Hi everyone!! First off I'd like to thank everyone in helping me plan my wedding! These discussion boards helped tremendously in my planning process! I loved reading everyone's opinions, suggestions and reviews on everything.
My *husband* (I just love saying that now) and I are from Detroit, Michigan and decided to get married in Las Vegas! Neither one of us have a big family and it just seemed right for us. He also had proposed there last year at the Hardrock at a private acoustic Jon Bon Jovi concert last year! We decided to make a fun road trip out of it and stopped at places along the way. Our favorite states we stopped in were Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah! Absolutely beautiful with all the mountains. The road trip was a blast!! Now onto my reviews!
The Linq Hotel: F !!!!!!!!
Absolute worst hotel we had ever stayed at in Vegas! We will never stay here again and I highly advise anyone else to stay away as well! Finding the entrance was so hard! They don't have a normal grand entrance either. Check in was not great either. The guy who checked us in was not very friendly. He didn't even "welcome" us. He didn't even inform us on how to use our key card in the elevator, we later had to find out by other people around us. He told me they would be charging us a $75 per day resort fee, which I was NOT told about prior to arriving. The email I had received upon booking said $25. Apparently you get $50 back after check out. Not the best thing to know they are charging an extra $1000 to your credit card as soon as you arrive in town. The room wasn't great. We paid extra for a king sized bed with a view of the "High roller" which we regretted immediately. They told us they had no king sized beds only queen.. weird when we had booked 6 months prior. Everyone else in our party had a much better room and view without the extra cost. I don't normally care about the room while in Vegas because we are hardly in it, but this one was so bad. It wasn't that clean. Hair in the shower, dirty glasses and floor. Their radiator was SO loud it was hard to sleep with it on. They only had 4 elevators throughout the entire place so going anywhere was super hard and took forever. You can't take the stairs unless you want to get locked in and set off fire alarm. The only staff that was nice to talk to were the ladies that cleaned the rooms and the concierge.
Memories by Lucas: A+++++
Photography is a huge thing for my husband and I. It's one of our major hobbies! It was the very first thing I had booked for our wedding and we were so happy with how everything turned out. We booked Lucas for the maximum 10 hours. I found Lucas on The Knot and looked at his website and loved his style. He was super sweet and got along with us and our family really well. He was very professional and put together a detailed shot list for the day. We were way ahead of schedule and everything worked out perfect. We liked him so much we are even planning on booking him again for the future. We would love to take photos at the Neon Boneyard Museum and Red Rock Canyon!
Side Note: I've seen a ton of women ask about the Cosmopolitan and taking photos there for the day of their wedding. Lucas had informed me they might ask us to leave and warned me about this. We decided to just go for it anyway. As soon as we entered some guy started following us and asked us to leave. He said his camera was too "big" and "professional" looking to take photos in their place. Luckily, Lucas was fast and got a few shots and we were more than happy with the ones he got! So for the future brides out there.. do not be worried and do not be afraid to take photos here even if they ask you to leave!
Stevee Danielle Hair & Make-up: A+++++
I loved loved loved Stevee!! Their "before & after" photos on their website and facebook are amazing! I had a trial hair & make up with Erica 2 days before the wedding for my bachelorette party and I was so happy with what she did. I showed her 2 pictures of what I was looking for and she went to work right away and did a great job! The wedding day they did airbrush hair and make up on 6 of us and everyone looked incredible! We were all so happy and excited for the day and everything lasted throughout the entire day!
Freed's Bakery: C
At first I didn't care to have a cake since it was a destination wedding, but later thought I can't not have a wedding cake! We got a simple 2 tiered cake with a simple design. Nothing fancy. Chocolate and vanilla with buttercream filling. Bottom tier was wrong, it was supposed to be mint colored with icing swirls and the top just plain white. They forgot to make the icing swirls so it looked like they had just iced the cake and sent it out. The cake itself I didn't really care for and I love cake. Everyone else seemed to like it though.
Bell Transportation: A
This was the hardest thing to book. Every company I had looked at had horrible reviews. My photographer had suggested them so I just went with them. They did a really great job. They were very communicative and on time. We had a limo for the bachelor/bachelorette parties and a shuttle bus for the day of the wedding. The first bus we had hardly had any air conditioning, but the driver ended up switching buses for us quickly without us even knowing while we were out taking photos. Very happy with our choice.
Lawry's Prime Rib Restaurant: A+++++
This place was incredible!!! All of us loved it so very much, we can't wait to go back again! We were in the "vintage room" and it couldn't have turned out more perfect! It was just one long table everyone sat at. It was private and intimate and just so awesome. We let everyone order whatever they wanted and of course we all went with their prime rib which was melt in your mouth amazing! Their lobster tails, calamari, jumbo shrimp and everything else in between was incredible as well. They let us bring our own iPod dock with music and set up all my wedding favors and glasses. Brooke and Freddie were assigned to our room and they were so so sweet! They took such great care of us! We can not wait to go back here again in the future! I highly recommend this place!!
Graceland Wedding Chapel: A
My husband is a HUGE Jon Bon Jovi fan and the only thing he requested was for the ceremony to be at Graceland where Jon and his wife were married. Like I stated earlier, he proposed to me in front of Jon himself last year so it was hard to say no! Its a super cute little chapel with really nice people. I kept in touch with Mary the whole time. I told her my husband and I did not want to see each other prior to the service. We had a limo pick him up separately and he arrived first. They respected our wishes and did a great job. We paid extra for the minister instead of Elvis which I am so happy we did. The priest we had was super funny and really nice!
All in all we had an amazing day. Everything worked out so perfectly. The weather was a nice 80 degrees and sunny. I hope my reviews help anyone else in the future!
Other non-Vegas related reviews..
My dress is Maggie Sottero and I fell in love instantly. I love all of Maggie's dresses. Her style is gorgeous!
Bridesmaid dresses are from a shop on Etsy called Renz Rags.. yes they are cute, but they were the worst company I have ever had to deal with and my husband and I own our own business! Long story short: They had made my maid of honors dress the wrong color and fought with me for 2 straight months back and forth telling me I was the wrong one. I had shipped the dress back, they still didn't believe me so I had to have my other bridesmaid send hers back to them and they finally believed me. I did not get an apology at all, they just informed me that the color was wrong and they would remake it. The first dress took them 2 weeks to make and ship, the re-make took them 7 weeks! I literally received the dress 2 days before we left for Vegas. It smelled horrible and was super wrinkly. I was so sad and disappointed. I do NOT recommend them to anyone. I know of other Etsy pages that make the same dress with better reviews. This was by far the most stressful part of planning the wedding.
Cake topper: Trina's Clay Creations on Etsy. Trina was amazing to work with. She is such a huge sweetheart. I am so very happy I found her. My husband and I wanted a more traditional cake topper and I found her almost last minute. I just told her what I wanted and sent pictures of everything. The details of my dress and everything else are incredible! We are so happy to be able to keep it forever and display it in our house!
I hope you all enjoy reading my reviews! I tried to be as detailed as I could for you and I hope they help you!