First of all, thank you to everyone on this board! I was more of a lurker than a poster, but with everyone’s advice I was able to plan an amazing wedding, so I have to pay it forward. Here's a link to pics (just click on July 14th, 2012 album, the pics are all out of order but you can at least see how everything and everyone looked!):
http://stephaniejoshjuly14th2012wedding.shutterfly.com/
Southwest Airlines:
A+ Nothing to report here, our flight was on time and had a smooth, short ride. I stuffed my dressed into a carry on bag and stored it in the overhead bin because I knew I was having it steamed when I got there.
Enterprise Car Rental: A+ Surprisingly we had zero issues here. We got in late on Wednesday night so there were no lines, and we were in and out with the car in like 20 minutes. I highly recommend renting a car because we had a ton of errands to run and I booked it way in advance so we ended up only paying $120 for 5 full days!
The Orleans Hotel & Casino (the hotel part of our stay): A++++ This hotel is off the strip but is very nice and perfect for families. We reserved a block of rooms for fri and sat night for $79 which was a lot cheaper than the strip resorts. When we checked in we told them we were getting married Saturday and having our reception there and without being told we opened our room and it was an awesome executive suite! We were upgraded for free! We had Fri and Sat comped because of our reception and room block so the only night we had to pay for was Sunday (out of 5 nights!). Everyone was so nice here and more than willing to help when we needed it. It’s an older hotel, and I’m sure the suite isn’t as nice as one at the Wynn but we really enjoyed it and it was huge.
Debi at Fit for a Bride: A+ The ladies here are amazing! They were so nice when I dropped off my dress Thursday before the wedding. I just had my dress and veil steamed and it cost $75 (I also picked up my dress the morning of the wedding, so I didn’t have to pay for delivery fees). My dress looked beautiful and was all stuffed with paper so it held it’s shape.
Men’s Warehouse (on Twain Ave.): A+ Everyone’s tux fit perfect and they all looked great! We had a courier service come pick up everyone’s tux the morning after the wedding because we weren’t up for dropping them off (plus we had a total of 8 tuxes) and it only cost us $50 to have them picked up. We had everyone fitted at their local tux shop and we called in the measurements to our local Men’s Warehouse and just had them shipped down to Vegas to pick them all up.
Ethel M Chocolates: A+ We picked up our wedding favors at their location located in the Fashion Show Mall. We bought 104 pieces of their chocolate pecan brittle to give to each of our wedding guests. The lady in the store was so helpful, she packaged the bags full of ice packs so the chocolate wouldn’t melt and she threw in a few chocolate extras to us to enjoy!
Diamond Nails: A This place was about 5 miles away from our hotel but it was easy to get to with our rental car. I ended up getting a full set of nails because my real nails were chipping like crazy and I wanted them to look good in pictures. They were only $35 and were super friendly and fast. The only reason I didn’t give them an A+ is because the nails ended up a little longer than I wanted but that’s my own fault for not telling them (plus I was on my deathbed hung over so the experience was not enjoyable at all), but overall they are a great place to go to if you are willing to travel a little to get your nails done.
Hard Rock Reliquary Spa: A++ We bought travelzoo vouchers for $89 that included a 1 hour massage, pedicure, and a glass of champagne and it was such a great deal for the service we received! My bridesmaids, my mom and I went the day before the wedding and it was a great way to try and relax (I say “try” because even during the relaxing massage my mind was racing with all the things I still needed to do). The spa itself is very modern and clean and the employees are extremely nice. As I mentioned earlier I was super hung over because a bunch of us went out that Thursday night and didn’t go to sleep until 5am and I woke up at 8:30 to get to my nail appt., but I survived and ended up really enjoying our time here.
Trevi: A+++ Yummy!! We had our rehearsal dinner here and the food was so delicious and the ambiance was amazing. There were 26 of us at dinner and we had the entire upstairs mezzanine to ourselves with a great view of the fountain in the Forum Shops. Our menu included Caesar Salad, Bread with olive oil for dipping, a choice of Cheese Raviolis, Lasagna, or Chicken Lemon, and Chocolate & Vanilla Gelato for dessert for $35 per person (which included soft drinks and coffee but alcoholic drinks were extra). Everyone enjoyed the food and no one left unhappy. They were very attentive to us and made sure we didn’t have to wait long for a drink. They can fit around 100 people upstairs so if you’re looking for somewhere for your reception definitely look into them.
Jason’s Deli: A++ I ordered a coffee cake sampler tray with fruit and coffee for our room while we got ready for the wedding. I had them deliver it at 8:30 and he was right on time to set everything up. The only complaint I have is when you order the sampler for 8 people, they give you exactly 8 pieces of coffee cake so you can’t try different pieces unless you cut it up yourself. It was still a nice light breakfast for us and I highly recommend them!
Harmony Medina: A++ Harmony came to my room on Thursday for my trial and showed up relaxed and made me feel super comfortable. I showed her a picture of what I wanted and she whipped my hair up effortlessly and it looked great! When I saw myself in the mirror I expected to have really dark eyes but they weren’t at all, it was a natural look but still dramatic enough to show in pictures. For the day of the wedding she showed up and started right away on my bridesmaids. She worked on my 5 bridesmaids, myself, and 2 mothers from about 9am to 4pm without a break! I kept asking her to sit down, eat something, but she wanted to make sure we were finished before we had to leave. She did end up eating a sandwich we had in the room because that is a long time to go without eating! She was laughing along with us and we all felt super comfortable with her. And the most important part, we all looked so great! She did my bridesmaids makeup too and they all looked beautiful. There was a little discrepancy with the price that I still need to work out with her. She quoted me $100 for bridesmaid hair and makeup or $55 for hair alone. I paid for everyone’s hair and told them to have makeup it would be an extra $35, but when it was all said and done they were charged $60 for their makeup. I didn’t want to deal with it then so we just paid her, but I’m thinking since they all wanted airbrush and fake lashes that is why is cost extra, so it’s more our fault for not checking than it is hers. I reimbursed the girls the extra money and I’m not unhappy at all because everything turned out amazing!
Subway: A I ordered a sandwich platter, some chips, and cookies for lunch. Make sure you provide some sort of food for your wedding party because without this we would have all starved because we were so busy getting stuff ready for the wedding. This was a cheap way to go and you know what you’re getting with Subway. The only problem is they don’t deliver (at the location we ordered from) so I had to send my bridesmaid’s husband to go get it, which he did happily.
Keith Kaplan: A Keith showed up right on time and started doing his own thing snapping pictures of my shoes, rings, etc, and then went right into us girls getting ready. They seemed like awkward poses at first but the pictures turned out great! He rode in the limo with us and took the girls’ photos first at Caesars then when the guys arrived he did theirs. We paid the $200 outside vendor fee and had him shoot the wedding ceremony and I’m glad we did that because we get the digital rights to the pictures he took included in his price. He stayed and took all our family pics after the ceremony and the full wedding party pics outside of Caesars. Here’s the thing that I didn’t like, I confirmed with him a couple weeks before that we had him booked for 7 hours (from 3pm to 10pm), but when we were outside taking our wedding party pictures he thought we only had him booked for 4 hours and that he was exhausted and was going to call him partner to take over. We waited for a couple minutes and his partner Dale showed up and shot me and my husband, the limo ride back, and the reception. Keith did go back to the reception before guests got there to shoot the tables and cake before he went home, which I do appreciate. It was a misunderstanding that shouldn’t have been because my emails were very clear about how long and what needed to happen. The good news is, we already have our pictures back so he had a turn around time of about 1 week which is great! We still have to pick about 75 pictures for him to touch up but even the raw versions look really good. His price can’t be beat, and he took about 1000 pictures total between him and Dale.
Earth Limos: A We rented a town car for my mom, stepdad, and 2 year old nephew (both his parents were in the wedding so we needed someone to watch the baby), a 10 passenger limo for the rest of our parents and grandmas, and a 24 passenger super stretch suv for the wedding party. We had a blast on this thing! The music was cranking and we had a bunch of champagne we brought with us so it was a party bus! Thanks goodness we last minute upgraded from the 14 to the 24 because we would have never fit. I read a review on here that said she upgraded and I took her advice. We all fit just comfortably (there were 14 of us with the photographer). I rented it for 3 hours and when we called at 7:30 to have them pick us up at Caesars they argued that we were only reserved until 7:45 and almost didn’t pick us back up! I argued and said that earlier I mentioned I would pay after the fact if we did go over our reserved time so he came right back and I ended up paying another 30 minutes of service. They were the only vendor I had any drama with, and it was fixed immediately so I can’t really complain. He got us from The Orleans to Caesars and back in a short amount of time and avoided all the traffic. Overall this was the most fun part of the day, when the whole wedding party loaded in and headed back to the reception. The thing I liked best about them is that their quoted price includes tax, gratuity, and fuel so you have no hidden fees, and you can book in half hour increments.
Double Decker Bus: A+ These guys were great, although I think they owe me for an hour of service I paid for. Mike assured me there was no way we could get 70 guests from the Orleans to Caesars then back the Orleans in 2 hours, but they did it in under 2 hours, even though I paid for 3! Oh well, they can use it as gratuity because they made the experience fun for everyone. We dropped off two coolers, one for water and soda and the other for beer, the day before the wedding and left $20 for ice and it was all ready and chilled when they pulled up to The Orleans (or at least I hear it was, I never even got to see the bus!). We made paper program fans for everyone to help cool off because it was hot on the lower level. The important part is, they got everyone to the ceremony on time, and back to the reception early!!
Caesars Palace Classico Chapel: A++++ The chapel here is beautiful! My wedding looked so classy and I loved everyone who worked there. My coordinator was Melissa Thomas, and I was lucky enough to have her the entire year of planning. Anytime I had a question she responded within a day and was extremely helpful in my planning process. We were one of the unlucky couples who had our ceremony booked in the Juno Gardens and had it cancelled a couple months before the wedding (after our invites were printed btw), but I’m actually glad it happened because I was so stressed about it being too hot we ended up changing to the inside Classico Chapel. The day of our wedding was actually cloudy and had a tiny bit of rain (still really hot though) so thank goodness the location was changed. This chapel was so beautiful, and the pictures in front of the stained glass turned out great. The officiate was Brian Ross and he did a great job keeping in short and sweet but still seemed like a very compassionate person. Overall, I would highly recommend Caesars, I loved every minute of it!! We also used their flowers and I was soooo happy with them, I couldn’t stop looking at my bouquet, it was exactly how I wanted it!
DJ Godzilla: A I wish I could give him an A+ but we had one (very minor) issue. He is truly the nicest person I’ve ever met and went above and beyond to make sure I was happy. When we showed up to the reception he already had people dancing before dinner was even served. He also set up my laptop to the projector and audio for our slideshow during dinner and was in complete charge of it so I didn’t have to do anything. The only issue we had was him playing a ton of club music and not reading our guests. He had everyone out on the dance floor, then would play a club song with f-bombs (we had a lot of kids and older guests) and everyone would leave the floor and sit down (I don’t mind this music, I like dancing to it, but we wanted our guests to have a good time). I just wish he would have been aware of the type of music that was getting people out dancing, we kept having to request songs we knew people would want and that got us through the night. Most guests had left by 11pm, and just the wedding party and some friends and younger cousins were left and we partied until they kicked us out until midnight. Calvin stayed an hour longer than we paid him and he was glad to do it. We tried giving him more money and he refused (he eventually took another $40 after forcing it!). Overall, he really did do a great job and I was happy, but if you want more typical family wedding music then he may not be for you, unless you give him a specific playlist.
Retro Bakery: A++ Yum! These mini cupcakes were so delicious!! We ordered 4 dozen of 5 different flavors (240 total) for 100 guests, and we had about 100 left over! I think everyone was busy dancing and/or socializing at the bar to ear them. Luckily we sent most home with guests and the wait staff. They were really sweet, but were the best cupcakes I’ve ever had. I was so sad we had to leave our top cutting cake (we gave it to the housekeeping at the hotel) because it was decorated so beautiful but we couldn’t take it with us.
The Orleans Hotel & Casino (reception): A+++++ These guys are the winners as far as favorites! I could not have asked for a better venue for our reception. We had 100 guests so we had to use one of their ballrooms (Esplanade Room, salons J & M) and everything was decorated so beautiful and exactly how I wanted. I ordered 200 bulk white roses from Costco.com and had them delivered to the hotel, and made my own centerpieces which turned out so beautiful! The morning of the wedding I had the bellman bring down the champagne, centerpieces, and a few other decorations and when I arrived at the reception everything was set up and flowing smoothly. The food was the best food I’ve ever had! Everyone, and I mean everyone, raved about how delicious the food was. And the price could not be beat (that’s what you get for moving a little way off the strip, the price drops dramatically). The buffet came with so much food and every bit of it was amazing! Any time I needed something someone was right there to make sure it was done the way I wanted. These guys are true professionals. They kept the booze flowing until midnight when they finally started having us wrap things up (but they weren’t rude and pushing us out the door). I can’t recommend this venue enough, I know it’s off the strip but that didn’t stop everyone from having an absolute blast. People who wanted to stay on the strip did, and others just took the free shuttle during the day to explore. After the reception we moved downstairs to a lounge area where they had a band playing and we danced there until about 3am! I stayed in my dress the entire night and it ended up filthy. I spilled a drink down the front (not until after the reception so I didn’t really care), and the bottom ended up black with dirt.
One word of advice to future brides: I was late to absolutely everything (except the wedding!!) because I spread myself too thin. We had so many errands crammed in a short amount of time, and we were so exhausted by the time the wedding was over. Whatever time frame you have estimated right now, double it, because everything took so much longer than I anticipated. From traffic to getting caught up talking to someone in the lobby, we were running around like crazy before the wedding.
Thanks again for all your help, and hopefully these reviews will help any future Las Vegas brides!