Wedding Planning Trip

vegasbaby2015 · February 2014

Hello! We are just starting to plan a March 2015 Vegas wedding. Nothing is decided or booked yet, but I have been doing some research and learning a lot on this board.

We are planning for 11-30 guests (I'm really on the fence on whether to invite family only or close friends as well), and we are considering a ceremony at the Bellagio and reception dinner after at a Bellagio restaurant, but we are open to other ideas as well. We are also considering a DDB tour, and I've been looking at various photographers.

We are going to Vegas next month to scout it out. Determining ceremony and reception locations is our top priority. Any advice on other things we should look into while we are there? I'm not sure whether we will be able to take another trip to Vegas prior to the wedding. What is important to do in person?

Valeriecruz82 · February 2014

if you can set up a trial with the hair/make up artist of your choice that would be good that way you won't worry so much the day of as to wondering how it will all come out. Also maybe plan some cake tastings

vegasbaby2015 · February 2014

Hmm, I hadn't thought of a hair/makeup trial, that's a good idea! I would love to do hair and makeup and an engagement photo session, but I don't know if we will have time, since our trip is only 4 days! Also, I don't know if I will have decided on a hair and makeup artist and photographer with enough time to set it up! Do you think I should just pick a hair and makeup artist and photographer that are popular on this board, and try them out and if I like them, book them for the wedding?

I'm not sure if we will have a cake (though I still love tasting them)! I'm hoping to get a good idea of how we want the wedding to be on this trip, so I can start booking things and feeling good about it

sasalew · February 2014

Hi @vegasbaby2015 , your plan sounds very similar to mine so far

I'm planning a Vegas wedding for 30-35 guests in 2015, and my fiance & I are heading to Vegas at the end of February to do our "scouting trip"! We live in the UK so this will be our only chance to see places before the wedding.

So far we have booked 6 meetings with different hotels/venues for ceremonies and receptions. Wynn is our favourite but I don't want to pin all my hopes on one this early! I think you should maybe do the same and consider viewing a few "back-up options" as well. We are also planning on checking out a few bars and restaurants for doing bachelor/ette parties, day after brunch, etc.

vegasbaby2015 · February 2014

Hi @sasalew! That does sound very similar to our plan! Where are your meetings? So far we are looking at the Bellagio, and maybe Cosmopolitan or Aria, I'll have to take a closer look at Wynn! Bellagio is our favorite so far, but I agree, it's better not to put all our eggs in one basket Mostly we don't want to get married in a chapel, so we are looking at other options.

We also plan to eat a lot of delicious food and check out other options for the wedding trip. I want to check out Chandelier bar in Cosmopolitan!

sasalew · February 2014

Our meetings are Wynn, Mandarin Oriental, Cosmopolitan, Flamingo and Planet Hollywood. A pretty mixed bunch for budgets etc but like I said, we wanna keep options open! We have also emailed Aria and Palms but neither of them have replied so I've gone off them a bit!! We're trying to stay away from MGM resorts because I really wanna use my own photographer. A good tip I got was to look around the hotels you like for good photo locations and note them down - that'll help when trying to get good shots on the day

sdg2502 · February 2014

@sasalew we are booking with the Platinum because they allow you to use all outside vendors except for catering if you want to. They are just off the strip but you get a view of the strip from the rooftop terrace where the wedding is held. My party is about the same size as yours. I think Ceasers we're going to let us have our own photographer for an outside vendor fee as well. I wish I could do a scouting trip though, have a great time! When in 2015 are you planning your wedding for?

sasalew · February 2014

Ooh, thanks @sdg2502 I haven't checked out the Platinum yet! Love the sound of a terrace and a strip view would be ideal. Are you doing a reception/meal on the terrace as well?

We are planning on October 2015, so pretty far in advance! I just can't wait to have a date and venue confirmed so we can tell our guests!

cirena166 · February 2014

Just a tip, you can use the LVCVA's (Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority) website to submit your plan (10+ rooms) to most of the hotels in the city in one fell swoop.

Cosmo is beautiful - what City Center should have been - and the Platinum is a hidden gem of a property. Clean lines, modern, good food in their restaurant.

jaime85120 · February 2014

I would toss venetian on the list I was tempted by the indoor waterfall wedding option

vegasbaby2015 · February 2014

I decided to do engagement pictures on the planning trip! Booked the neon boneyard Still need to set up a hair/makeup appointment.

As for planning, I'm hoping to set up appointments with Bellagio, Wynn, Aria, and Cosmo. I hope that'll be more than enough options!

Besides that we are planning to eat our way through Vegas :-P

Any other suggestions for this planning trip?

vegasbaby2015 · March 2014

Hey @sasalew, how did your planning trip go? Are you closer to making choices? How were your meetings with the venues? I'm so curious!

Two weeks until we leave for our planning trip!

PrincessMich425 · April 2014

How did the planning trips go? We need to head up there to check some places out since the FI decided to move up the date from next fall to next spring. Panicking a bit :P

vegasbaby2015 · April 2014

My planning trip went really well! We were able to rule out some venues while we were there, and made a final decision after we came home. My advice would be to look at all the spaces you are considering, and don't limit your options. Seeing the space was more important than actually meeting with and talking to the wedding coordinators at the venues, because a lot of that information I got online, through this board, or through email correspondance.

We met with Aria, Cosmopolitan, Bellagio, and Wynn, and we actually decided to have our ceremony at the Flamingo Gazebo. We didn't meet with anyone at the Flamingo (because we weren't really considering it at the time), but we did explore the wildlife habitat and go back to the gazebo (since there wasn't a wedding in progress at the time). And the fact that we saw the gazebo and area in person helped us feel comfortable with our choice.

So, in retrospect I wish that we had met with someone from the Flamingo and also I wish that we had gone out to Red Rock and considered that option for a ceremony instead of just meeting with strip hotel venues, and visited a stand-alone chapel as well. But, in the end we got the information we needed to make plans!

We also ate some delicious food and had a lot of fun in Vegas!

KrisLSmiley · May 2014

We've actually gone on two trips, the first to pick out the venue last fall, visited Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, Mirage. I was set on the fountains so we're at Bellagio. The second trip was to finalize the pre-wedding welcome event and the post wedding dinner/celebrations and we visited too many places to list here. We didn't finalize any of that yet but we did make some great progress. We also went back to the Bellagio and walked through the timeline minute by minute with the coordinator which put my FI at ease (he is very detail oriented) and then we snuck a peak at a wedding being held where ours will be so he could see how it all went as far as timing and guests arriving and locating the venue. That was fun. So if you possibly can plan at least one trip to visit before the wedding, it really helped ease some of our anxiety and also made us aware of several other choices we hadn't been aware of before the trips.

ssteele04 · May 2014

I love working with the Flamingo so far! and you can watch weddings at the Gazebo at the Flamingo on youtube!

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