Hi everyone,
I have never posted here, but when I began my planning I spent a lot of time researching through other posts, so I thought I should return the favor!
We got married 10/25/14 and had our ceremony at the Trump International Hotel and the reception at a Palms Place Penthouse. Our wedding was absolutely amazing and a total blast. I wish we could do it all over again! As a preface to this review, we did not do the typical "package" Vegas wedding. It was fully planned with our own hand-selected vendors, and we had 70 guests. I am going to review a select few vendors, but give grades for everything else. Please feel free to contact me if you want more info on any I did not write-up.
Quick summary of our wedding:
- 70 Guests
- Ceremony: Trump International Hotel - North Deck - A +
- Reception: Palms Place Penthouse "B" (booked thru VRBO) - A+
- Photography: Kristen Joy photography www.kristenjoyphotography.com - A
- Floral: Layers of Lovely www.layersoflovely.com - A+
- Day of Coordinator: Emily Reno www.weddingsandeventsbyemily.com A+
- Minister: Angie Kelly with Peachy Keen Unions A+
- Catering: B With a Twist Catering A-
- Server and Bartender: Culinary Pros A+
- DJ: The Music Solution - B-
- Reception Lighting: Coy Shinn (arranged through The Music Solution) - A+
- Rentals: RSVP Party Rentals - A+
- Room Block: Palms Place - A+
- Rehearsal Dinner: El Segundo Sol - B+
Trump International Hotel, A+ : I was looking for a ceremony location that did not force a "package" upon us. I wanted my own photographer, floral, etc. It took A LOT of stress and work, but when I finally found Trump, it was the perfect solution to all of my needs. GORGEOUS hotel for photographs, the North Deck area was perfect for an outdoor wedding. We had no time limit, the outdoor area was all ours from 8 am to 7 pm. The catering/events manager was absolutely fabulous. She is not great about responding to emails... but everything got taken care of perfectly, she made lots of special arrangements for us, and she even allowed the ladies to get ready in the Empire Penthouse the day of the wedding (which ended up being perfect as well as gorgeous for pictures). The Empire Penthouse is the rain/wind backup plan. Every staff member was fabulous, we felt like we owned the hotel for the day. I think the benefit of the Trump is that it has no casino. It is very easy for guests to valet and find the wedding location, which is something you need to consider if you're not a Vegas regular! We were able to make our ceremony last as long as we wanted and choose our own minister, which is also very important to consider if you don't want to risk having a 5 minute generic ceremony. We had a 1-hour hosted bar cocktail hour and fruit/cheese tray while we took pictures. She set up 10 cocktail tables with nice linens without charge. I felt like we grossly underpaid for what we got. It was $1,000 rental fee for the North Deck. I added one hour beer/wine package and the fruit/cheese tray, and that was $2,000 for 70 guests, (inclusive of bartender, tax, ect.)
Palms Place Penthouse Suite "B" (Rented by owner through VRBO.com), A+: This suite MADE our wedding reception. It was absolutely spectacular, and everyone was completely wowed. Our suite was on the highest floor (58th). It had a huge balcony (over 1,000 sq ft) with an infinity jacuzzi on it. The room itself is 3,300 sq ft. I loved that it had a huge open layout, which worked perfectly for a reception and accommodated a big dance floor. Honestly, I have been to Vegas many times, and you absolutely cannot find a better view. I literally looked at everything in Las Vegas before I settled on a suite, and I'm so glad I found this one. Palms is a little off the strip, so this suite has a full view you can't get anywhere else. We rented some awesome LED light-up cocktail tables from RSVP that we placed on the balcony, which gave it a total nightclub feel. We also rented an all white dance floor, had professional lighting done, and hired a DJ and bartender to create the nightclub feel. Renting by owner was the way to go, ladies!! You have no worries about bringing in your own alcohol and food, no worries about noise complaints, can rearrange all the furniture and bring in rentals, the list goes on and on. Palms staff was great. The front desk was awesome, gave us 8 keys no problem, the bellmen happily brought up and down our very heavy carts of alcohol and decor for $20 tips. We did rent the room the night prior, which I think is a necessity. Since it was by owner, he let us go in at 8:00 am the day before, so we had a ton of prep time. Very friendly staff! Our reception was a total party, literally lasted until 4:00 am. Completely amazing. Ahh I want to go back! I've attached a couple of pictures. Unfortunately, the photographer didn't get much of the set up of the room.
Coordinator - Weddings and Events by Emily A++++++
AMAZING!!! If you don't have a day of coordinator yet, contact her now! Her fee was very low compared to all other quotes I got. She did everything for me, even though I only hired her as a DOC. I feel as though I should have paid her 3x more than she charged. She emailed and text me about tons of stuff for the full month prior to my wedding. She came the day before to help me set up the suite, came to the rehearsal, and spent about 12 hours with me on the day of the wedding. She ensured everything went seamlessly, and I had absolutely no worries on my day. My family did not have to lift a finger either, which is what I really wanted. To give a few examples of the level of service Emily provided: she painted my stepdaughters' toes, picked me up from Palms and took me to Trump that morning, left the reception to buy more ice for the bartender, and went to go retrieve some bags my sisters had accidentally left at the Trump and brought them back to the Palms. And that was on top of arranging all vendors, setting up the ceremony location, gathering all the decor from the ceremony and taking it to the reception during the cocktail hour, getting reception set-up, and escorting guests up to the suite from the lobby. I don't know how she managed all of this, but I do know she made my day perfect and I am so happy she was there on my special day.