Extremely Stressed Out....

ladysilver

Hi All,

Just got engaged and everything has practically went to hell. We decided to do it in LV, his parents hate the idea. They won't even offer any help. My parents are all for it but leave all the details up to me. 

I'm practically freaking out. 

He wants a wedding outside, but we are having a difficult time picking a date. I'm a tax accountant so that blocks out February - April, End of August - October 15th.  I'm worried about the weather and the cost of flights, etc for the guests. I wanted an evening wedding, with candle light, etc. 

As for the venues:

Wynn

Mandalay Bay

Mandarin Oriental

Venetian/Palazzo

Aria

I'm going to Vegas Thanksgiving weekend and am meeting with the wedding coordinators at the hotels listed above. They all expect me to have some form of an idea of what I want but I don't. 

All I know is that my budget at most is 50K. I want a small wedding, less than 50 people. 

I want to have a ceremony, then cocktail hour, seated dinner, then go to a club for dancing. Ideally, I would love for all of this to happen at one hotel. 

Unfortunately, I don't really have anyone to help me. They are stressing me out more than helping me. Can someone offer any advise as to where to start or how to figure things out?

Thank you!

hmgiffor

Breathe  

I would first think about the style that you want, is it more formal or informal. From the sound of your venues, more formal seems like it is what you are looking for. 

I would just start doing research on the list that you have. What are the restaurants in those hotels? Do they offer food you want? Do they offer private rooms for 50 people (this is one thing I found to be more difficult)? What are their ceremony locations and do you like them? Which are your favorite? Google weddings at those chapels so you can see what they are like. 

Based on the dates you are unavailable, I would also avoid July-August if you are looking to do an outdoor wedding as those dates are HOT! So this leaves you with Jan, May, Oct, Nov, and Dec. Depending on if you want it to be around the holidays (we personally avoided those) then that leaves May and Oct which are BEAUTIFUL times in Vegas  

Then just focus on the scouting trip. The trip will help you so much more once you are able to see them in person! 

EAR123

With your budget and party size you can do everything you want to do as listed and stay on budget pretty easily. Not every location may have an outdoor option but several will.

I recommend one stop shopping -- look for options where you can do ceremony, photo session, reception and even after party all in one location. All of the resorts you are viewing will have the capability and options -- a real plus. Having all under one roof may relieve some stress.

Planning is stressful and you likely can't please everyone. The good news is there is no need as it is your wedding and you and your fiancé should be the ones who's opinions weigh heaviest here.

Hang in there and take your time -- no need to rush a location or date until you have a better handle in what you want.

aggiespartan

That is a huge budget for that many people.  You can do whatever the #$#% you want.  Forget about everybody else and do what you want. 

dbacksgirl

I just got married at Venetian/Palazzo last weekend and I can tell you that it's gorgeous.  Also, my wedding coordinator, Heather Curt, is AMAZING!  She helped with so much.  I ended up having my reception at another location but if you wanted to have your reception at Bouchon, their food is absolutely incredible and it is literally just across the courtyard from the wedding chapel.  We originally had our ceremony planned for outside on the terrace but we ended up with about 70 guests so we moved it inside.  We opened the french doors though and had all the windows open so that we still got views of the stunning terrace and could hear the fountain going.  They can fit up to 50 on the garden terrace by the fountain so you would be fine there.  Additionally, for an extra fee (which would definitely fall within your budget) you can have the whole outdoor space near the pool and in the gardens area.  The end of October would be PERFECT weather for an evening ceremony there and it would be beautiful.

The other option that comes to mind, since you mentioned Wynn, is their Primrose Court.  This was our second option.  It's an outdoor space that seat up to, I think 110 people.  I've seen photos of it at night with candles lining the aisle and it is breathtaking.  Either Venetian or Wynn both have outstanding coordinators in the wedding department that can help you with the ceremony and if you choose to have the reception at either location (ballrooms and 5-star restaurants at both resorts), they will help you there as well.

We were originally booked at Mandalay Bay because we thought Valley of the Falls looked nice.  Once we got there though, FOR US it was way too close to the street and killed the idea for us.  That and the fact that with their packages they only gave us 2 hours for the reception and that was absolutely not enough time for us.  It could work for you though but I can personally highly recommend either Venetian or Wynn.  Good luck with the planning.  You have a huge budget and a small enough guest list that as has been mentioned, you can do almost whatever you want. 

The other option with that budget is just pick the places you want to hold the ceremony and reception and then hire a completely kick-ass wedding planner to do everything for you.  For around $3500-5k, you wouldn't have to blink an eye if you didn't want to.  Have fun with whatever you choose!

Rosebubbly

As @dbacksgirl‌ said...with the budget you have...girl, hire somebody to help you! You are going to have more than enough money for your group and will have a top notch wedding. With your budget I'd first call scheme or even Andrea eppolito

KikiMira

We had our wedding on May 3rd and we it a heat wave with almost 100F weather. Besides the heat wave it was great. We did it off the strip.

We looked at the Wynn, I think for you that would be a great option. I planned my wedding for 50 people all by myself, you will be fine don't panic.

vegasgroom

Mandalay (keeping in mind the potential traffic noise if you look at VotF), Caesars, TI, Flamingo, Bellagio and Wynn all have excellent on-strip outdoor options.  Platinum has a very great value off strip roof top option for ceremony and reception.  I'm personally biased against Venetian because of their horrible photography policy against third party vendors, but if you're going to do the reception in a private establishment on the premises rather than a Venetian-controlled venue, that could lessen that potential problem to just the ceremony and taking a gamble on Cashman for that portion.

Heat will definitely be a factor mid-summer.  Personally I love Vegas in late October through the end of the year.  Maybe look at later in the year after busy season ends if you like that time of year when you visit.  Some people feel very strongly one way or another but you could consider having it over Thanksgiving weekend.  The arguments against are it interrupts family events and it's a heavy travel time, the arguments for are people are off work already so they can have a fun four or five day trip to Vegas without burning any time off at work.  If you're not opposed to it, you could float the idea around with family and friends and see how many love it or hate it.

dbacksgirl

We used Todd Wilson as our photographer and had him for 8 hours.  No, we couldn't bring him in tor the ceremony at Venetian but for the one hour of Cashman photography/ceremony, Todd took some family shots during that time, as well as some "accessory"-type stuff.  It worked out great because we had Todd come to our rooms while we were getting ready and he even took a bunch of family and group shots before the ceremony, as well as some of us on property at Venetian.  Cashman was really good for the one hour we had them at Venetian.  I was really surprised but both hubby and I thought they did an excellent job and our photographer asked even took extra shots for us -- all excellent quality.  Immediately after the ceremony, Todd took over again and we did a Strip tour as well as have him shoot the reception.

sasalew

@ladysilver My advice is just stay calm! I had no clue what kind of Vegas wedding I really wanted before I did my scouting trip but once we started looking at venues it all fell into place! Just get a visit planned with every venue you like the look of online, then once you see them in real life it'll be easier to start making decisions.

We looked at about 6 different hotels, Mandarin Oriental had AMAZING service but we knew straight away Wynn was for us (if you want outdoor space you need to see Primrose Court). FIngers crossed it's as easy for you too!