First of all a big thanks to all who post their reviews and planning on this forum, this Canadian couldn’t have pulled it off without the help of this forum! I wanted something super simple/casual and had only 15 guests. Hopefully this is helpful for anyone who needs it J
Flamingo Wedding Ceremony A+ I used the garden chapel (thank goodness because it was 102 degrees that day) and didn’t order any flowers, but it was nicely decorated with silk flowers which looked nice for the photos. The minister did a fantastic job, even though it was short and sweet, he held a very sincere ceremony for us. Our wedding coordinator was great, and although we paid the $150 fee to have an outside photographer, they allowed me to have my brooch bouquet which I made and didn’t charge an outside vendor fee. I ended up giving my three rose bouquet that came with my package to my MOH, which worked out perfect. Loved it, they did a fantastic job.
Todd Wilson A As per all previous reviews, Todd is great. I hired him for 2 hours to take photos of the girls in the room, then sent him down to the Sports Betting area where all of the guys were hanging out prior to the ceremony. Had lots of time for ceremony pics and for the first part of the dinner. He was great. Only complaint – it has been almost 6 weeks and still no pics! But, understandable as I’m in Canada.
Harmony Medina A+ Harmony spray tanned, and did hair and makeup for both my mom and myself. She was great, was cracking jokes with my family and made it very relaxed. I don’t usually where a lot of makeup, but asked for a smoky eye and it was a little overwhelming at first, but she told me that I could tone it down if I liked. I ended up keeping it that way and in the regular photos it looks great. I spray tanned 3 days before the wedding, and although it probably looked best on day 2, it was still a nice glow for day 3.
Carlos and Charlies for Wedding Reception (new restaurant in the flamingo) A+ Can’t say enough good things about these guys. Wait staff was very attentive. We originally planned on heading to Margaritaville for our reception dinner, but to have reservations there you had to accept the (very limited) set menu at $100 per person (including drinks), and in the few times we ate there prior to the wedding, it was extremely loud. We made a last minute decision to change to Carlos and Charlies, and they took my 15 person reservation no problem. Mexican food, funny wait staff (my mom even hopped up to line dance with them at one point), gave us all sweet shooters during the meal, great drinks, and no problem with half of the guests hopping in and out for photos with Todd. We ordered a few chips and salsas for the table and everyone ordered what they wanted off the regular menu. They have these great towers of beer that they bring to your table that you can pour from the tap yourself. Very casual, but exactly what I wanted, just great food and service. And they don’t jam the music ear splittingly high! Reasonable prices too. Very happy with my change from Margaritaville – don’t get me wrong I like that place as well, but the service, food, and prices were all better at Carlos and Charlies.
Flamingo Hotel C- Something that I wasn’t aware of before heading down was to sign up for the free Total Rewards Club so that you can get processed faster checking in! If I had known I would have told all my guests to sign up prior to coming. My mom arrived at 2am after flying for almost 17 hours, and it took them 2 hours to check her in…..seriously! They didn’t get the room that they booked (a FAB Luxury) and instead got the low end room for the night. Took them about 2 hours of further line waits the next day to get their proper room. This happened to many guests. We also had booked a FAB Luxury but ended up in a FAB overlooking the construction at OShea’s that woke us up at 6 am every morning (let alone being able to hear Carnival Court until 4am). The customer service at the Flamingo is terrible. They are so busy and they are always full they just don’t care. Rooms were ok, but no fridge and no coffee makers. Also no lounge act! The one good thing about the Flamingo was that we were able to go through them to book us a limo to take us and our folks downtown with a stop at the marriage license bureau and a stop at Pawn Stars before dropping us off at Fremont Street. $60/hour was a good deal for a short notice 6 person limo. You also can’t beat the location on the Strip.
Mandalay Bay Honeymoon A+ Friends all left after the wedding, and our families and us moved hotels to Mandalay Bay. Our families live far from where we live, so it was a nice way to spend some time together. Wave pool and lazy river was great and not too crowded before noon. Told the concierge that it was our honeymoon and he comped two tickets to the shark reef for us! The House Of Blues in Mandalay Bay has Happy Hour every day from 4-6 and the food and drinks are excellent. We enjoyed our time here very much. (also worth signing up for MLife before going to hit up the express check in!)
Bachelorette A We weren’t sure what we wanted to do, so I scouted some spots prior to the girls arriving. We decided to pub crawl it and it turned out great! Started in our room to get ready, then headed down to Bills and we bought a round of $2 margarita’s (they are at the back bar). Exited out the side door to cross the road to Bally’s and went to Tacos and Tequilas for a few $7 pitchers. It was a nice stop as all the girls didn’t know eachother, so we downed some pitchers and chatted for a bit. We then walked through the passthrough to get to Paris’ piano bar. We made it there for about 45 minutes before their set ended, and they were awesome. We then walked down to Planet Hollywood’s Rock House (this is where the Imperial Palace place has moved since construction began). It was nearly empty, but it was good for a few laughs at the guys trying out their skills at the mechanical bull. We then made the loooong walk down to NYNY and danced at Coyote Ugly. I thought that this place was going to be fun but at that time of the morning (around 3 I think) it was a bit of a meat market. We had a few dances and got a cab back to the Flamingo. By chance I ran into my fiancé and his Bachelor party coming back and we won about $160 on the Roulette table before going up to our room! I hit up those $2 margarita’s at Bills and $7 pitchers at Bally’s a few times during our trip J
Other things we did during our trip that were worthwhile: Grand Canyon west rim (wow), Absinthe at Caesars (rated R but very good), Santana live at Mandalay Bay, Billboard Music Awards (amazing), Bally’s Indigo lounge (great cover bands), Paris piano bar, Vegas 51s (Triple A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, we went on fireworks night!), Maggianos happy hour (yum), parents gave great reviews on the Phantom/Tournament of Kings
Things that were take it or leave it: Toby Keith’s in Harrah’s (was ok), Piano Bar in Harrah’s, Cleopatra’s Barge in Caesars (bad DJ, expensive drinks), Spice Market at PH (I liked it but others didn’t), Albertsons on flamingo road for groceries/booze (after cab fare I probably could have gotten what I needed at the Walgreens for the same price), tried to get a table at Serindipity 3 for 10 people at noon on Saturday, impossible! Ended up back at Margaritaville for not so great food and loud music L,
Things that I should have done: Brought a computer and got the $14 internet in the flamingo, would have made everyone’s life a lot easier for organizing what they wanted to do. Also for some reason my debit card from scotiabank didn’t work at any ATM/Debit Transaction/Cashier! I couldn’t access any of my funds in my account, so my only choice was to drain my fiancés account, because his TD card worked (or cash advance my Visa which I didn’t do)!!!
I think that's it! We had the best time and a lot of our guests want to go back for a return trip.