How much time....

krismarie621

How much time, while in Vegas, did you actually spend with your guests?

I'm just doing up sort of an intinerary in my head and I'm getting kind of overhwelmed about feeling like I'm going to need to keep track of 40-50 people.

We have the stag/stagette planned for the Sunday and then everyone will get together for dinner/drinks after.

Then on the Monday we have a meet & greet dinner/pre wedding dinner planned

And Tuesday is the wedding.

How did everyone make it work for other times? Did you basically tell people where you were going to be & they could come with you if they wanted? Did you find people wanted to go off and do their own thing most of the time? Or did you feel like you had to be around them because they came all the way there to see you get married?

Not that I don't want to see everyone - but I don't want us to be pulled in 100 different directions, either.

dvohnout

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_nevada-las-vegas_much-time?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:91Discussion:17217f25-a465-4b0f-a7c7-dd69d10d4910Post:3f584d15-f533-4170-8c9b-cd263aa29c23">How much time....</a>:
[QUOTE]How much time, while in Vegas, did you actually spend with your guests? I'm just doing up sort of an intinerary in my head and I'm getting kind of overhwelmed about feeling like I'm going to need to keep track of 40-50 people. We have the stag/stagette planned for the Sunday and then everyone will get together for dinner/drinks after. Then on the Monday we have a meet & greet dinner/pre wedding dinner planned And Tuesday is the wedding. How did everyone make it work for other times?<strong> Did you basically tell people where you were going to be & they could come with you if they wanted?</strong> Did you find people wanted to go off and do their own thing most of the time? Or did you feel like you had to be around them because they came all the way there to see you get married? Not that I don't want to see everyone - but I don't want us to be pulled in 100 different directions, either.
Posted by krismarie621[/QUOTE]

This! I wasn't about to wrangle 50-60 guests. Friday night we told people we were going to a buffet for dinner and they were welcome to come. 30 out of our 60 wedding guests came. We then went to a piano bar. We didn't see many of our guests before the wedding or the day after the wedding.

vegasgroom

We get to town on a Thursday, several of the wedding party and friends of us, them or family I have heard are also planning on showing up that night.  We have noting official planned, so it will probably just be us and wedding party hanging out.  First official day Friday we've only scheduled a rehearsal dinner with wedding party, their SO's and immediate family.  Saturday we have the wedding, rehearsal and after party on the official schedule for everyone.  Sunday morning we plan to have a come meet up if you want brunch but that's it for us.  We will hopefully have 100+ coming so we didn't want to even think about trying to have any other official events since we could only go to places large enough to accommadate a ton of people without risking issues and we may not want to stay in one place that long either.

I think vegas has enough to do that people will keep busy without needing formal activities for all times.

smokeybailey

We are thinking of doing an in suite party on Thursday night for ealry arrivers, renting a cabana on Friday for people to stop by, doing a casual rehearsal dinner on Friday night, Saturday is wedding, reception and after events, Sunday will be a come as you are brunch and then we'll probably do another day at a cabana at the pool.

I don't know.  It's 8 months away so I'll figure it out later.

shaq123

I am making a brochure for my guest . It will have all the information that they need for the weekend.

guamibear

Vegasgroom, you touched on one of the concerns I had about spending time with guests during our time in Vegas. I want to at least have a brunch after the wedding and let everyone know "hey we'll be here at this time, come join if you like." It would be nice to spend some time with guests.  But I'm wondering if I need to reserve a room or something somewhere, but that seems tough to do large groups of people without being locked into a room minimum. We wouldn't be able to afford to host anything outside of the wedding. I imagine not everyone will come, but not really sure how to proceed. 

Did anyone have a particularly good solution for this? Did you find a venue that would allow for flexibility in this? Would it be possible to plan something like this at a buffet?

MrsChelseaP09

We tried to spend a day with each "group" of guests before they left. We had about 22 people join us in Vegas and it was COMPLETELY overwhelming. If I could do it over, I would do what WE wanted to and let our guests join us.

j_jaye

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_nevada-las-vegas_much-time?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:91Discussion:17217f25-a465-4b0f-a7c7-dd69d10d4910Post:8c072099-ad96-40d2-9527-8f8a1b2d02ad">Re: How much time....</a>:
[QUOTE]Vegasgroom, you touched on one of the concerns I had about spending time with guests during our time in Vegas. I want to at least have a brunch after the wedding and let everyone know "hey we'll be here at this time, come join if you like." It would be nice to spend some time with guests.  But I'm wondering if I need to reserve a room or something somewhere, but that seems tough to do large groups of people without being locked into a room minimum. We wouldn't be able to afford to host anything outside of the wedding. I imagine not everyone will come, but not really sure how to proceed.  <strong>Did anyone have a particularly good solution for this?</strong> Did you find a venue that would allow for flexibility in this? Would it be possible to plan something like this at a buffet?
Posted by guamibear[/QUOTE]

Buffet would be the way to go! They are used to dealing with large numbers and some even have seperated areas for groups. But if you are not sure how many will come just make a meeting time and all rock up together.

j_jaye

@Krismarie621- are you and your guests coming from overseas (I figured this by the no state showing and the use of stagette/stag)?  If so you might be in the same situation as us. A lot of our guests have never been to the United States let alone Vegas. And most are staying in Vegas for over a week as opposed to a long weekend.
We are planning a few excursions that we are letting our guests know about through our wedding website and via emails. Things we are looking at doing are Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon. The boys are planning  either a race car day or golfing and for the girls we are planning a trip to the outlet malls.
We are planning on a meet and greet on the day that most people will arrive (the only direct flight before the wedding) and a BBQ at the resort we are staying at the day after the wedding. Most of our guests will be staying at the same place. ANd of course the Hens and Bucks nights. 
Because a lot of the guests have never been before we wanted to take advantage of group discount rates with tour vendors but we also want to give the guests the option to do their own thing.  

aerinpegadrak

This was our time in Vegas:

Thursday morning: Arrive, attempt to check in.  Connect with my dad, brother, younger sister, and their spouses and wander the Strip for a bit.
Thursday afternoon: Attempt to check in again.  Lunch with mom and stepdad.  Finally get in to the room.
Thursday night: Beer and pizza in the suite.  Early evening is most of my family, late evening was about half the attendants
Friday late morning: Roller Coaster at NY, NY with most of the attendants and my parents
Friday afternoon: Rehearsal lunch in suite with all wedding guests, getting ready with girls, photos with WP, some spouses, and my parents
Friday night: Ceremony and reception in suite
Saturday morning: Brunch at Orleans buffet, all guests invited, only my side (family and WP) shows
Saturday afternoon: Pearl pulling with MOH and one BM, hanging out at MB pool other BM and her husband
Saturday night: Dinner with older sister and her husband
Sunday moring: DH goes for golf with his dad and brother
Sunday afternoon: I meet their wives for shopping
Sunday night: Romantic dinner with DH at Delmonico
Monday morning: Brunch at Bellagio with DH's dad and brother and their wives
Monday afternoon: DH's family leaves, we get the rest of the week to ourselves

All in all, we had about 40 guests and I'd say there were only about half a dozen of whom we didn't get to spend one-on-one time with outside the "official" wedding festivities.  We only planned Thursday night through Saturday morning, everything else was just played by ear.  It was nice and relaxed and we didn't feel overwhelmed at all.  It wasn't really a case of "This is what we're doing, come join us;" we didn't have any sort of set schedule ourselves, just sort of made plans with people as they were available.  I think probably my favorite part of the wedding was actually all that other time we spent with people.

theanglfac

With regards to people wanting to do different excursions and stuff. I signed up for the Las Vegas Groupon... Go to Groupon.com and it sends daily deals that you can buy in advance, but they tend to be 50% off. If I see something good I have been emailing it to guests.

We are planning on Thursday day - bridal party girls get mani/ pedi's, guys go get tuxes and do something
 
Thursday night - welcome insuite cocktail party followed by bachelor/bachelorette parties

Friday - all day rent a cabana so people can hang out and recover. We may stop by 

Friday evening - rehearsal  and rehearsal dinner with immediate family and bridal party, dates.

Saturday - Wedding, reception etc

We are also encouraging everyone to stay at the same hotel so that we have more of a chance of running into people and playing a hand of black jack or something.

thefuturemrsrumley

You just do the best you can.  This best thing about Vegas is that you don't have to entertain your guests.  We did a bachelor/bachelorette with bottle service at Mix on Thursday night so we could catch up with our friends.  On Friday we spent time with the bridal party and family at the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  Wedding was on Saturday.

I'd suggest you and your guests stay at the same hotel.  That way its easy to make little plans to get together.  But, don't stress about it.  People make plans together on their own and everyone will have a good time.  Remember, your wedding is probably a bit of a vacation for your guests. 

junebug61103

We are arriving Thursday with our bridal party and immediate families...and I think some guests will also be coming in on thursday...on friday I have a DDB tour planned for the M&G from 8-10, the wedding and reception on Saturday and leaving on Sunday. And once details of the bachelor/ette parties are figured out Ill also let guests know when and what time if they whant to join. Im also letting them know that they do not HAVE to come to any of these things but they are mroe than welcome.