Bellagio wedding reviews, continued...
Reception Food & Beverage - The Bellagio Las Vegas: A+++ for food and service, B for
communication.
We had our wedding reception in the Monet Ballroom at the
Bellagio. We had 75 guests joining
us in Vegas, many of whom traveled from the East Coast to attend, so we wanted
to treat them to a really nice dinner.
As such, we decided early on that we wanted to bulk of our wedding budget
to go towards food and beverage (at the expense of cutting things like an
expensive dress, ceremony flowers, videographer, etc). Our menu included a Cocktail hour with
the following passed appetizers:
(1) scallops wrapped in bacon (these were not on the Bellagio’s menu,
but we asked and they made them for us), (2) mini beef wellingtons (crowd
favorite- - delicious), (3) smoked salmon pillow (some sort of smoked salmon
mousse on a cracker, not my cup of tea but my husband loved it); (4) pigs in a
blanket with mustard dipping sauce (because nothing says CLASSY like a pig in a
blanket); (5) grapes stuffed with blue cheese and coated in crushed almonds
(sounds strange, but surprisingly tasty and refreshing) and (6) an asiago
cheese and articoke beignet.
We also added a cheese and cracker station, as well as shrimp cocktail
and crab leg stations. Top
winner? Definitely the Beef
Wellington.
We had a plated dinner. We started with a Chicken Confit Ravioli (which was
amazing, I could have eaten an entire plate of this). It was shredded chicken in a raviloli, which sounds
plain, but there were these delicious fresh herbs and an au jus sauce that went
with it - - so freaking good! Then
we had a baby greens salad, with candied walnuts and raspberry vinaigrette. For the dinner entrée, we had the
guest select (in advance, on their RSVP card) a choice of Sea Bass, Beef
Tenderloin or the vegetarian option (which was a veggie ratatouille with
risotto). The Sea Bass and
Beef both came with veggies and potatoes - potato au gratin for the sea bass, and Yukon mashed for the
beef. Both were
excellent. The whole
“selecting the entrée in advance” was sort of a pain in the ass, because we had
to use the escort seating cards to indicate each person’s entrée
selection. In other words,
the cards were supposed to tell each person their table number, as well as
their previously selected entrée for the wait staff to see. We bought “make your own” table escort
cards at Michaels and printed them at work, which saved us money. Then we stamped the back of each card
with either a blue cow (Beef), a pink fish (Sea Bass) or a green carrot
(veggie), to indicate each person’s entree. (Yes, it would make more sense for the fish to be
blue, what with fish swimming in water and all, but logic does not always
follow form in wedding planner.. .. besides, what can I say, the cow looked
cuter in blue so I went with it.)
This was a cute idea at first, but the novelty wore off after stamping a
dozen cards. But apparently it
worked because everyone got fed.
I thought the food was excellent - - in fact, my husband and
I both said that it was better than what we had tried at the food tasting back
in April. The steak was
amazing. We got a LOT of
compliments from people on our food.
Also, as many have said before me, the service at the Bellagio was
simply top notch, not just for our sweetheart table, but for all of the
tables. They really know what they
are doing and dinner service was seamless.
Our cake was also through the Bellagio. We had 2 flavors divided over 4 layers
- - chocolate cake with vanilla butter cream frosting for 2 of the layers,
while the remaining 2 layers were vanilla sponge cake with lemon cream filling
with fresh raspberries. Both were
super delicious, but the chocolate got major raves from our guests. I was too full to eat more than a
few bites (big regret on my part, seriously, the cake was REALLY freaking
good). Thankfully, the awesome
staff of the Bellagio sent the top of the cake up to our suite, where it was
waiting for us to enjoy the next day (we put it in the fridge overnight, it was
just as good the next day!)
We had our family up to the suite to enjoy champagne and cake the next
night after dinner!
For dessert, we also added on a Gelato ice cream sundae bar,
which was open for 2 hours following dinner. Honestly, this was WAY too much food. A few people went to it, but the
majority of people were too full for it.
I ate some (it was delicious), but if I had to do it over again, I would
probably not do the ice cream sundae bar.
The sundae bar was simply too much food.
Finally, after much consideration, I’m giving the Bellagio
only a B for communication because we experienced a lot of delay in
communication in the days leading up to the wedding. For example, we didn’t get a price quote on our menu
(despite many, many requests from us) until 10 days before the wedding, and
even then it was missing some of the requested items. And this was actually after the date we were supposed to pay
the Bellagio and have everything finalized as per our contract. Without a quote as to how much the
different items would be, we couldn’t pay them, and we couldn’t finalize our
menu (we had no idea if the shrimp or crab would be even remotely affordable
for us, etc.) We finalized
our menu in April, but didn’t get the quote until August. It stressed my husband out because he
wanted to overnight them a check for the bulk of the wedding and be done with
it, but there was so much delay.
In the end, it turns out that they had a lot of big conventions going on
in the weeks leading up to our wedding, so I understand, but it was
frustrating. That being
said, our coordinator Karin was really nice and made sure everything was
perfect during the actual reception, which is the most important part. I wouldn’t let my experience
regarding communication deter you from booking your wedding reception with the
Bellagio, because honestly, the service and food was amazing and top
notch. I just wanted to be
honest about our experience and frustrations.
Lighting-
The Bellagio’s Technical Services Department: A
One of the good things about the Bellagio’s catering
department is that they let you bring in outside vendors for photography and
flowers. Their only exception,
however, is in the category of lighting, due to fire codes and insurance
issues. If you want uplighting,
you are required to go through the Bellagio’s Technical Services
Department. Lighting was important
to me, as I have spend many an hour in hotel conference rooms for work meetings
and the last thing I wanted was for my wedding to look like a work
meeting. Our contact Dianna was
really nice and helpful with any questions that we had. We ordered blue and pink uplighting, as
well as “pin point spotlights” on the table centerpieces. We also had dance floor lighting. It is hard to really see it in the
photos due to Todd’s flash, but in person, it looked great. The room did not look as brightly lit
as it does in the photos, but rather had more low lighting to set the
mood. The only reason I’m not
giving them an A + is because the pricing is higher than outside vendors. But quality was top notch.
Florist - - The Palette: A+
I worked with Pam from The Palette for our wedding
flowers. Wedding flowers can be
ridiculously expensive, and we did not want to spend a lot on flowers. Luckily, we had a small wedding
party (just a MOH and BM), so that helped cut down the expense. I don’t know a lot about flowers
and my instructions tended to be vague in the beginning (“maybe pink flowers…”)
but Pam is super responsive. I
will give her this prize - - she
was the FASTEST to get back to me out of ALL my vendors. She would send me a new quote every
time I added or changed my order, and she didn’t seem put out at all. My MOH and I both had pink bouquets,
but all of our other flowers were white for the reception. We had submerged white orchids
with floralites on the bottom, with two small bunches of flowers on each side
(I’ll post some pictures later).
She also provided us with some very affordable ($20 a piece) small
arrangements to put on the card table, cocktail tables, etc. Very simple. She threw in some flower petals for free to decorate the
cake table, etc. She was great and
I think everything looked perfect - - exactly what we wanted. I didn’t realize this when I
first started planning, but Pam comes and picks up the centerpieces at the end
of the night, so you are really sort of just renting them I suppose. But this worked for us since it
was a destination wedding and no one wanted to travel with floral across the
country. Overall, I would
definitely recommend The Palette.
Bonus points to her because she put a blingy rhinestone wrap around my
bouquet handle, even without me requesting it!