lolkitteh

Here are some links to websites with detailed instructions/templates for these. Fun! Wedding Favors Nuggets Candy Wrapper Project - Design Your Own Messages in Microsoft Word Templates for Windows Draw, Labels & Candy Wrappers

I'm getting married at the Wynn Wedding Salons with one of their pkgs. For the reception we looked at a few outside venues such as: Alize' at the top of the Palms Rosemary's Restaurant Bouchon in the Venetian and the inside venues to the Wynn, including Wynn catering Many brides who do the Wynn have their reception at Maggianos, which is across the street. Our main thing was that we didn't want to travel too far - with Vegas traffic and all. Plus the complication of arranging transport for everyone. We limited our review to venues in the N. Strip. So we ended up at Daniel Boulud in the Wynn. We are expecting about 30 guests, and they have a private room with a view of the Lake of Dreams that is the perfect size for us, plus, the restaurant and view is so pretty that we won't need to spend any money on decorations. They do have a F&B minimum, but we will easily meet that with our lunch reception. We will be also having an in-suite party later that evening where we will cut the cake, since DB charges a $9/head cake fee if we bring the cake from outside!!! I am also having then quote a cake to avoid the fee, but the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of doing the cake later in the evening. The lunch will have a dessert included in the menu anyway, and I am a bit miffed at the whole idea of a $9 cake fee. I mean, I think some kind of fee is reasonable, but $9!!! Anyway, it'll be a better chance to really showcase the cake if we have it at the evening party. We are arranging for drop-off catering for the rest of the in-suite party food, and buying our champagne, wine, and booze at Costco rather than having the Wynn cater it. Good luck! You're in for a blast for sure! :-)

You're very welcome! One thing to consider is that your dress may not need to be steamed if you pack it carefully and do the "hang it in the shower" trick on arrival. When my sister got married, my mom bought an inexpensive hand steamer (simple gadget that you fill with water that shoots steam from a flat surface on the top) to touch up with. it worked fine. OTOH, my sister didn't have to cram her dress into a suitcase to get married, either! :-)

Thanks everyone for the thoughts and comments! I think we will give it a try and see what the reaction is. I think we will be pretty adament about not registering though. We'll see! It's still pretty early, anyway.

Hehehe. I <3 lolcats! You're the first one on this board to get my username! Anyway, congratulations and good luck with the wedding - it'll be beautiful without a single petal. :-)

Quote: Originally Posted by BeautifulBridetoBe I think the message of no toasters is very clear in this, but I think we may just want to clarify your meaning a little more. Are monetary gifts OK? Reading your message (which was very nicely stated, BTW) let me know that you do not want towels because you have not registered. But it didn't really answer the money question...people can wonder "Is this their way of saying 'We did not register so don't buy us a blender...but we did not say anything about cheques...'" As couples are getting creative in their wording to request money, it's become like asking without really asking...but in the "not asking" there is a hidden message of cash is better, please. Hmm.. Thanks for the insightful advice. I guess you don't think "....that's all we need in life. Your thoughts and good wishes are the best presents we could ever hope and be grateful for" indicates that we don't even want monetary gifts? Maybe we could add that if someone wanted to commemerate the wedding with something other than good thoughts that they could do an hour of volunteer work or contribute to a charity of their choice as a tribute? I should probably also add that it's not like either of us are 20-somethings that could use the money. As mentioned, we are both well-established (with good jobs) and this is FH's second marriage. It would actually be kind of weird for some of our guests (who may be younger and more in the starting-out stage in life) to give us money, so I hadn't even thought that saying we don't have a registry might be interpreted as that we are asking for money instead. It seems to me that money as a gift is something you give to younger people under 30-35.

Anyone have any links to pictures of these? I've found freeds bakery and they seem to have the nicest designs, but other than that, pictures LV-inspired cakes on the internet don't seem very easy to find. Anyone got any links to cake galleries that might have fun, yet beautiful-looking LV-inspired cakes?

Well, if you are willing to travel, I strongly recommended Rosemary's Restaurant Las Vegas Restaurants - Rosemary's Restaurant on Sahara. Frommers review is here: Rosemary's Restaurant | Restaurant Review | Las Vegas | Frommers.com Probably as good or possibly better than any 5* place you can get on the strip, and reasonably priced, too. It definitely means getting in a cab, though.

Thanks for the opinions everyone! I think we will end up putting something on the website in addition to trying to get the word out by word-of-mouth. We'll see what happens...

Any opinions? Anyone? Anyone? (I love Ferris Bueller!)

I'm with you - for me, flowers are a big expense that you get little value from. I'm not having any other flowers or decorations other than my bouquet and the attendant bouquets. The Vegas chapel I'm using looks nice enough. My feeling is on flowers is that if you have them, people might notice them for a second or two, and then completely forget them, and if you don't have them, no one would notice, especially since you're on a beach. In all the weddings I've been to, I have never noticed the presence of lack of flowers - they are a completely forgettable aspect of a wedding for me. However, I do think it would be nice to carry *something* though - One thing people look for is the bride's bouquet. A single cala lilly as suggested earliar would be lovely. I also personally need something to do with my hands - I'll be nervous enough as it is without trying to figure out what the deal is with my hands. OTOH, I'm walking down the aisle unaccompanied - if you have someone giving you away, it's probably easier to deal with than my situation.

Are you willing to travel from the S. Strip? Anyway, here are some suggestions for the dinner - you haven't mentioned if you want something more upscale for the dinner, but since specified kid-friendly, it does somewhat eliminate a lot of the nicer places. Border Grill (Mandalay Bay, S. Strip) Welcome to Border Grill Restaurants - Upscale Mexican restaurant. Great food, fun atomosphere, casual dining, but expensive for Mexican (worth the money, though) Rainforest Cafe in the MGM itself Burger Bar (Mandalay Place, S. Strip) - The kids can have fun constructing their own burger from various toppings on the menu. Kind of a pub-like atomosphere, but I'd say this was still family-friendly (like a TGIFridays, for example). Good food, and great beer menu. Any of the buffets are also obviously family-friendly.

Hi - I think you'll find Vegas planning very easy and you have a LOT of time to plan it. I got engaged over Christmas, plan to be married in May, and have about 90% of my wedding done. This is one of the reasons we chose Vegas - we didn't want to spend a lot of time planning a wedding! One thing I would caution about the 09/09/09 date - you might want to google "07/07/07 wedding vegas" and "08/08/08 wedding vegas" to read about how mad it gets on dates like these - it sounds like brides could end up on an assembly line getting married as the chapels get you in and out to accomodate as many as they can. I'm sure venues will continue to milk the situation on 10/10/10, 11/11/11 and 12/12/12, too. It may or may not be the best experience for you. OTOH, the 9th of september is on a wed this year, so it might well be less popular of a day. (7/07 was on a weekend, as was 8/0 It's something to ask your WC once you get setup with one. Good luck and congratulations!

Quote: Originally Posted by Erin1980 Beware to the Vegas bride, our invites specifically had the names of invited guests ONLY, and when we called FH's brother to confirm the no kid thing, he said "Oh well we're already starting on baby's paperwork for her passport." ... If you really want adults only, then you might need to open your mouth and say the words "adults only", or else don't be mad when ppl just ASSUME their kids are invited. Yeah, I get what you mean. ;-) Fortunately, all of my guests understand that the ceremony, reception, and after-party are pretty adult-oriented by the nature of the venues and planned activities. If they choose to bring their kids to Vegas, IMO, it is their problem to figure out what to do with them during the ceremony, reception, etc. If they end up bringing them to ceremony, reception, etc., it wouldn't bother me all that much, and I think they'd be embarrassing themselves more than anyone else. I don't think any of the guests I plan to invite are that rude and clueless, though. (The beauty of a small wedding is that you only invite people who you *want* to have there and who also have a clue!) I know that there are a few people who will have a tough time arranging for babysitting, so they will either have to stay home or bring the kids to Vegas with them. If it becomes a real problem, then we'll probably hire a nanny for the day of the wedding to watch over the kids of the people who brought them.

My WC at the Wynn recommended Debi at Fit for a Bride (Fit for a bride by Debi - Home -) She will deliver your steamed dress to your LV hotel, and pickup, too, if you need it, or you can ship it to her in advance, which is handy. Otherwise, PU/Delivery are $30 each way. She can steam as well as provide a "fresh-up" service. Steaming starts at $70 for a regular gown and $100 for silk/couture I will likely end up using her, but can't say anything about the quality of service. I actually e-mailed her more than a week ago to ask if she also does gown preservation, but I never heard back, but it's possible that I was given a bad email address. (The email I used came from my WC, not from her website) Good luck!

My understanding is that the only tip-able events occur when someone performs a service for you that doesn't involve and actual end-product. Going by those rules, you don't tip your photographer (s/he provides your photos as the end product, and the session fee is theoretically included in your payment), florist, baker, and the like. When the vendor performs a service, then it becomes a potentially tip-able event. (After all, tips are supposedly optional). Thus, you would tip your hairstylist, makeup artist, delivery people (cake, catering, etc.) and officiate (assuming s/he didn't charge a specific fee). Depending on whether the gratuity was including in your catering/reception site contract, you may or may not need to tip the waitstaff/bartender, although if one of them does a particularly good job, you might slip them a little something in the end. My WCs being provided by the hotel, and I consider their services part of the package. I'll probably end up giving them gifts instead of money tips.

I did a search already and didn't find anything on this topic, which was surprising. Anyway, you know the drill. FH and I want to somehow communicate that we really do not want any gifts, especially since we are both well-established and this is his second marriage, plus all guests are having to take time off to travel and be with us at personal expense. Not to mention the fact that we don't want to haul 5 toasters back home! LOL. However, standard etiquette dictates that people learn of this desire through word-of-mouth rather than directly from the couple, just as registry information should always be communicated by word of mouth. I've always felt that putting registry or any sort of gift information on a wedding website to be somehwat tacky. But now I'm faced with the problem of needing a good back-channel method to communicate our own gift wishes indirectly. We can't really rely on word-of-mouth in this case, since everyone is scattered about and unrelated to each other, so I was thinking about putting something on our website in an FAQ section (IE, a little buried), under the question "Where are you registered?" - which we would then say something along the lines of "we aren't registered anwhere because we have each other and that's all we need in life. Your thoughts and good wishes are the best presents we could ever hope and be grateful for" This avoids rudely saying "no gifts", but OTOH, it may not be worded strongly enough for guests to take it seriously and really not bring a gift. So, DW'ers, would putting that on the website be rude? If not, is it worded strongly enough? Or should we just skip addressing the issue altogether unless someone asks? (This is probably the option Miss Manners would suggest, but I'm unconvinced that in this case it's the best option - maybe someone better versed in ettiquette can weigh-in)

I just got engaged over Christmas, and we didnt' want to spend months planning a wedding I mean, once you know, why wait, right? :-) - thus the choice of Vegas. I can't believe how incredibly easy it's been - in just about a month, I've booked my ceremony and reception sites, booked all travel, have my dress, veil and shoes, ordered invitations, booked all dinners including rehearsal, booked makeup/hair, ordered favors, planned the post-reception party. The only things left are: -Send invitations and receive RSVPs (RSVP date is end of April) -Make seating chart -Design the ceremony & select music -Order the last of the favors (which will be bottles of wine - we're trying to figure out logistics on that) -Order cake -Get dress alterations -Order the program -Finalize details with reception site -Order catering for post-reception party -Purchase attendant gifts -Schedule and do my BD shoot -Reserve dress steaming/cleaning/preservation -Get wedding table cameras (want to wait until the last minute on these so the film stays fresh) That's it! It's like I can just sit back and twiddle my thumbs - which is kind of nerve-wracking in and of itself - it feels like I need to be doing more. My FH is amazed that we are 90% done - now I feel like we should have scheduled an even sooner wedding.

We want an adults-only wedding, but aren't specifically telling people that it is an adults-only wedding - we are basically making it one by our destination. (Vegas). Despite what the Vegas tourist board would like families to believe, it's not really all that child-friendly, IMO, and I think all of our guests get that. I personally think that it would be somewhat hurtful to specifically say it's adults-only. I don't have kids myself, but many of my friends do, so for me to say that it's adults-only would basically be my saying "you can't come to the wedding". My MoH has a young child, and I offered to pay for a nanny so she could come, but she ended up being able to drop off her kid with her parents for the weekend of our wedding. I think folks need to realize that once people have kids, it's really hard to leave them at home for a weekend, much less to tromp off to an exotic destionation for a whole week, both from the parental responsibility perspective and from the cost perspective. (once you have kids, money gets a lot tighter). I feel that telling them that they can't bring thier kids on what could be a family vacation for them would be viewed as an insult. That said, there will be no "and family" on my invite, so it's clear that kids are not welcome to either the wedding or reception. If people want/need to bring their kids to Vegas, I wont stop them. If there is enough need, then we'll probably arrange for nanny service to help out the parents. Have a little sympathy for the folks with kids - someday you might have them, too. ;-)

We aren't doing OOT bags since our wedding is in Vegas, and people would be staying all over the place and arriving/departing at different times. If I was going to a resort where I knew exactly when/where people were staying, I'd consider it. We are doing nice favors though - something vegas themed, like chips or playing cards, plus a nice bottle of wine (with advil to go with it!) If I *was* doing an OOT bag, I'd probably still do a small favor. They look nice on the table, and somehow I think guests would still expect one.

I am having a small wedding of about 30 people, and the ceremony is only goint to be 20 minutes, tops with only a BM and MoH. I was going to skip the program, but FH thought it was necessary. After I started putting it together, while I still dont' think it's 100% necessary, I now agree with him that it will be useful. One thing he pointed out that not everyone will know who the BM and MoH are, and it's nice to acknowledge them in the program. Also, in addition to the ceremony, I added the schedule for the day (event timeline, if you will) so guests can use it as a quick reference. Mine is also a very simple, one-page deal, and I'm going to use Vistaprint to get it printed on a glossy card, no paper booklet. I copied this concept for my program: The Wedding Program Item # 2WDA49476P - Invitations and Announcements by Invitation Consultants.

Well, I would personally find it somewhat tacky if the mother-of-the-bride, or any immediate family member (like a sibling) threw a shower. I think aunts, cousins, etc. would be OK. Traditionally, it should be the MoH that does it - just as the Best Man throws the bachelor party. Like anything else, thought, showers are absolutely optional - no one *has* to have one. That said, - all situations are different. I've been invited (and attended) one shower that was hosted by the bride herself! While I think situationally it *might* be OK if a sister or mother did it, I would say without a doubt that throwing your own shower is the ultimate in tacky and you should never do it. As pointed out, the purpose of a shower is to "shower" the bride with gifts - so throwing your own shower (or having an immediate family member do it) is tatamount to saying "give me presents!" LOL.

Well, I've been quoted $9 per person to plate and serve my cake at my reception venue if I bring the cake in from outside. (My reception is at a restaurant) I'm now having the restaurant quote a cake to avoid the fee, so I'll see what they come back with. But I had another thought - we are planning a post-reception party in our suite anyway, and I'm thinking we could just do the cake cutting and eating there (with champagne, of course) before the party goes into full swing. Anybody else do this? Would it be weird to not do the cake at the reception? I'm going to wait to see what the restaurant quotes to provide the cake, but the more I think about it, the more I like the idea. A dessert is included in the reception menu anyway, so it's not like guests will want or need to eat a dessert then. Plus, it gives a real "event" to focus the after-reception party on, instead of simply "come up to our suite to get drunk" Thoughts?

The cake I want will cost around that much. I don't think that it's all that out of line, depending on what you have specified. My FH, who has been married before and paid about $1300 for his 3 layer fondant cake for 100 people at his first wedding, warned about me about wedding cake prices. It's not just that they are gouging you, what you end up paying for is the labor involved in decorating it. Two major things add to the cost of the cake. One is the decoration. I've found that once your design requires fondant (a very labor intensive style), it will quickly add at least 50% to the cost. The reason is that they must first frost the cake (probably in buttercream), and roll out by hand the very smooth, shiny fondant layer. This is not easy, especially with larger, round, or multiple layer cakes. Once they apply it to the cake, it is very difficult to fix mistakes in application and still maintain the smooth and shiny appearance of the cake. You will immeidately save a lot of money if you choose a cake style that can be done in a simple buttercream frosting instead of rolled fondant. The second thing is the shape and number of layers. A simple sheet cake is just that - very simple. Once you start adding tiers, the cake will start needing support infrastructure, or the layers will collapse into each other. The bigger the cake and more tiers, the more it will take to construct and transport the cake. You might be able to save costs by having fake foam cake layers (that are stronger and need less support) for some of the bottom layers if you have a multi-layer cake that you don't need to serve the whole thing (IE, cake is more for decoration and for the cutting ceremony than for eating) One thing to ask your baker is if they included the top layer in the number of servings for the quote. Some bakers don't include this in the estimate because they assume you will save the top layer. If you plan to serve the top layer, then you may be able to get away with a smaller cake. If you google "wedding cake prices", you'll probably find lots of articles that explain the above in more detail. Hope this helps.

Quote: Originally Posted by michellepicksbrent We still have 6.5 months until we get married and so far everything has been a cake walk for us. Our wedding coordinators at the Wynn are prompt in returning emails and answering our questions and our reception venue has the most fantastic group coordinator. Honestly, it has been so effortless it almost seems too good to be true! Well, here's another Wynn bride! I, too, have found that Vegas has been an effortless destination to plan a wedding, and that was one of the main reasons we chose Vegas in the first place. We got engaged over Christmas, and didn't want to spend a year planning for a wedding. that made Vegas immediately bubble to the top of the list. We also briefly considered Hawaii and Bali, but Vegas stood out as a destination where guests would have an easier time attending, both in terms of the travel and expense, plus we don't have to worry about people not having FUN! I also have to say that it's only been a little more than a month since we got engaged, but we are more-or-less 90% done with the planning! It's all about outsourcing, baby! this is all thanks to booking with a hotel that is well-practiced at the art of weddings. Booking at the Wynn gave us the confidence that we would be getting good service and a 5* experience. It has been well-worth the money to let them handle everything, since we can do this quickly, yet have things done right at the same time. I didn't go with Wynn catering for the reception - we will instead have a reception at one of the Wynn's Michelin-rated restaurants, and then a party up in our suite in the evening. (The rates for suites at the Wynn are a steal when compared to 5*'s elsewhere) I'm sure that if I booked with a similar 5* elsewhere, such as in Hawaii, our costs would have gone way up. I posted my estimated costs in the stickied "budgets" thread, and I must say I am spending more than I thought I would once I added *everything* up. Nonetheless, I've been quite satisfied with the value for the money we are getting. And, we are still spending far less than the national average, so I feel we are ahead. I think Vegas is the perfect place to have a DW at any budget, and many of my prospective guests have all expressed excitement about going.