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Need reception venue help please!

caolson82caolson82 member
First Comment
in Nevada-Las Vegas
Hello all! I'm just starting this whole planning thing really and I'm just trying to take care of one thing at a time, but the most worrisome part for me seems to be the reception venue... We're having a small wedding, with 15-30 guests, and my FI's only request was that we have a wedding cake at the reception. It's really going to be more of an informal dinner gathering than a traditional reception, but there's still a lot to think about and I'm hoping for some help! So my questions are: 1- Which moderately priced restaurants (not steak and lobster, but not Denny's) will book for smaller parties and very little (or no) F&B minimums? And also allow for that price to include and/or allow a cake? We really don't have much to spend, but want to provide a good, simple meal (nothing like a banquet or feast), so I'm looking for a minimum under or around $1k if possible... We really loved the Hash House A Go Go when we visited, so somewhere like that (in both pricing per plate and food quality/creativity/diversity) would be nice, ideally. 2- I've never participated in organizing a wedding of any kind before, so forgive me for my ignorance, but do restaurants ever do reservations for small parties where people just order off the menu, or do you have to arrange a menu beforehand? Like, if it wasn't a wedding party and just a group of people hanging out to eat, would they still have minimums and such? 3- Would it be more appropriate (or easier/less tacky) to bring in some bottles of wine and limit our guests to that (for alcohol), or tell them (somehow) that we'll cover a drink or two each? I know that's a tricky etiquette thing, and is certainly not set in stone, but was curious about your thoughts on the matter, or what you all are doing/did to manage the bill with regards to alcohol. We don't expect a lot of drinking in general but want it available, and some drink heavier or faster than others... :-/ I'm so overwhelmed by this process, so I'd appreciate any and all guidance you all could offer! :)
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Re: Need reception venue help please!

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    spoon1984spoon1984 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Answer Name Dropper
    edited February 2014
    Canaletto at the Venetian has private rooms with no minimum, I was looking for a small room for 11 guests and there weren't that many that didn't have a minimum. Canaletto has set menus starting from around $40 so would be a bit over your suggested $1,000. I don't think I found a private room that didn't charge 28% for tax & service. You can order a cake to be delivered to Canaletto from any bakery. I was able to customise the menus to suit aswell. You could pre-order wine for the table, ready for your arrival, anything extra guests could pay their own. It was very informal at Canaletto and I was thankful for our own space. I'm sure you could just book a table within a restaurant for your party. The only other occasion that my party went out as a group was to Serendipity, we hadn't booked and they asked for a $250 minimum which wasn't an issue with 11 of us. I'm not sure about other restaurants. I would just email all of those you are interested in for info on pricing. There are a few on the board using hash house a go go I'm sure they will help.
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    thesepinkdaysthesepinkdays member
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    I would suggest looking at Hussong's Cantina it's at Mandalay bay. They don't have a privet room but use the back of the restaurant for groups. They do require F&B min. It starts around 35$ pp they did say we could bring our own cup cakes. They where flexible a bit on the menu prices like take away an appetizer and the desert option and drop the menu price 5$ pp so it could be added to beverages. Hope that makes sense. Feel free to email me for more info cerutiwedding2014@gmail.com
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    cirena166cirena166 member
    First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper

    For the reservations bit, I think it depends on the size of your group. 10 people, off the menu, and you can all fit at one table. 20 people, you might have to plan the menu so that the kitchen has the supplies for your group and you'll need multiple tables. Some places will do a minimum, others don't - it depends on the location. Strip locations are more likely to have a minimum than off-Strip.

    Consider the Bootlegger Bistro (Italian). It's on the Strip but south of Mandalay Bay. Their private room starts to get in the $40 range though. If you're up for sushi and/or teppanyaki, consider Osaka on Sahara (tatami rooms!) or Benihana at LVH. That could be a lot of fun. A little further out but great atmosphere is Capo's (one of my favorites, oh so yummy). Very speakeasy.

    Rhythm Kitchen (Cajun, creole, Lousiana-style food) keeps groups smaller than 35 in the main dining room and lets you order from the menu with no minimum. You might also want to try McMullan's, especially the Irish Nachos. Yum. They have a lot of room and can easily fit your group, but call ahead - they get really busy.

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    a13049a13049 member
    5 Love Its First Anniversary First Comment Name Dropper
    If you aren't opposed to Buffet, then that opens up a lot of options.  We are doing ours a wicked spoon, there is a minimum for the private room but we are just having dinner in the main dining area and will have a cake.  It fits what we are looking for, a set price so we can budget, we are paying $38 per person for dinner and then adding $10 per person for unlimited wine option. There are alot of other buffets that offer similar options. 
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    a13049a13049 member
    5 Love Its First Anniversary First Comment Name Dropper
    I forgot to mentino cake, they gave us information on a bakery but we opted out.  So you can get a wedding cake made as well.
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    fablovefablove member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment
    We used Hussong's at Mandalay Bay for our reception seeing that is our favorite restaurant everytime we are in Vegas and the Rock n' Roll mariachis are a riot! There was no minimum, and we chose the $25pp menu with the additional $2 update for an extra appetizer. They were amazing, I dropped off our favors the day before and they had the table all set when we arrived after our ceremony which was also at Mandalay. They also let me have Sin City Cupcakes come in and set up a table for our cupcakes next to our long dinner table for no additional fee. Seeing we were also on a budget, we let guest know on our reception card, that served with their meal would be coffee, tea and soft drinks. Alcohol not included, which they knew was at their expense and no one had a problem with this at all and even bought us drinks. The guests still rave about the Rock n' Roll mariachi's and how great the food was. Everyone had a blast.
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    Marlaina2014Marlaina2014 member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    We're using the Peppermill for our rehearsal dinner and they can do it for about $22pp I think. I'm also pretty sure they would allow a cake because they are super chill about everything so far. You can also let your guests select off the menu and entrees range from about $15-30.
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    annathy03annathy03 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment Name Dropper
    We're doing benihana for our rehearsal dinner, the private room menu is more expensive than the regular so we're just doing a big reservation and they'll seat us at multiple tables in the same room (which was their suggestion). Several of the rooms only have 3-4 tables, so it's possible you'll still end up with the feel of a private room.

    We also looked at Roy's Hawaiian fusion just off strip whose private room minimum was right at 1k, and had several price point menus that I could feed everyone (24) for the minimum and they allow outside cake. They were also flexible about ditching the app or dessert to bring a menu price down, they just won't ditch both app and salad since it can take some time to get that many meals prepped to come out the same time, which makes sense to me.
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    cirena166cirena166 member
    First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    Roy's is super yummy. I just found a great space for small groups yesterday called The Sparklings. I only had appetizers, but the truffle fries were great. One private room with a table for 15 and lots of space around it, so you could theoretically fit in more, and three mostly-private booths for 10-12. Really elegant - pics on Yelp here: http://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?userid=OOflEjgmh5_rrbvOeJzStA


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