise we would be asked to turn the music down after 10p (though reception was until 11p), but no one complained! Of note, they also have a 5 hour max for the open bar (likely state/liquor license restrictions), so keep that in mind when determining how long to have your reception. We thoroughly enjoyed having a bridal suite and being on site/one location for our entire wedding day. We were allowed to check in early and allowed late check out as well. Lastly, Amanda had champagne and chocolate covered strawberries delivered to our room post-wedding, which was such a beautiful touch and kind gesture. Would get married here all over again in a heartbeat.

and incorporation of desert nature into the design. We used three sites in the resort for our fusion Indian-Mexican wedding- The Last Territory for Sangeet (the traditional night of singing/dancing before the wedding), Spawell for Haldi (ceremony with turmeric to bless the couple), and the Sundance Lawn for the Shaadi (wedding ceremony). The Last Territory provided a fun, informal environment for the night before. We had to rent additional stage/lighting to allow for our program. The next morning, the mountains behind Spawell and the peaceful setting gave me a moment of serenity before the big day. The ramada next to the pond in the Sundance Lawn was the perfect site for ceremonial rituals, and we had to rent a tent to keep our guests comfortable. The hotel staff was pleasant to work with, especially Gus Zepeda with reservations. There were a few hiccups during the weekend because of a change in management during the few months before the event. For example, we were told at first that we would be allowed to provide alcohol with the Beer Burro we hired, but then we were told we could not on the day of the event. Also, the Sundance Lawn is next to the pool, and the resort kept the pool music playing which was a little distracting for the wedding and should have ideally been either turned off or played at a lower volume. However, all in all Christianna Solano did everything in her power to make the event smooth and a beautiful day, even with 6 other events that weekend! We had an incredibly memorable event thanks to their support.

g up to the wedding so ended up paying everything in 1 payment. - Had 3 different catering managers because they kept leaving the resort. Only found out because we turbo called after sending multiple emails, even having to show up to the resort to talk to someone. Ended up working mainly with the GM. - Had to reschedule (covid) and they rebooked us on the wrong day (Sunday instead of Saturday). By the time we realized, the reception space was already booked. So we had to change to a ballroom that did not match our vision at all and was more expensive to decorate. - The ballroom space we were physically shown was a section of a larger ballroom. We found out the week of the wedding that we actually had 3 sections instead of the 1 section we were shown about five times previously. - Was told early on we could get in to decorate the day before and found out less than a month before that we couldn’t get in until the morning of the wedding. They ended up staying late the night before to get the space turned over which was awesome but it took us weeks of back and forth and begging. - Weeks would go by without a word back from questions emailed to the catering managers. - The “captain” was extremely rude during the reception. Followed me into the bathroom while I was trying to go to the bathroom to let me know people were taking shots and they need to be cut off. - They cut people off early at the open bar and their reasoning was that they were attending the bar too much. - I spent the time to create a seating chart for the kitchen noting people that had dietary restrictions and children and it took more than 3 times to get people the right meals during the reception - They charged us over $8,000 for the final charges without sending us any kind of itemized breakdown of those charges. It took us weeks (and calling the GM) to get the itemized receipt and we found errors with the breakdown so had to go back and forth to request a refund. We still feel like we aren’t aligned… It was a beautiful resort and our outdoor pictures turned out amazing but if I got to redo one thing from our wedding I would have chosen a different venue. I am a huge believer in communication and we didn’t feel like we got even the minimum communication from the staff which was disappointing considering how much the venue cost. They promote themselves as a popular wedding venue but I would not recommend it to other brides.