Vegas wedding... need help with reception!

mikeo2k

Hey everyone,

My fiance and I are getting married in Vegas in April of 2013 and we wanted to host the reception in one of the hotel's suites. We are both 28 and the majority of the guests will be around our age as well.
We had our hopes on getting the Apex Suite at PH but just learned that it is not available to reserve (you must request an upgrade during check-in of a standard room). This doesn't work for us as we need to have a solid time/location set. The reason we really liked the look of this room was because of it's hip and modern look and great strip view. It also seemed to have a large "living room" area.

Here's our wants/needs:

Budget: $500-1000/night
Guests: 30-40
Sq ft required: 1500+, although we want a large socializing area. It seems like most of the square footage is eaten up by large bedrooms which we do not care about.
Date: April 2013, we have no problem saving money by booking a weekday
Decor: We really like the modern style suites (Mandalay Bay Hopitality Suites, most suites at Hard Rock, etc).
Food: we would prefer a hotel that allows outside catering; however this is not a deal breaker.
Music: as loud as we want
Location: 99% that we want something on the strip

In addition, a nice view and/or balcony would be ideal but again is not a must have.

Any recommendations will be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks for listening!

vegasgroom

Welcome to the board Mike; good to have another groom here lol.

Check out the H suite at THEHotel.  It's built for entertaining but does consume about a third of the space for the bedroom.  If you'd like larger, they have an L suite that is not listed on their website.  That one adds an 'office' area off the main room that gives youseveral hundred more square feet between the office and the larger main room.  My wife stayed in an L the night before our wedding and her and the girls used it to get ready.

I've got pics of it at http://www.vegasgroom.com/2011/06/27/thehotel/
Click on any of them for huge version.

You might also want to look at Aria or Cosmo; Cosmo would get you a balcony overlooking the strip instead of just windows.

None of them let you use your own catering but most people do it anyway.  There have been some reported problems with doing that at Mandalay in the Vista suite for 2011; i.e. you don't use their catering and then 'noise complaints' coincidentally get called in and your party ruined.

hstaples4

We're getting married and having our reception in the vista suite in Mandalay Bay next week, I'll let you know how it goes! Knock on wood no major problems will occur!

But also we're getting married at Mandalay Bay so I'm hoping that will earn us some extra slack.

mikeo2k

Thanks for the quick reply.

Do you have any recommendations for ceremony spots? We're looking for something outdoors and to keep it under $2000. We also have 5 people standing on each of our sides and I realize that can sometimes raise the cost.

vegasgroom

Some outdoor venues include, in no particular orer:

Chapel of the Flowers - http://www.littlechapel.com/
Valley of the Falls at Mandalay
Beach wedding at Mandalay
Fountain patio at Bellagio
Pool patio at Bellagio
Balcony at House of Blues Foundation Room (64th floor of Mandalay)
Three different options at Caesars
Flamingo
Paris

wiwicaty

Among the outdoors ceremony options there's also the Wynn's Primrose Courtyard. That wwould be an additional $1.5K on top of a ceremony package, though.

mikeo2k

Primrose Courtyard looks awesome but I think is a little out of our price range.
We like Valley of the Falls @ MB and Juno Garden @ CP.

I am having difficulty in finding out prices... it looks like Valley is $1500, but is that on top of another price or does it include everything?

How much is Juno Garden?

Thanks guys!

mikeo2k

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_nevada-las-vegas_vegas-wedding-need-reception?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:91Discussion:50c711cf-fa8b-461a-a9e5-83884007f076Post:667ebaa1-5cd2-4e43-98ff-3e13ef274b50">Re: Vegas wedding... need help with reception!</a>:
[QUOTE] None of them let you use your own catering but most people do it anyway.  There have been some reported problems with doing that at Mandalay in the Vista suite for 2011; i.e. you don't use their catering and then 'noise complaints' coincidentally get called in and your party ruined.
Posted by vegasgroom[/QUOTE]

What is the easiest way to ensure I wont have any issues with using outside caterers? I have read a ton of forums saying how good Masterpiece Cuisine is.

hstaples4

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_nevada-las-vegas_vegas-wedding-need-reception?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:91Discussion:50c711cf-fa8b-461a-a9e5-83884007f076Post:f68ddc54-264d-48fa-adca-4f234667e71e">Re: Vegas wedding... need help with reception!</a>:
[QUOTE]Primrose Courtyard looks awesome but I think is a little out of our price range. We like Valley of the Falls @ MB and Juno Garden @ CP. I am having difficulty in finding out prices... it looks like Valley is $1500, but is that on top of another price or does it include everything? How much is Juno Garden? Thanks guys!
Posted by mikeo2k[/QUOTE]
We're getting married at Valley of the Falls and too bad yes the $1500.00 is on top of a ceremony package. We went with the cheapest package the crystal waters which is $1100 then the Valley of the Falls upgrade $1500 and of course dont forget about tax $230. So the cheapest you could get away with valley of the falls is $2830.

mikeo2k

OK, do any of you know of any nice outdoor locations that would be under $2000 including all fees?

texasdivabride

You can book the Apex Suite though Total Experiences www.totalexperiences.com

wallacje

If you got married on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday you could do a garden wedding at Caesars for $1900.  The cost per extra couple was $100 for our wedding.  If you cut 3 people on each side you could do a garden wedding on Friday or Saturday at CP. All of this is with the Roman Package. 

They have another package called Bella Luna that would bring your total to $1550, but its only offered on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday weddings.

The prices at CP include tax and minister/officiate fees.  We didn't tip since they didn't do anything special outside of their daily job, IMO.

We really wanted to do the valley of the falls at MB, but the extra cost for the outside package it wasn't worth it to me, but the place is so pretty.

wallacje

There are 2 packages at CP that you could do with the garden too.  The Roman ($1600 +$300 for your extra WP Tue-Thurs & $2000 Fri-Sat if you drop 3 people on both sides) and Bella Luna (Only available Tue-Thurs $1150 + $400 for your extra WP).

You could check out the Terrace suite at the MGM. Its 2 floors and has a patio.

http://www.mgmgrand.com/hotel/terrace-suites.aspx

mikeo2k

What a coincidence, I actually just came across the Caesar's pricing today.
I think that's the way to go.

Thanks for the ceremony recos... any others on reception suites are still appreciated.

So far I think the forerunner is the Hospitality Suite at MB.