We got married on April 13th 2017 and throughout the planning process the posts and reviews on here were a blessing and really helped me make decisions. So I thought I would do my bit and let you know how each part of our day went and pass on a bit of our experience.
Photographer - Gin & Sake
Booking Brandon was the best decision of the day. He was amazing value for money, so easy to work with and the photos are absolutely incredible. We had him with us on the day and then he picked us up again the following day and took us out to some spots that he thought that we would like. We went to downtown Vegas where we got some amazing quirky shots with graffiti walls and art murals, stopped at a downtown motel with bright coloured doors and then went out to dry lake bed. All of the pictures are absolutely stunning and not at all cheesy, which is what we were really worried about. He was also great on the day at getting pictures of all of our guests which we really appreciate.
Honestly we cannot recommend him enough, if anyone is weighing up between 2 photographers, go with Gin & Sake!
Ceremony - Flamingo Gazebo
We originally were dealing with Jazmin, but she left and Carrie took over our event. They were both helpful and answered all of our questions and were quite quick with communication. We loved the gazebo, it was really beautiful and was a great outdoor location on the strip at a far more reasonable price than all of the other hotels that we looked at. We were concerned about the noise from the pool, but it wasn’t too bad. You could definitely still hear the music, but it didn’t distract and all of our guests could hear the minister and vows just fine. Overall we would recommend the Flamingo, our only criticism would be that perhaps their team forget that the people that they are dealing with have not organised a wedding before, and they kind of presumed that we knew what we were doing and felt a little bit unprepared. Although we did discover a lot of videos of weddings in the venue on YouTube that helped us visualise what we were doing on the day!
Double Decker Bus
The team at the Double Decker Bus Company were great. They were quick at replying to emails, and were really flexible with someone dropping off drinks and money for ice to them a few days before. The drinks were in a cooler ready when we got on and they were great at distributing them to our guests. There was an aux lead in place so that we could play our own music from a phone. All of our guests really loved the trip and it was a great way to incorporate a party in to getting our guests to the Welcome to Las Vegas sign and back down the strip to our next location for lunch. It also gave people an opportunity to get some good pictures of the strip.
Magianos
Beth at Magianos was great at getting back to us in the run up to the day, she answered everything quickly and clearly and we were pretty happy that it would run smoothly. We were in the Calabria room with 2 x long tables and it worked perfectly for our party of 37. We were able to do welcome drinks out on the balcony as it wasn’t in use and was a lovely addition to the room. The food was really tasty, portion sizes were good and everyone was really happy with it. The staff were all really attentive and we really couldn’t have asked for any more. They were really flexible with a slight change in timings due to an issue with our booked entertainment (see below). Again would definitely recommend booking for a wedding if you are arranging a wedding from out of town. It was really easy and went perfectly.
Jesse Garron - Elvis Impersonator
We had booked (and paid 50% deposit) Jesse Garron to be waiting in our dining room to surprise guests on arrival. However when we arrived we were told by the staff in Magianos that he hadn’t turned up. We hadn’t received any messages from him to let us know that he would be delayed. Brandon (photographer) stepped in here and took away all of the stress from us and chased Jesse by phone so that we could spend time with our guests. He was told by Jesse that his car had broken down, and he arranged with both Jesse and the staff in the restaurant for him to surprise everyone in between the main course and desert. Once he arrived he was great fun and really made our guests laugh. We couldn’t really claim that it was good value at $350 for 15 minutes, but that did seem to be the going rate and the surprise on peoples faces made it worth it.
Skyline Terrace Suite at the MGM Grand
These suites are absolutely stunning. They have real wow factor and our guests were blown away. The terrace and view is the real highlight. Unfortunately the weather was bad on the evening of our wedding and it was really cold and windy outside so most people, apart from the smokers, did remain inside. This was 37 people inside and there was plenty of room with a good atmosphere. However we did find that the sound system inside wasn't very loud so our guests couldn't really hear the music. We had the suite for 2 nights and took all our alcohol and snacks down the day before so that we could set up really quickly on the night. We had bought some heavy duty trash bags with us and our guests were helpful, cleaning up at the end of the night, so there wasn't too much mess the morning after. We did leave a £50 tip for housekeeping.
Sorry if this is all seems a bit too happy and positive, but we honestly had no issues and everything was exactly as we had planned (apart from Elvis, and even that was sorted out). All of the vendors that we used were great and we would recommend to anyone planning their Vegas wedding.
Good luck planning!