Heya Knotties!
I got back last night from our scouting trip and as always, Vegas was amazing. I was super nervous going in because my parents joined us and it was their first time in Las Vegas. They had been kind of dubious about the whole "Vegas wedding" idea, but it went really well! My mom even said she wished they could stay an extra day.
I probably have a pretty tough grading system, particularly when it comes to food, so please take my grades with a grain of salt, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask!
Caesar's Palace Front Desk - C
FI and I had an OK experience checking in, but my parents did NOT. In their first few minutes experiencing Vegas they had to deal with a very RUDE front desk guy. He didn't even tell them all the required things about what was included with their resort fee or the mini bar fridge being on a weight system. They are not big travelers so they didn't know what to provide for credit card/ID etc and he was very indignant with them.
Secondly, the weddings manager recommended we talk to the front desk about doing a room tour for a suite since we'd like to get one for the wedding next year. The front desk clerk we spoke with acted like it was completely out of line for us to ask, even after no fewer than 2 people with other services had told us to talk to them like it was no big deal. She begrudgingly gave us a binder of room descriptions with floorplans, short descriptions, and photos. This was still better than anything we found online. However, once we called reservations (because the front desk refused to get us quotes of any kind), it quickly became clear that the binder was VERY outdated, as several of the rooms we inquired about didn't even exist any more!
I really think there may be a training problem, or maybe just overworked desk workers. I empathize - I used to work as a video store clerk and I know how annoying repeating the same information over and over can be. But I still expect a high standard of service and friendly desk staff - they are literally the FACES of the hotel.
Caesar's Palace Reservations Phone Line - A
Both FI and I spoke with the CP reservations line - first he called for the nonexistent suites. They were very helpful about looking up information even a year in advance and tried their best to help after it became clear the suites we wanted quotes for weren't in the system any more. I called today after finding some info on Senator Suites here on the board. The woman I spoke with worked very hard to help me get information, even though they were having network issues and all the pages were super slow to load.
Empress Court Restaurant - B+
We ate here before my parents arrived on Sunday. It's a gourmet Chinese restaurant with an extraordinarily beautiful dining room. This would be a really great spot for a small (6-10 people) gathering. The service was very formal - and a little forced. The food was quite good but not amazing.
Bacchanal Buffet - B+
My parents and sister met up with us Monday morning to eat here. It has really good reviews on Yelp and the decor is gorgeous. The hostesses were very friendly and clear with directions. Our server was pretty rough - but I don't think I've ever really had great servers in any buffet ever. The B+ rating is just because a lot of our food from the buffet was nearly room temperature. I'm sure it's some kind of liability issue where they don't want anyone getting burns but cold food just doesn't taste as good! Anything that we had made up fresh was excellent, and the variety was wonderful. I would eat there again for breakfast/brunch, but probably wouldn't shell out the $50 for dinner.
Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill - B
FI and I ate here Tuesday for lunch before we left for the airport. It was conveniently close and our expectations were that the food would be mediocre. I think those expectations were met. Our server was friendly enough but nothing special. Our food was hot, delivered in about 20 minutes, and decent tasting. All of the TV's were set to sports channels which was kind of annoying for a non-sports bar.
Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak, and Stone Crab - A
We all ate here Monday in the late afternoon before walking over to Treasure Island for Mystere and came back Tuesday morning to meet with Nicole, the events coordinator.
Everyone was very pleased with the dinner. Our server was nice and very attentive but not annoyingly so. All of the food came out quickly and was excellent. The steaks were done exactly as requested and the seafood was very fresh tasting and the crab not too watery. We got the famous mashed potatoes and green beans almondine, which were both very good. Some of our pie slices were better than others - my dad wasn't really too keen on his apple pie a la mode, but the rest of us liked our pies (key lime, chocolate, and peanut butter).
The next morning we met with Nicole, who was so warm and welcoming. She showed us the Gigi room, answered my millions of questions, and charmed my parents all at the same time. She definitely knows her stuff and I feel really good leaving our wedding reception in her hands. As we were walking out, our server from the evening prior was walking in and took the time to greet us warmly and ask how everything went.
Caesar's Palace Wedding Services - A
Even though I'm not pleased with all the little extra charges that Caesar's weddings has and feel like I'm wasting money on their package pricing, Valerie at the chapels is still lovely to talk to and work with. She is honest and upfront about all the extras and promptly responds to email. We met with her in person to tour the chapels and ask some more of my million questions. The chapels are very lovely - much nicer looking and brighter in person than in their brochure. We looked at the Tuscana and Classico indoors and went out to the Venus and Juno Gardens. I would be fine with having our wedding at any of the four, but our clear favorite was the Venus Garden. It's easy to access from the hotel doors (there's quite a walk for Juno) and is just stunningly beautiful.
We were pretty concerned about the heat, if you've been following my saga, but even though it hit 105 on Monday and we were out at 4 pm, it really wasn't too bad because they are shaded (the concrete benches were a bit toasty). The bad part about the Venus garden is the dubstep music coming from the Venus pool club. It was very distracting, but I asked Valerie and she said they give the wedding schedule to the pool club and they turn the music down when people are in the garden. So we're planning on doing a 5:30 pm ceremony there, and hoping they shut down the club at 6 pm like their website says anyway so there really won't be a problem.
Ok, time for my sneaky revelation of our trip - if you're having a really small wedding (like less than 10) and wanted to do a "pop up wedding" in one of their gardens, I think you totally could get away with it. The weddings are only scheduled from 11:30 to 6:30 so you could do a really nice quick thing at like 10 am and be in and out before anyone even notices. The extra-nice thing about doing it in the morning before the salon starts scheduling them is that the Venus pool club isn't even open yet. I'm honestly not even sure what legal recourse the hotel has if they "caught" you - it's open to all hotel guests and lots of people wandered in to check it out while we were there. There is no signage stating that it's for wedding customers only or anything like that.
Hope you enjoy my novella! If I missed something, please ask away!