Wedding Package Promotion

Guess what? Due to popular demand, we’re able to extend our favorite wedding promotion! Yay!

As with all good things, this does end. But not until December 31! Be sure to give Betsy a call at 515-268-2204 and save your date.

New Wedding Photos!

Thanks very much to Brian Garman Photography for sharing these photos of the Sheeley-Gurwell wedding. He took some great pictures of the Prairie Ballroom, table setup and the Garden Terrace.

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Thinking about a Friday or Sunday Wedding? You’re in luck!

First things first. We’re so excited that this weekend will mark the first weddings of the 2011 season! We can’t wait to see how each of our couples make the space their own (and hopefully we have some fabulous new pics to share soon).

Now… the news. We have a new wedding special! Book any Friday or Sunday date in 2011 or 2012, and receive 20% off of the banquet room rental. It’s a great way to save some $$ to use on that special splurge item you’ve been eyeing.  Give Betsy (our wedding guru) a call at 515-268-2204 for more info.

Thank you!!

We are proud to announce that Gateway Hotel has been rated by local brides and voted The Knot Best of Weddings 2011 Pick!

This award is so special to us because it is based on our brides’ reviews and opinions of our service.  A big THANK YOU to all of our brides who voted and allowed us to be part of their special day.

New Wedding Promotion!

We just wanted to share the new special offers for weddings at Gateway!

Questions? Call Betsy at 515-268-2204 and she can fill you in on all the details.

Melissa Stone and Rob Stewart: June 12, 2010

Wedding colors:

“Purple and Kiwi Green”

 Which of your vendors would you recommend to other couples?

• “Florist:  We used Hy-Vee Floral in Boone, IA.  Lisa Simpson did an excellent job of taking a small idea and adding her magic touch to the flowers.
• Photographer: Taylor L Chung out of Ames did our photography.  He was excellent.  He remembers everyone’s name which made our day even more special for our wedding party.
• Cake and Cookies: Cake Me, I’m Yours! Heather Friedrichsen out of Perry, IA.  She did a fantastic job with our wedding cake.  She is a wonderfully creative person.  Her cakes are homemade and she has so many different flavors- we ended up with 5 in both our wedding cake and the sheet cakes.
• Band: The Bill Martin Band played at our reception for a couple of hours.  They are a great group.  We really enjoyed listening and dancing to their music.”

What was your favorite thing about Gateway Hotel? 
“The customer service we received was excellent.  We could not have asked more from a staff that not only knew what they were doing but also enjoyed it.  Betsy (Gateway’s Wedding Coordinator) was there for every little detail and everything turned out wonderfully.  We received so many compliments on how wonderful everything was!  We still hear about how amazing the food was at our wedding.”

What made your wedding so unique? 
“Our wedding was a wonderful experience.  We had fabulous vendors as well as a wonderful staff at Gateway helping make our day the best.  Both of our families were also instrumental in the success of our day making it the best day!”

Evelyn and Justin Roberts: July 3, 2010

Wedding colors/theme:
“Blue & green, with white to accent”

What was your favorite thing about Gateway
“Our favorite thing about the Gateway was the excellent service. We could not have been more satisfied with how we and our guests were treated by the exemplary staff. We received numerous comments about how accommodating and friendly the hotel was. The whole staff was eager to help and were phenomenal at what they did. From beginning to end, everything was smooth sailing because of the knowledge and expertise of the staff. It was also the little things the staff did that gave our entire wedding that extra special touch. I was very impressed and felt that the catering managers had our best interests at heart when giving advice about food and drink. And since we weren’t able to have a Guinness keg at the reception, they had two bottles of Guinness placed at the head table for my husband and I, and that completely made our night!”

Which of your vendors would you recommend to other couples?
“We would recommend all of our vendors to local brides. We were completely happy with all the services they provided and they were all amazing at what they did.

• Our DJ, Musical Edge DJ Service, was fantastic. They had great music and kept everyone dancing all night and the DJ was a great guy. We also purchased an uplighting package with them and we are so happy with that choice. The lights completely transformed the room and gave it the perfect ambiance.
• We loved our cake! Sweetest Perfections did a phenomenal job for us. She worked with me to create a beautiful cake that was so pretty, I had a hard time cutting into it! But I’m glad I did because it tasted fantastic as well and we got lots of compliments on the great flavors.
• We were so happy with the decorating job that Celebrations Party Rentals did for us. They were so helpful in presenting ideas to us and accommodating our ideas and decorations as well. They made the room just look amazing and the ceremony in front of the waterfall just took my breath away.
• We arranged all of our flowers ourselves, but we purchased them from Doherty’s Flowers in Des Moines. The staff at Doherty’s is very knowledgeable and really helped us pick out which flowers would be best for the wedding.
• Our photographer was an old friend from school, Jon Lemons. He did a superb job. Jon is very talented and has an eye for capturing candid moments that are very special. We love his photojournalistic style and he is just a great guy to be working with in general.”

What made your wedding so unique?
“Our wedding could not have happened without all of our amazing vendors. We honestly do believe that we owe all the credit to them and their talents. We picked each of them because we believe they are exemplary in their field and we were right. I had some ideas of what I wanted for the wedding, but for the most part, I just gave the control to the professionals and let them do what they do best. This turned out to be exactly the right decision. When I walked into the reception room, I was completely blown away. Everything together in that room, the cake, the decorations, the flowers, the music and lights…it just all came together and made the room look like a million dollars. I just couldn’t believe my eyes at how much the room had transformed and to me, that was a very special thing. All the efforts of all the individual vendors resulted in something that was simply perfect. On top of just looking perfect, the whole night went perfectly as well. We could not have asked for friendlier, more professional people who were absolutely phenomenal at their jobs. We felt very fortunate to have had such amazing people around us to share in our day; not just friends and family who love us, but also a support staff who made our happiness their number one priority for the day.”

Ashley Kelley and Bill Hascovek: August 21, 2010

Wedding colors/theme:
“Colors: Red/black/white/silver; Theme: Romantic”

Which vendors would you recommend to other couples?

• Indulgent Moments cake decorator very professional and cake was amazing. He has been perfecting his frosting for years!!!
• Down Home Karaoke was  amazing too; they took a bunch of pictures for us and played great music.
• Bob Wilson Photography just started his business, but took amazing photos. He can do several different options, and his prices were perfect.”

What was your favorite thing about Gateway?
“The food was amazing, and everyone did a great job.”

Tell us a little about what made your wedding so unique.
“Our wedding was the best day ever. From the beginning at the waterfall (garden patio) to the reception, Gateway did an amazing job with everything- we got so  many compliments and had an amazing time. I would recommend the Gateway to anyone who is interested in getting married in the Ames or surrounding areas!! The price is perfect for great service and a night you will never forget.”

Lindsy Handy and Josh Zimmerman, August 14, 2010

 

Wedding colors:  “Our colors were red and white, with black accents.”

What made your wedding so unique? “Our wedding was such an amazing experience from beginning to end.  I expected it to be a very stressful time for me, but thanks to Betsy and the rest of the Gateway staff, my wedding planner Amy, and the rest of our vendors, everything went seamlessly!  The day went just as we hoped, and Josh and I will always have fantastic memories thanks to everyone around us.” 

 

What was your favorite thing about Gateway? “Our favorite thing about the Gateway was the people and the service.  Our wedding happened three days after Ames experienced major flooding, yet everything went on as planned.  Every person that we dealt with was amazing and reassuring during a very stressful time.  All of the staff was extremely professional and reliable, and everyone went out of their way to make sure everything was perfect.  We could not have been happier with everything at the Gateway, and highly recommend it!” 

 

Vendors that you’d recommend to other couples:

• “Amy Edwards, wedding planner (was) my saving grace through the entire wedding planning procedure.  She did such an amazing job, and made the experience much more fun and relaxing for Josh and me. She took a very active role, attending all meetings with me, which helped a great deal when it came to keeping everything straight!  She has wonderful ideas for all aspects of weddings, and helped so much when we were brainstorming ideas for decorations.  We were on a limited budget, and she really had a lot of helpful hints and ideas about where we could really save money.  She took care of everything on the day of the wedding, which was a great feeling knowing that I could relax while everything was taken care of.  We had a few minor crises that day, but she handled everything wonderfully!  She also did our flower arrangements, which turned out great!  They were beautiful, and we had so many great compliments on them.  I highly recommend Amy to anyone planning a wedding!  She is so much fun to work with, and she will listen and work with you to make your dream wedding come true!  (Also, she is extremely reasonably priced!!!!)” events_florals@yahoo.com! 

 

• “I also have to highly recommend our photographers, Todd Hugen, and his wife Peggy.  They live in Carlisle, but had no problem coming up to Ames and Boone to do both the wedding and our engagement photos.  They did an amazing job on both, and they are so much fun to work with!  They have all different kinds of packages to work with everyone’s budget, and have great prices after the wedding.  It was really nice having 2 photographers, because we got a lot of nice shots from different angles.  Peggy is also a graphic designer, and designed our invitations, which we got so many compliments on!  They really helped make the experience more enjoyable!”  http://www.toddhugenphotography.com/

 

Sarah Anderson and Tim Bush: July 24, 2010

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Wedding colors/theme:
“Navy blue and silver with a semi-Asian theme.”

What made your wedding so unique?
“Our Ceremony was held on the Waterfall Garden Patio, and we hung white paper lanterns along the aisle.  The guests were given raffia fans with blue satin ribbon to help beat the summer heat, plus we had a signature drink during the cocktail hour on the patio ~ Peach Bellinis.  The reception was in the Garden room which was decorated by Flowers by Design; there were large white paper lanterns throughout the room, and we had uplighting which changed the whole room.”

What was your favorite thing about Gateway?
“The convenience of Gateway was really nice; we were able to stay at the hotel, get ready there, take pictures, have the ceremony, and the reception all in one location.  I wanted everything together verses driving to so many locations throughout the day.  Plus, the food is really good!”

Which  vendors would you recommend to other couples?

• “I would recommend Flowers by Design, they were able to put together tables, decorations, and flowers exactly how we wanted them, as well as doing all of the set up and take down.  It was really nice to have them because we were able to rent chairs for inside and out, and all the decorations, and flowers from one vendor without having to worry about setting up or take down on the big day.
• I would also recommend Todd Hugen Photography. Todd & Peggy worked really well together and took some really fun pictures.  It was nice to have two photographers because one could do all of the regular wedding photos while the other captured the candid moments throughout the day.
• Cake Me I’m Yours was another great vendor, I had a very specific idea in mind and they were able to bring exactly what I wanted to life.”