Mirage Poolside Ceremony
and Ballroom Reception– A+++
We had our ceremony outside near the waterfall. Everything was set up perfectly, we had white
plywood chairs and white roses at the front.
The pool area was completely closed expect for our group. It felt very intimate. Seating started at 7 and ceremony at 7:30, so
it was right as the sun was setting. The
waterfall made for some great background sounds too. Only downside was that it was really windy so
the wedding coordinator wasn’t able to lay down the aisle runner, but she ran
through with rose pedals right before we walked out. We had also paid the DJ to upgrade to
discrete microphones instead of having one big one in front of us, we had to
cancel that too due to the wind. These
things didn’t really bother me at all, the ceremony was amazing and we had a
blast!
Our reception was in the Bermuda room, it’s right near the
pool entrance. We got to take a sneak
peek before ceremony and it looked even better than I had imagined! On Thursday we had brought everything to our
wedding coordinator and went over where it should all go and everything was perfect. They even blew up nine inflatable dice for
us. We had a buffet style dinner and
everything was delicious, we had a few different salads, steak, chicken, pasta,
potatoes and dinner rolls. Many of our guests
had seconds and commented on how good the food was. I had wanted to eat more, but my dress might
have popped off! The cake was also
really good; we got chocolate and vanilla with vanilla butter cream
frosting. The only taste we got was
during the cake cutting, though - we were so disappointed! We should have opted to buy the top, not to
save for our anniversary, but to eat the next day!
We had about 55 people and one bartender; he was
amazing! He knew my drink and had it
ready by the time I got to the bar each time.
All Events
Productions – A+
These guys were amazing!
We booked them about a year out and they sent us some planning materials
and a book with reception ideas. A few
months out we had our first planning meeting with our DJ/MC, Gabe. During the first meeting we worked through a
rough timeline of the reception and talked about different activities we wanted
to do. We had a second planning meeting
about a month out to finalize everything and go over our song list. My husband is a big music guy and he got to
pick every song that was played.
Gabe was great at the reception! He really knew how to keep the party flowing
and keep everyone engaged. We also did a
photo booth through them - they brought some props and I had also gotten some
off Etsy. We got to customize a photo
strip with them and they printed a copy for everyone in the picture. 13 people = 13 prints. They would also print an additional one and
people could glue it to a page and write a message to us, we used this as our
guest book. Gabe’s wife was actually the
one working the photo booth and she made sure everyone got their photos and
signed the guestbook. It has been so fun
to look through the pictures and comments!
They also did the music for the ceremony and we paid $150 to
upgrade the microphones. He came to us
to explain that the wind would make them useless and all people would hear was
the wind. He still gave us the option
and said that if we didn’t use them they would refund us. We chose the refund because of the wind
issues, and by the time we got home we had the credit on the credit card.
Cashman – A+
We loved our photographer, Maria! We did a first look and family photos out
near the volcano and then she knew where to take pictures in the Mirage as
well. She was really nice and friendly -
she made it easy to loosen up and take some fun pictures. We had wanted to get a picture outside after
the ceremony with the lights on in front of the Mirage. We were walking out to the front and she
heard the volcano about to go off and we all ran. We got an AMAZING shot with the volcano going
off in the background.
I had worked with the sales people prior to the wedding and
agreed to pay $1,500 for the CD and 5 x 7 prints of all the photos and they
would be delivered to the hotel the next morning. We had a message on our phone when we woke up
and the pictures were there before noon!
Maria followed up later that day to make sure we got everything and that
we were happy with the photos. I asked
for her address and we’ll be sending her a tip.
I was really worried about Cashman based on the reviews and
they surpassed my expectations!