09.10.11 Reviews & Some Photos (Very long)
These reviews are LONG LONG overdue but I wanted to make sure to get them in because reading this board helped me with so much of my planning and my vendors were so amazing, I wanted everyone here to know how great they were.
As cliche as it may sound, despite droplets of rain, thunder during our vows and a few technical glitches, it was perfect. Not only did our vendors make us feel like our wedding was their only concern, but they also paid special attention that meant the world to us. Maybe it was the novelty of it being a gay wedding (clearly it's far more rare in Vegas than home in Toronto), maybe it's because they saw how crazy obsessed we both were with details, but so many went above and beyond to make our day magic.
The day was perfect, thanks to the following amazing vendors:
Photography: Mike L Photography (Mike & Courtney) A++
Over the past year, we'd shot over 5 different themed engagement shoots (one of which was with Mike & Courtney last year in Vegas) and M&C were our favourite photographers all along. We had ZERO anxiety about our photos because we knew they'd produce amazing results.
What we didn't anticipate was how much Mike and Courtney would be part of our day and that by the end of the night, that it would feel like they were great friends and part of the wedding party.
They were with us from an hour before the ceremony, shooting our individual shots with our groomsmaids, they guided us through our photo tour, reassured us, made us laugh, helped us relax - and, despite my best attempts to try to find time for us all to eat, they starved all day. They shot all the way through the reception and didn't even miss a beat when their contracted time was up. They stayed on, reassured me it was okay and that I really DID need shots of our speeches and then, after taking their meals to go an hour later than they should have left, refused to invoice me for the additional time.
They are a class act, amazing people - and to top it off - BLOODY brilliant! Courtney posted a blog with our preview shots this weekend and everyone is blown away. Feel free to check them out, I'm dying to see the rest:
http://www.mikelphotos.com/wynn-maggianos-crystals
If you have any doubts in your mind, GO BOOK THEM - they are the best decision you can make.
Ceremony Photography: Cashman for Wynn B
The ceremony photos were beautiful. But, I would have preferred if we could have had Mike and Courtney shoot the ceremony because I know they would have come up with even more brilliant shots. Plus we just couldn't justify spending what they Wynn wanted to charge for the digital rights to the photos. The CD alone would have cost more than our flights! We bought the 70 photos we loved and will have to live with the scans. It's okay, we know Mike & Courtney and our friends have thousands of shots. You can check out the Wynn's professional shots here:
http://scrheartsnga.shutterfly.com/pictures/244
Ceremony: Primrose Courtyard, Wynn Las Vegas A+
- Laquitter D, Wedding Coordinator
- Rev Walter, Officiant
- Evelyn, Head of Florals
- Rochelle C, Manager of Weddings
From the day we went into the Wynn to check out the venue a year ago, Laquitter made us feel like her only clients. Through hundreds of emails and conference calls with us and the Wynn floral department, she was incredibly patient and amazing.
Rev Walter was pleasant, totally willing to customize our ceremony and was the perfect compliment to the wedding we dreamt of.
Rochelle was introduced to us at our first meeting, recognized us a year later when we were randomly walking through the casino and made sure her presence was known on the day of. When we wrote to compliment Laquitter, she was quick to respond and was equally responsive when we asked her to help with some of our complaints related to the hotel.
Evelyn participated in multiple conference calls when my fiance started things off by sending photos of Eva Langoria's wedding as his inspiration. Yes, their floral prices are criminally expensive and really aren't fair. But Laquitter did warn us, and at the end of the day, you have to expect that from the Wynn. Were the flowers insanely overpriced? Does it kill me to think of the price? Yes, to both. But they were exactly what my fiance dreamt of (or at least a smaller version of his dream) but they were breathtaking and made my fiance beam with pride.
Yes, the Wynn floral pricing is robbery and they forgot to lay down our personalized aisle runner - but other than that the ceremony was PERFECT. They threw in added touches such as dozens of candles and I think they brought in the entire Wedding Salon staff to assist (and/or to gawk). It was touching and truly perfect in every way. I wouldn't have changed the venue for the world.
Wedding Party Transportation: Presidential Limo Stretch Escalade A
- Steve, Driver
Despite being slightly taken aback at our unconventional wedding party (I'm pretty sure I caught him snapping an iPhone photo), he was professional, adaptable and great. When we kept changing our pickup times during the wedding party's photo tour, he gave me his card and said he'd be there within 5 minutes whenever I called - and he was. It was perfect and the car was AWESOME!
Wedding Guest Transportation: Bell Trans 24 Passenger Bus A
- Driver's name unknown 
Professional, courteous and exactly what we needed. No complaints! They did charge us early, but at least it was the correct amount, so that's fine. We also used them again a few days later for trips to and from the outlets and they were equally great.
Cake: Freeds Bakery A-
- Jayme G, Manager
I must have asked Cassy at least 3 times if I could use another bakery because I was NOT getting the result I wanted from Freeds. In the beginning I was getting passed around, it was taking forever to hear back and even when I got transferred to Jayme, they kept telling me that what I envisioned wasn't possible. Over countless calls and emails Jayme and I kept negotiating a compromise… but somehow, miraculously in the end, the final compromise ended up begin almost exactly what we wanted all along.
At the end, we could see the cake shining from our hotel window that looked out over Maggiano's, it took our breath away in person and the vendors and our guests are still talking about it. We paid for a lot of supplies and a hefty upgrade fee, but it was totally worth it. It was uniquely us and was exactly what we wanted. AND TASTED GREAT!!! We have two tiers in our freezer (the cake fed over 100, but we only had 40 guests)… and while one will be for our anniversary, I'm thinking we may cut one for my birthday in a couple weeks… we're dying to enjoy it again.
I would have given them an A+ if it hadn't been for how long it took and how difficult it was to get to the end result. But in the end, Jayme was a doll and we were all so proud of the gorgeous cake.
Reception: Calabria Room, Maggiano's A+
- Cassy & Sabrina (who replaced Marc), Banquet Sales
- Jeremy, Banquet Coordinator
As some of you may or may not remember, I wasn't the biggest fan of Marc's but we booked with Maggiano's anyways and continued to plan. When Sabrina came in a couple months ago, I was relieved she'd be there with Cassy for the final weeks, rather than Marc, but I also was worried she wouldn't have all the details or honour the arrangements we'd previously made. My panic couldn't have been more unfounded.
Cassy was amazing all along, even taking some unplanned, panicked calls from me along the way. Sabrina immediately called me to ease my mind when she sensed I was panicked that she was new, and they both met with us a few days before the wedding to reassure us. It went from them saying that they wouldn't be working on the Saturday of our event, to Sabrina saying she would ensure the setup went well… and in the end, both Cassy and Sabrina stayed and oversaw our reception until at least 10pm. Later on, the manager told me it was very rare that Sabrina and Cassy would stay that late, much less change and get dressed up for the occasion. It was an honour to see them care so much.
Jeremy and the entire banquet staff were phenomenal. Other servers were hanging out in our reception room during our entertainment - sometimes there were 10 of them at the bar. It definitely made us feel special. Jeremy worked with Lantz (DJ) and Tara (Coordinator) and adapted to every challenge and change in plans along the way. And no one EVER made us feel uncomfortable.
The guests raved about the food and our custom martinis and the staff told us the room had never looked the same. The icing on the cake was when the guests from the room next door were standing on the balcony watching our reception through the window 
When we came in a few days later for lunch, when we had finished, our waitress told her that the staff knew we were there and had comped our meal. And when we went back a week later to pick up our frozen cake (which they graciously kept for us), the hostess greeted us by name. They were amazing. It was the greatest decision to have our reception here and I thank this board for the idea!
DJ: Lantz, All Night Long Entertainment A
- also dance floor rental, fog machine and uplight
We started the planning with Jeremy, one of the owners, and were then passed along to Lantz in the final months before the wedding. They were both super responsive to our dozens of questions and were incredibly flexible and a pleasure to deal with. Music is as important to me as the flowers were to my fiance, and they never freaked out at my requests/demands. From programming the pop music to play during dinner, to me wanting to provide my own edits for our grand entrance and first dance.
Throughout the night, when our entertainment went over time, the slideshow didn't work at first and whenever the schedule needed to be adjusted, Lantz rolled with the punches and never broke a sweat. In the last hour when we were tight for time, I don't know how he did it, but he still managed to mix an unbelievable number of our requested songs in order to fit as many in as possible. Our guests loved the music and couldn't believe he mixed an amazing party while respecting our wishes.
The one thing I'd do differently? I gave Lantz a timeline with some instructions around how to introduce some elements. I specifically asked that the first dance, and our entertainment just occur and not be announced - but he didn't follow the notes (or didn't bother to have them with him). Next time I'd make sure he knew those were REQUIREMENTS and not REQUESTS, but I can't be upset at such an amazing night.
They also overcharged me $200 in error, but an email a few days later got that sorted out without any stress. I'd still hire them again in a second!
Entertainment: Derrick Barry as Britney Spears A+
Derrick Barry. He's a headliner in Frank Marino's Divas Las Vegas, has been on America's Got Talent and has appeared as Britney in many music videos. He's even been acknowledged by Britney and sometimes makes a hotter Britney than even she does.
I had reached out to Derrick about the possibility of him doing our reception over 18 months ago. From the beginning he said it would be an honour and then passed me to his Manager who brokered the deal. I was always concerned about the amount being charged for what was to have been a 3 song routine plus photos, but the night of, Derrick advised his later show had been cancelled and he instead did 3 full sets, including a costume change and he did some a cappella singing as well. He also spoke to the audience, gave a quick, sweet speech and told us that we were paving the ways for guys everywhere. We were so moved and touched. In fact, my fiance, who had resisted the idea of Derrick all along, seemed to be possessed by his inner 12 year old girl (as were Courtney and Tara too). People can't stop talking about his performance or the fact that he "was a better woman than most woman could aspire to be".
Derrick posed for DOZENS of photos, after staying an hour more than planned, and was a definite highlight to our entire trip.
Reception Florals: Pam at the Pallette A+
I didn't get to work with Pam as this was entirely my fiance's domain, but he couldn't have been more in love with Pam or her work. The centrepieces even took my breath away and the guests couldn't believe how gorgeous all the flowers were. And all of our vendors (even the Maggiano's staff) said they'd never seen Maggiano's look so good. Pam made the look complete and complimented all of our other touches perfectly.
Videography: Big7Media (Joe, Nhia & Anthony) A
I never was going to pay the prohibitive cost of some of the high-end videographers in Vegas, and was prepared to go without video. But I found Big7 advertised on Craigslist and contracted them to just capture the raw footage of the reception at a reasonable cost and I planned to have it edited at home later on.
The night of the reception, I was a little mean, especially to Nhia because she was just everywhere and not only did I feel like I was being chased by TMZ, but Courtney and Mike were having some trouble capturing shots with 3 videographers also around. No one was going to mess with Mike & Courtney.
However, after watching some of the raw footage, and meeting with Joe and Nhia a couple days after the wedding, I was blown away by the quality of the raw footage and arranged to have them do the edits as well. We're still waiting on the end product, as we still have some items to provide to them, but I'm optimistic of the result. They ended up being an amazing family (and I now feel awful for being so mean), with beautiful and delightful children, and a ton of talent. I'm excited to see their end result.
Reception Set-up/Coordinator: Tara of Scheme Events A++
Tara, Tara, Tara. With all the work we put into planning our event, we did not feel we needed a wedding planner. What we did want was for someone to have our detailed checklist and to ensure that everything on that list got done at the reception site, so that we wouldn't feel that we needed to get their before our guests to ensure everything was the way we wanted it.
The 3 hours of pre-reception setup got expanded a week before when we found out Pam couldn't pickup our ceremony flowers at the Wynn and move them over to Maggiano's. So Tara stepped up and did that as well.
When we got to the reception, not only had Tara executed our vision in ways more beautiful than we could have ever imagined, but she was running the show. She had EVERY person working our wedding on their toes, and every time i'd step out to give instructions, someone would say "Tara's already taken care of it".
Tara was only paid an hourly rate for setup and wasn't involved in the planning, yet she stepped up and became Jennifer Lopez in the movie 'The Wedding Planner'. She was working every angle of the reception as if she'd been part of the planning from the beginning and as if we'd paid the full fee for day-of coordination. I was almost moved to tears so many times by how generous Tara was with us.
And what's more, when Britney extended her set, Tara stuck around… at least for an extra 2 hours, despite me telling her repeatedly I knew she may have to go. She kept telling me not to worry and didn't leave until ALL of our key elements were completed, from Britney, to our speeches, to our surprise first dance and cake cutting. She was there for it ALL and felt like our fairy godmother. At the same time, she even managed to charm us (and Britney)… I mean this when I say my fiance (well, husband now) and I talk all the time about how much we'd love to hang out with her. She truly made an impression.
When I wrote to her the next day and asked her to invoice me for the extra services, she refused. A final act of grace by a truly class act. I was a fool to think I could do it all on my own, and Tara made sure the magic continued all night long.
… wow… told you that would be long! Hope it was helpful.
I'll try to post some reviews from other companies/restaurants/hotels and non-Vegas wedding vendors at another date. I'll give you a rest for now.
Re: 09.10.11 Reviews & Some Photos (Very long)
Funny, we had a similar experience with Freeds where communication was often difficult, to put it nicely, but the end result was great and tasted fantastic.
Married in Vegas - June 2011
Your cake = gorgeousness
Congrats on being married and throwing a fantastic party!!
10/01/11! Tadaa! Planning Bio
Check it! My Married Bio- in process
Can't look at the pics since I'm at work, but we have Courtney and ours turned out great so I know yours look simply FAB!!!!
Loved the flowers.
Loved the cake.
Loved the details you put into the wedding.
Congrats! The photographs are so amazing!
I MUST say that I love your cake! LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! And Birttany......hello! Frickin love it..........I must rethink my entertainment. :-)
I am so glad to hear the great reviews since I have Mike L photography! I am also going to see Pam at the Palette in October. Oh yes and I love the centerpieces she did.
Congrats agian!
Everything looked amazing!
I am in love with your cake. I`m doing something similar, but on a much smaller scale.
Congratulations again!
OMG I HAVE A BIO! LOOK AT IT!
You guys look so happy, congrats again!!
I'm absolutely drooling over all the details. Our Maggiano's reception is going to look like a snack at In 'N Out compared to you guys. Thanks for raising the bar!
Congratulations!!