Vista Suite Catering Question

dbacksgirl

For those of you who have had catering in a Vista Suite at Mandalay Bay, how much notice did you have to give your caterer about which room number you were in?  We aren't staying at Mandalay Bay but we're seriously considering a Vista Suite for a Meet & Greet pre-wedding party the night before.  We only need it for that night though.  So one potential concern of mine though is not being able to give the caterer much notice about location.  If we can't get check-in until 3 pm and the party will start around 5, would we be able to just call the caterers after we get our room number?  We want to use Masterpiece Caterers but I don't know if one hour is enough notice for them regarding location.  Or do you think it would be OK as long as they know it's Mandalay Bay and just won't have the exact room number until the last minute?  Does anyone know if Mandalay Bay will give you a room number ahead of time as long as the room is pre-paid? 

Rosebubbly

Doubtful they'll give you a room number too far ahead of time. Anything could happen...late checkout, person in the room could extend another night necessitating a room move for you. I think most people recommend renting it the night before if possible. Since these suites are in demand, it can be difficult to get into it right on time, even if check in time is 3 pm.

PrincessMich425

We're worrying about the same thing. We can't rent the night before since it's Valentine's Day

dbacksgirl

@Rosebubbly, good points.  That's what I was afraid of though.  We may just bite the bullet and get it the night before as well.  Oh, no!  We might have to spend TWO nights in a fabulous suite, right?
I just found a coupon for 20% off at Mandalay Bay and it would be a Wednesday and Thursday so it wouldn't be too crazy.   We may be in business.  WOO HOO!!!

@PrincessMich425, so are they sold out already or are the prices just too high for Valentine's Day that it's not in your budget to do the second night?

dbacksgirl

Oh, another question I had that is semi-related:  Has anyone ever used/rented chairs, etc. from Masterpiece?  I keep seeing on these boards about renting from RSVP or another place but I called them today and they want $150 for delivery to a hotel and then an additional $75 to pick up after 5pm.  I need somebody to pick up stuff that same night because I'm not going to be sitting around the next morning waiting for some delivery guy just before my wedding.  I can't get in touch with Masterpiece.  They emailed me last week but communication since then has been spotty.  I don't know if someone's on vacation or what but anyway... One of the emails I got listed chairs, tables, linens, etc. and they're the same price as RSVP so I don't know if they're quoting RSVP prices or if they will just bring and set up their own equipment.  That would be awesome if they did.

dbacksgirl

Gee, now I just thought of something else I've been wondering about.  What about clean up?  Do you just throw everything into big trash bags?  And if so, then what?  I saw one post where someone said they paid housekeeping $40 to take a whole bunch of big bags away but again, don't want to be dealing with that the morning of the wedding and I don't know if housekeeping will be available to come up to do something like that at say, 11pm at night.  Anybody know?

PrincessMich425

They are sold out

wrigleyville

We got our rentals through RSVP. It was much, much cheaper for us to rent a small pickup truck from Enterprise and pick up/drop off the chairs, tables, and uplighting ourselves. I think the truck cost $30 for the day. We were very careful not to scratch the bedliner. My FIL drove to Vegas in his truck, so he was able to put some rentals in his bed too.

We put everything in large garbage bags and left housekeeping a large tip. We did not call them specially. We simply straightened up the suite as nicely as possible that night and the next morning and put the garbage bags by the door (inside the suite, not in the hallway).

dbacksgirl

Thank you so much @wrigleyville!!!  Those are exactly the kind of answers I was looking for!  The problem with us dropping stuff off is that somebody would have to do that the day of the wedding and I'm not sure I want to deal with that.  I'll be in hair and makeup in the morning and FI will be off with his guys at some Battlefield Vegas thing shooting at stuff in the desert!  I finally talked to Masterpiece today (they had trouble with their phones this week) and they will charge me a small fee but for 10 folding chairs, 3 highboy tables and linens, they said they could bring those in the van with the food and take them back at the end of the night after the event.

The housekeeping thing makes me feel WAY better.  I am so glad I read on here about bringing trash bags.  Between us and the server we'll hire, we'll be able to get things reasonably picked up.  I was just really concerned about how we would haul bags and bags of trash out.  You answered my question and that totally eases any fears I had about that situation!  Thank you!

kazzy

Don't forget to make use of all the people who want to help you. My dad was absolutely freakin' amazing and until he offered I thought "I don't want to bug him the morning of the wedding..." but truth was, he wanted to help and had nothing to do the morning of. (especially since our father/daughter breakfast was cancelled by a no show hairstylist debacle. Ugh) 

I'm sure you have someone in your wedding who is in the same position. If you are really keen to do it yourself, you could get the room for an extra night. Makes it a lot less stressful.

Anyhow, my dad checked into the hotel suite for our afterparty and met the runners and bartenders from Culinary Pros and let them know what name the room key card was under at the front desk and what the room number was. My biggest worry was that he would try to charge the hotel room to his credit card (one for incidentals is needed at check in, but when you check out you can pay cash or use your credit card) and I didn't want him to do that. This all happened in mid-afternoon, just before the ceremony. 

My biggest concern was not getting the suite we wanted, and we didn't: we ended up getting bumped from a MB Vista to a Media Suite. By that time of the night I didn't give a crap and it worked out just as well. Everything was set up by the bartender when we got there: wedding cakes, cold beer and booze, music...HEAVEN. I wrote the room suite number onto the little mini invites I had for wedding guests and had put at their seats at Border Grill. 

We also got huge garbage bags and tried to keep the mess contained in a corner of the suite and left a stack o' cash on the table for housekeeping. No need to call them specifically, just try to make it easy for them when they come in. I repeat this story so often it's probably boring to anyone who knows it, but I did scrape the mystery cucumber which somehow ended up on the ceiling of the suite off though. Haha... 

dbacksgirl

@kazzy, THANK YOU!  I have been reading your blog whenever I can for about 6 months or so and have found your advice and tips to be so helpful!  I have a bunch of people who have offered to help but like you, I have a tendency to not want to heap work onto people.  I need to learn to believe them when they say they can make things easier.

We did bite the bullet and booked the Vista Suite for 2 nights.  I'm pissed though because it went up $125 freakin' dollars since SUNDAY.  Grrrrrr.  Oh well, at least now we'll have some time to prepare.  Our wedding is on a Friday so we plan on getting into town Wednesday afternoon.  We live in Phoenix so it's handy to be able to pack up the car and have it out there during the trip.  I figure we'll check in and drop some stuff off at Maggiano's and then hit Costco and Lee's Liquor.  If we can get the bellmen to take that crap up to our room on Wednesday afternoon (or even Thursday morning), we should be good to go.  I want to try to have breakfast with a few friends on Thursday morning and then it's over to rehearsal.  I'm thinking of renting a Party Bus for me, FI, and the wedding party to take us from Venetian back over to Mandalay Bay after we're done with the rehearsal.  We can have a bit of time to just have some fun AND since we'll already be heading that way, I'll see if the driver can make a stop at the Vegas sign.  We really wanted some photos there but I'm afraid it will suck way too much time out of our Photo Tour if we try to do that after the ceremony.  Friday on the Strip and waiting in line for the sign would eat lots of minutes that could be used elsewhere.

I think while we're doing all that after rehearsal, my FFIL or SIL can let the caterers into the suite.  You have really eased my fears about the trash situation.  I have no problem whatsoever bagging up trash and leaving a fat tip for Housekeeping as long as I know they'll haul it away.  That's awesome.  I am a little worried about for some reason getting bumped out of our Vista Suite just because I'm paranoid and have heard of that happening, including with you.  That said, we've already put the deposit down on the room and if we get there a day before, IF there are any problems, we should hopefully have plenty of time to try and sort things out.

I'm still trying to figure out the best way to let all of our guests know the room number.  Since this will be a Meet & Greet and not a reception, the first time I'll see a lot of the people is when they show up to the hotel.  Many of them will not be getting into town until later Thursday afternoon/evening.  That's one of the reasons a suite was so appealing: people can come and go whenever they want without having to start dinner exactly at 5 pm or whatever.  I'm thinking maybe we can do a text chain or start a private group on FB for just wedding guests and do it that way.  If anyone has any suggestions for getting the word out on short notice, I'm all ears!

dbacksgirl

Also, LOL @kazzy and the mystery ceiling cucumber!