Vegas Reception Under $100 / head?

dallasbob

I'm looking for a banquet-style reception under $100 / head.  Several strip hotels I've found have this pricing level, but then they tack on service charges that bring it closer to $120...which is just outside my price range.  Any suggestions?  Additional info on my ideal reception...

 - Three to four hours

 - Plated, banquet style (no buffets)

 - Open bar before dinner (1 - 2 hours)

 - Champagne with dinner

 - Not inside a restaurant

vegasgroom

If your goal is $100/pp then what you want to be searching for is what you can do in the $78/pp price range because everyone is going to add the 20% service fee on to provide tips to the service staff, and there's 8.1% clark county sales tax.

Eliminating restaurants as options is going to limit your options significantly but how many total guests are we talking?

dallasbob

Current list is approx 80.  

My hesitance about restaurants is that I think it would be odd for guests to walk past other tables on their way to the private area.  I suppose if there were a semi-private entrance, I could handle a restaurant...

Valeriecruz82

Yea I would definitely agree, most receptions seem to be held at restaurants. You can still have a private room at a restaurant if privacy is your issue. Good luck!

dallasbob

I just stumbled across the Tuscany Suites & Casino.  I think I can easily get everything I want for under 100 pp using one of their banquet halls.  So far I haven't seen any bad reviews....any thoughts on this venue?

mnupp

dallasbob said:

My hesitance about restaurants is that I think it would be odd for guests to walk past other tables on their way to the private area.  I suppose if there were a semi-private entrance, I could handle a restaurant...

I don't think this would be odd. Many places have a separate area/path that won't require a walk through the dining area, and even if they still walk past tables, guests know that there are private parties & probably wouldn't even notice.

Do you know yet where you're getting married? That might inform the geography of your choice ...

dallasbob

No location for the ceremony yet.  I'll plan that around the reception.  It's what we're most looking forward too.

spoon1984

Canaletto in the Venetian has a room that holds 80 and two rooms can be combined to hold over 100. Upon entering you head upstairs so there's hardly any tables in that area and most people are sitting out in the square anyway. I choose a four course menu for $65 plus 28.1%. Menus range from 45-85 plus theres a 3 hour beer and wine package for 30.

vegasgroom

dallasbob said:

I just stumbled across the Tuscany Suites & Casino.  I think I can easily get everything I want for under 100 pp using one of their banquet halls.  So far I haven't seen any bad reviews....any thoughts on this venue?

My general complaint about those are they typically look like banquet halls; i.e. blah.  We had initially wanted to use a ball room at one of the various strip resorts, looked at at least six of them, and they all looked exactly the same; some kind of carpeted/padded movable walls, neutral colors, neutral flooring, just really not exciting, and the cost to decorate extensively made it more expensive than some of the restaurant options we were looking at where the rooms were a lot more inviting.

For your size party, I think it would often not involve much walking through a dining area because private rooms of that size aren't typically going to be 'just off the main floor' type setups; Maggianos for example has a hallway just for their banquet rooms for example.  They'd probably fit that budget too; not sure how you feel about them.  Some of the other recommendations people posted would work just as well.

I don't think they'd hit your budget goal (definitely not if we're talking Friday/Saturday night) but it would be worth checking into Mix at Mandalay; you'd not only not have to walk past other people, the restaurant has its own elevator to the 64th floor.

missmo14

What about vintner grill strip? They have great menus under $100 per person and only open for special events.

Elaw12

vegasgroom said:

My general complaint about those are they typically look like banquet halls; i.e. blah.  We had initially wanted to use a ball room at one of the various strip resorts, looked at at least six of them, and they all looked exactly the same; some kind of carpeted/padded movable walls, neutral colors, neutral flooring, just really not exciting, and the cost to decorate extensively made it more expensive than some of the restaurant options we were looking at where the rooms were a lot more inviting.

I generally agree with this. We decided to use the catering department at Bellagio because all of the restaurants raised their minimums when they found out we were getting married over Labor day weekend.  One of my favorites, Prime, refused to do a buyout. Period. My husband's favorite, Mix, added a significant percentage to their F/B minimum. 

But, once we decided to get married in a ballroom, we then spent a significant amount of money for the ceremony through the wedding department.  Then, we paid a good bit for lighting, flowers, furniture, ect to make the room look different than a convention. And remember, its not just the rental you have to pay for, but also the labor. For our lighting, we paid for 3 electricians at 8 hours each and a "head electrician" for 8 hours for set-up and tear down.  32 hours of labor was crazy (and expensive). I'm not saying its not a good choice. I'm just saying that the savings, if any, weren't that significant in terms of our final spend amount.

dallasbob

So to elaborate on why I think I want a banquet hall vs a restaurant.  I want plenty of space for folks to mingle for the first hour when there will be an open bar.  I also wanted to rent one of those photo booths.  I don't think these are feasible at a restaurant, but correct me if I'm wrong...

vegasgroom

All depends on the restaurant; several we looked at were even fine with us bringing a band in, so it's mostly based on the size of the room and if your noise would be heard by customers not part of your party.

dallasbob

Hmm...thanks for the info.  I suppose I should look into restaurants after all.  And I came here to narrow down my options...

annathy03

Do you need a dance floor? I just looked at Joes stone crab for a rehearsal dinner, and if we could magically cut our guest list in half I would do our reception there. Their private room is upstairs with its own bar. Guests would have to walk through the bar area but not the restaurant (unless they need the elevator, that is in the restaurant). 4 course plated dinner was 68 pp plus tax and tip fir their standard menu, but they seemed very willing to customize to get lower so we can host alcohol as well with a lot fewer guests. I liked Springhill Suites across from the convention center too and their cost was right around that mark with tax and service, and they offered a free shuttle to fashion show for guests if they stayed there.

mcmath27

I agree with what everyone has said. We're doing a ballroom reception at Caesars for about 80pp and I think it's more expensive than a restaurant. Strip hotels tend to have a higher service charge and more expensive meal packages (although cheaper bar packages). Plus I do fear it'll look like a convention. I'm trying to find a way to change that (floral, furniture, lighting) but all of these come at a cost to include delivery and labor charges.

We chose a ballroom bc I loved the Classico chapel and my family did not want to travel to someplace else for a reception. My dad who is a slight curmudgeon and mildly deaf said he'd leave if he was crammed into a restaurant with a loud dj lol.

Elaw if you don't mind me asking, how much did the lighting cost? I'm terrified to even start pricing out Caesars in house A/V

Elaw12

mcmath27 said:

Elaw if you don't mind me asking, how much did the lighting cost? I'm terrified to even start pricing out Caesars in house A/V

I don't mind...its not anything that you couldn't figure out with a few phone calls. However, we had a big number so I posted our quote under the miscellenous tab on my review site so you can get a feel of the individual charges (link is in my signature). This quote was later adjusted as they had some pin spots for tables listed as uplights so the total ended up dropping below the 7k mark. Our total was high for two reasons: 1) we had two rooms so twice the area to light and 2) a more complicated set up with a coordinated lighting scheme (the "whole hog panel") and confetti. Its not just the rental fees that increased, but also the labor charges which are over 2k. However, we had room to spend money on lighting (like the ceremony) because we chose not to do a buyout.

I think what you can take away is that a six pack of LED lights is about $450, plus labor. A group of four pin spots will run you about $35 plus labor. SD210 might be able to add to this - I believe she is working with Bellagio's A/V department as well.

mcmath27

Thanks! That is a great starting point. Your reviews are awesome! We're getting Uplighting through our dj, not sure if more is indicated based on our budget. Although it never hurts to get a quote I guess

jccswl

We had our reception at Caesars and we used their in house lighting, Encore. We used them b/c we also needed some plasma tvs along with lighting. It was expensive, but we had budgeted for it. I knew that lighting would be important to transform the look of the room. The only complaint was having to deal with the sales rep assigned to us. I wish we would've been more aggressive and not so laid back. He was terrible in answering emails, and getting back to us when we left messages.