We had a three day wedding extravaganza starting with a bachelorette party Friday, cabana day Saturday, in-suite meet and greet Saturday, wedding at the Neon Museum and in-suite reception on Sunday.
Bell Transportation – Used these guys for a 24 passenger shuttle for bachelorette party Friday night. At $68 an hour, it was a steal! It was brand new and super clean. We had it take us around to some off strip dive bars, and sent ladies home as they needed to check out. Also used them on a previous trip for a sedan and had a similarly great experience. The bars we went to were: Atomic Liquors, the Huntridge, Frank’s Tiki, Peppermill and the Double Down Saloon. We had the bus for 5 hours and it took the entire time. We got back to the hotel with about 3 minutes to spare!
Caesars Palace Cabana Rental – Saturday we paid for a cabana rental at the Neptune pool. We had such a fun time. This is not an option for those looking to save a little cash because the rental is not cheap and neither are the drinks. But since we did a “his” and “hers” night our separately on Friday, this was really the first time the whole wedding crew got together. A pitcher of mixed drinks will set you back about $60 before tax and tip, and a beer, $10. We paid for the cabana and a few pitchers of drinks, but had people run their own food and beverage tabs which no one seemed to mind. The cabana only seats 8, with an additional charge up to 12 people. We paid the rental fee for 8, and then vastly exceeded the 12 person limit. We caught some grief from the cabana guy, so they charged us for the full 12, but we probably had about 25 people there at one point. The 12 person rental will set you back about $1,000 without drinks. This was really one of the highlights of the weekend though!
Caesars Palace Suites – I rented the Absolut suite. I wanted the Absolut suite in particular, so much so, that I planned a Sunday weeding, because it was the first weekend I could find the suite available on the weekend two days in a row. I booked it about six months out. I got emailed the morning of check in with the generic automatic check-in option that Caesars offers everyone. Once 4:30 rolled around and I hadn’t heard from them I wandered down to the VIP check in, which you’re able to use if you book a big suite. LONG story short, after 3 trips to the check-in, it was explained to me that the Absolut suite was not available. They told me that the previous occupants had done damage to the suite and I could not have it. (more on this later) They gave me the Emperor’s Suite, which they said was an upgrade and basically made no effort to apologize that the room I wanted was not available. I asked if it still had 4 bedrooms, and they said it did, so I didn’t really have time to argue. It was now about 6pm and my guests were arriving at 7pm. At this point I was in full on panic mode.
The suite we did get was wonderful. I was a bit disappointed at first, but just rolled with it. I had toured the Absolut suite with a Caesars rep prior to booking it, so I can compare the two of them. The Emperor’s suite is more “classic” Vegas, and the Absolut a little more young and modern. Emperor’s had a ton more seating, which ended up being really helpful because people actually sat quite a bit. The bedrooms in Emperor’s were much nicer and bigger. It also had a separate kitchen which was a good staging area for catering, plus a full sized fridge, neither of which the Absolut suite had.
As for what happened to the Absolut suite, I think they gave it to another guest of the hotel. Our friends actually had the room right next door and they heard people in it. Another friend went there by mistake (I knew the tower/room to the Absolut so I had given it out already) and said there were people inside. So, that’s just a word of warning to anyone who has their heart set on a particular suite. I guess anything can happen! They did give us 2pm check out on Monday which I was really grateful for. Not sure if that was because we got bumped or if they often do that – just thinking 2pm check out, surely means no one could check in at 4pm, as I’m sure it took them more than 2 hours to clean that place.
Masterpiece Cuisine – We did the heavy apps option for Saturday night which was just kind of a drop by meet and greet. They were right on-time with the food Saturday and did a walk through with me on how I wanted things to go Sunday. On Saturday I gave Corey the key so he could let himself in Sunday, as we would be away at the wedding when they needed access to the room to set up. Sunday we had half buffet stations and half passed appetizers. They got almost everything into the room – I know this is a common concern on these boards. They got all of the food into the room, but I had ordered glassware (but not plates), and only the champagne flutes made it in. They were stopped by someone at Caesars and prevented from brining in all the glassware. Corey went out and got plastic glassware and I got a refund for the glassware charge. The staff were great, they were everywhere, and nowhere. They never seemed like they were in the way but everything was taken care of. Corey even offered to make me a plate while I was greeting guests so I didn’t have to step away. They set up the cupcakes I bought (not from them) while toasts were going on, and then cleaned up everything. Three of the staff left at that point, and the bartender and one server stated behind for another 2 hours. My guests LOVED the bartender. He was really interactive with the guests, tossing bottles, making shots, chatting with people. We provided our own booze, but hired a bartender from Masterpiece. Food was great. We had leftovers of some of the buffet items, but no leftovers of the passed items.
Beauty by Bri – Although there was no wedding party, we had a big group of girls interested in hair, or make-up or both. I went back and forth until really close to the wedding date as to what I wanted to do about hair and make-up, but saw a lot of great reviews on here about Bri, so decided to contact her. Since I was a Sunday wedding on Easter, I think I lucked out. She was there with an assistant for about 3.5 hours and did 7 sets of hair and 3 make up applications. Everyone looked great and her prices were very reasonable. Would definitely recommend.
Double Decker Bus – Aside from the cabana rental, I think this was everyone’s second favorite thing they did all weekend. The groom and I traveled by taxi to the venue, but piled everyone on to the DDB. They had so much fun. We made sure to prep the bus with ample beer and wine (no glass, red wine, hard liquor or jello shots allowed, FYI). We rode the bus with the crowd on the way back. There’s a bus driver and a bus minder (to make sure you’re not standing up on top, and to get you more beers) and my guests said they were both awesome. Seriously, if you’re thinking about transport, look no further. This cost $600 total for 3 hours, but worth every penny!
Neon Museum – We had our ceremony in the North Gallery. It’s a much more cost effective option that the part of the museum where you take the tour when you’re a paying guest. I’m thinking that’s because they don’t have to shut the museum down for your event. It’s $950 for an hour up to 50 guests, and $100 extra if you have 50-60 guests. These guys were AWESOME. The let me look at the space on a scouting trip, and a few days before the wedding so I could strategize. The space is really lovely, and our group loved posing for photos. They only permit certain vendors for food, the officiant, and photography. We opted to have the in-suite reception rather than cater at the Neon Museum. My now brother in law used to be a professional photographer, so he took our ceremony photos. We used an officiant from Elegant Vegas Weddings.
Elegant Vegas Weddings – At this point you can probably tell that we were full on Vegas themed, so obviously we needed an Elvis. I couldn’t be happier that we went this way. Our Elvis was great…he sang a song to rile the crowd up, another one when we entered the ceremony area, and a couple more during the ceremony itself. He was really funny and everyone was in such an upbeat mood. They were hooting and hollering – this was not one of those serious weddings. Elvis stuck around for a little while to take photos with everyone which the guests loved.
Keith Kaplan -We actually had Dale, and he was great. I just got the pictures last night and there are some real gems in there. Very reasonably priced by comparison to what some folks have had to pay. I had them in the Sunday in-suite for 3 hours, which was more than enough time considering people started drinking on the DDB….
I had more than one person tell me this was the most fun wedding they’d ever been to. And others say they felt sorry for the next friend of ours that got married, because this would be hard to top. With a few days behind me, I’m amazed at what we were able to pull off. It really was spectacular! I will post some photos soon. Any questions, please ask, I want to pay it forward here on the board! There’s basically nothing I would do different!