I'm going to be a Flamingo bride! We fell in love with the Gazebo chapel, and we're going to put the deposit down this week. I think the grounds are beautiful and the prices are unbeatable. The fee to have an outside photographer is only $150!
We met with Ron Miller, Tyler Freear and Mike L. This is going to be the hardest decision, because they're all fabulous! If we can make room in the budget though, I think we are going with Ron Miller. His stuff is just drop dead gorgeous and he is so incredibly nice and helpful. I feel like I wouldn't have to do any work with him. He knows it all. Tyler is almost as good and offered to knock $150 off our price if we had to pay an outside vendor fee! Mike L and his wife Courtney are awesome people, but we didn't fall as deeply in love with their photos.
We toured an Apex suite and the Stardust suite. We're still stumped on our reception, because our guest list could be near 100 people. Apex felt a little smaller than I hoped. Stardust was awesome, but I'd really like to stay on strip. We ate at Yolo's, and I loved it, but FI was not as thrilled as I was.
I took tons of videos of chapels and the suites and am in the process of editing them. I will post it here when I'm done. Hopefully it can help other people who can't make a trip out to Vegas.
We stayed at Imperial Palace in a deluxe room (got 3 nights for $113!). It was... fine. I liked gambling there. Our room was small and had a ridiculously bad view. But it was 100% clean and we had no issues at all. You can't beat the location for the price.
We rented a car, which I recommend, especially if you have to go all over the place. We got it on priceline through Enterprise for $12 a day for a mid-size. When we checked in, we got offered a VW Bug, and we went for it! It was barely big enough for the two of us and our bags, but it was always easy to find in a parking garage! Driving sometimes took as long as walking, because parking garages are huge, but it usually saved our feet a bit. Garages are free, as is valet (though plus a tip).
And finally, Retro Bakery is awesome and delicious. We took a dozen cupcakes home with us on the plane and shared them with friends yesterday. SO GOOD!