McMullans Irish Pub A+: My sister held her reception here back in August. They were more than accommodating with wonderful food. So at the last minute we decided to have a non-hosted dinner there to serve as a meet & greet. We had about 24 people in their side room off of the bar. Their food is excellent. They are more than accommodating when it came to paying the bill. They split it up by table, and then would run as many cards as needed, although most of our guests paid cash. The owner Brian visited us several times throughout the night to make sure everything was going okay.
Mandalay Bay Vista Suite 34135 A: The room was fabulous! There may possible be new carpet in the room. We had an issue checking in. The previous guest didn’t vacate the room until 3pm. We arrived @ noon to check in to the room. Shocking... but the room wasn’t ready. They ensured us we would have the room, but had to wait for the previous guest to check out. At 3 they notified us that the previous guest had checked out and they were cleaning the room as we speak. By 5 pm the room still wasn’t clean so we had to leave to go to our dinner @ McMullans. We returned to MB @ 7 only to find the maid leaving the room. Nevertheless, the room was exactly as expected. The table had a few scratches, and the master bathroom sinks wouldn’t drain, but I couldn’t find anything else wrong with the room. The view was half strip/half airport. We had the room for 4 nights with the wedding taking place on night 2. The first night, we had about 19 people over after dinner. About 11PM we got the dreaded security knock. My husband handled them. They were very nice, but let us know the next time they were called, all unregistered guests had to leave. After that, we had the party moved downstairs as to avoid getting in trouble more. The next morning…thankfully due to quick thinking on my husband’s part we fixed the problem. He called the front desk to tell them our situation and to ask if the person in the adjoining room would be staying the next night. Our luck, they checked out by 8AM the morning of the wedding. Since we had a guest staying at Mandalay Bay, we arranged for them to be moved into the adjoining room. By 10AM the room was clean and the boys ended up getting ready in the adjoining room. It made it easy for Todd to take pictures of us both while getting ready. That night, we had no issues at all with noise complaints. And believe me we were loud!! I still can’t believe we didn’t get security called on us during the reception. Apparently there was another reception going on in another Vista suite. The parents of the bride had their room down from our room. They told us they tried to get our room as theirs faced the airport. So our floor was one big party!
We had a total of about 46 guests with Todd, a bartender and server in the room.
Retro Bakery A+: We had a total of 5 flavors: Chocolate Fountain, Cookies & Cream, Hop Scotch, Red Carpet, and Toasted Coconut. I ordered 9 dozen. We had about 3 dozen left over. Everyone raved how wonderful the cupcakes were. The night of the wedding I only got to try Red Carpet. I will say I am not a fan, as I prefer traditional red velvet. The nights following I made sure to try them all. I wasn’t around to take the delivery, but I do know they arrived early. The next day I made the trek all the way out to their shop to return the cupcake tower. It is a far drive. Our 6 inch round cake was Pucker-Up. I loved it. I thought I wouldn’t be a big fan of the buttercream, but oh was it delicious!
Masterpiece Cuisine A+: From start to finish, they were very easy to deal with. Our menu included: crab cakes, bacon wrapped shrimp, thai chicken, gourmet sliders and the sesame meatballs. People raved about how delicious the food was. The only thing that was devoured completely was the bacon wrapped shrimp. We had tons of food left over. We did run out of plates/napkins. We had enough forks though. I was prepared with extra plates, so it wasn’t a big deal. Towards the end of my planning, I was trying to accommodate my brother-in-law’s girlfriend. She is allergic to everything. I wanted her to be able to eat something. After several email’s back and forth, the chef decided to just cook a separate plate that she could eat at no charge! All I did was give them a list of her food allergies and left the food decisions up to them. In the end she got veggies, tuna and something else. I was very pleased! As most people say, you have a hard time eating during your reception. I managed to get a bite of the Bacon wrapped shrimp and I had a gourmet slider. I didn’t manage to eat any of the other food. I wish I had though!
Chapel of the Flowers A++: I started planning back in February. From start to finish, my planner was Archel. She was always willing to answer any question I had and even made suggestions when it came down to getting a better deal. She didn’t complain when I changed my package or added items after the millionth time. In the end I got what I wanted and didn’t feel pushed into getting something I didn’t want. I loved our minister. Off the top of my head, I don’t remember his name. We didn’t give him any direction really, but in the end it was perfect. My husband’s father is a Hawaiian musician who often sings at weddings. He wanted to sing a part of the ceremony. Originally they told him no which was a shock. In the end, he sang while we were lighting our unity candle. I absolutely loved my flowers. I had a mini Calla Lilly bouquet in the color of mango. It was so gorgeous. I cannot say enough about their photographers. Our pictures turned out fabulous! We had two limo drivers who were friendly and showed up on time. I wouldn’t change a thing!
Todd from Bently & Wilson A+: He showed up about 20 minutes late due to traffic problems on the freeway. But he was in contact so we knew he would be late and not to panic. Once he arrived he started shooting right away. We had about and 1.5 hours of photo time before the wedding. After the wedding we met him back at Mandalay Bay to embark on a 2 hour photo tour. He ended up staying nearly 2 hours after his scheduled end time. He was having a good time! I cannot wait to see our pictures. He told us he got about 1500 photos. Todd made us feel comfortable and he fit in perfect with our group.
Bell Trans Limo B: Booking the limo was very easy over the phone. I got several email confirmations which save me some time since I didn’t have to initiate it. The day of the limo arrived about 15 minutes early. Since the driver knew we had just gotten married he had a mini bottle of champagne on ice for us in the limo! I thought it was sweet and we definitely took advantage of it! The only gripe I had was the driver would have driven from Mandalay Bay all the way to Freemont on Las Vegas Blvd. Todd had to tell him to go off strip. Even then he got back on the main strip way before he needed to. For a Thursday afternoon it seemed that there was a lot of traffic. We spent nearly over an hour driving. So our picture time was limited. Overall the limo served its purpose.
Francesca Lombardo A++: There is nothing that can be said about Francesca that hasn’t already been said. She was the sweetest woman who made me feel beautiful. She brought her assistant Kimberly to help with hair. There were a total of 3 of us getting hair and make-up done. We started @ 8AM and I wasn’t finished until nearly noon. My hair and make-up lasted all night long. Francesca took my inspirations pictures and listened to what I thought I wanted. I loved the end result. Kimberly did a fantastic job on my hair. I wouldn’t have changed a thing! Both of my bridesmaids looked stunning as well!
Culinary Pros A+: I hired a bartender and Server for 5 hours. I didn’t really need the server, but I felt since we would be sleeping in the room after the reception, I didn’t want to have to deal with cleaning up a huge mess. I would say it was worth the money. 2 women were sent. I cannot remember their names at the moment. But, they were both wonderful. They were willing to do anything we asked and kept the drinks and food flowing all night long.
RSVP Rentals A: We rented 3 48qt ice chests. I thought the price was reasonable. It ended up costing $19.5. The reservation process was easy and they sent confirmation emails. The location was stellar, since it was near Mandalay Bay. Pick-up and drop off was a breeze.