Wedding Reviews
Welcome Bag Deliveries:
We dropped off bags at Mandalay Bay and Excalibur. It was incredibly difficult to drop them off at MB – you have to go underground to this bell desk storage area, and it took over an hour to get 5 bags located with their rooms, and then it was a $2.50 per bag charge. On the good side, though, the guests actually DID receive them, which is more than I can say for Excalibur. The process there was super easy and only took about 5 minutes…but no one got them. Only one of my BM’s ended up getting hers because she asked about it at check-OUT. I do NOT recommend dropping off bags to any of the hotels…it was a horrible process (which is why we ended up giving the MGM and Luxor bags to the guests themselves).
Mandalay Bay Guest Services: D
This was the absolute worst part of our trip. We had the Vista Suite booked for 10 months, and specifically booked it for the day before the wedding so we could set up everything. We even confirmed the reservation 2 days beforehand. Yet at check-in on Saturday, we were very rudely informed that we were not getting the suite, or ANY suite for that matter. I have read of MB trying to give other brides the Media Suite, but I have never read of them simply denying our reservation altogether and putting us into a standard room. We talked to the manager on duty, and all she eventually offered us was a sky-view suite (which is MUCH smaller) for no charge for Saturday night, and said that HOPEFULLY we would get a Vista suite, or a “comparable” suite on Sunday afternoon. FI spent 45 minutes arguing with them (while I stood there and cried) about the fact that it was our wedding reception and we HAD to have a suite, and that we had no way to check in and set up everything the next day when we would be on our strip tour and ya know, GETTING MARRIED. No matter how many times we asked, we were never even given a reason why our reservation was not being honored, and they were very cold and inconsiderate about the whole thing. They did absolutely nothing to make up for it, except to comp the first night in the other room, although everyone, including my BM who is a GM at a hotel, strongly believes we should have been comped our entire stay. Oh, and we were still charged the resort fee for both nights. Ridiculous.
We then had to spend our entire rehearsal dinner rounding up a team of people (family members, boyfriends of BMs) who could change all their plans for the next day to be able to move everything into the suite once we got it and set up everything for us. Luckily, we are blessed, because we had several people offer to help since neither FI or me or any of the wedding party could do any of it.
SO, on Sunday morning, my FI went straight down to the front desk at 9 AM to see if any suites had opened up yet. They offered him a media suite at that point, but he did not take it (for several reasons). After that, my Godmother took over calling the front desk every hour, and by about noon, we were finally given keys to a Vista Suite. Sadly, the bad review doesn’t end there.
My Godmother made it very clear to the front desk that even after we got the Suite, we would not be leaving the room we were in until later afternoon after we were all finished getting ready. They said it was fine. Well, about 10 minutes after were assigned to the Vista, we tried to order room service for lunch. Room service rudely told us we could not order anything because “no one is assigned to that room” and hung up. Then about 2 minutes later, we got a phone call, and someone very rudely told us “to get out of the room right now”. My Godmother (and I) were beyond PISSED at this point. We had 3 Glamsquad guys, 4 BMs, my Godmother, myself, and an entire reception-full of stuff in the sky-view room…and THEY HADN”T EVEN SENT UP THE BELLMAN YET TO MOVE OUR STUFF. Yet we were told to LEAVE the room after only 10 minutes. My Godmother called the front desk and had some words with them, and after that room service called back to take our order…to which my Godmother responded “we don’t need your food, thank you” (BEST MOMENT EVER!)
2 of my BM’s then went downstairs to get us sandwiches at one of the quick-eat places (I don’t know the name). When they ordered 7 sandwiches, they were told “sorry we don’t have any bread, you’ll have to order burgers.” OMFG. So they spent $150 on cheeseburgers, and guess what? The people in line behind them ordered sandwiches. Basically the front line people were too lazy to make 7 sandwiches, and instead wanted the kitchen to do it so they said they had to get burgers. HOLY COW.
My final complaint: After our reception, we really wanted to go to Mix. We walked all the way to the front entrance to be told “sorry, we’re done for the night.” UM, seriously, what nightclub in VEGAS closes before midnight???? Are you kidding me? Apparently it’s not as awesome as they make it out to be. We went to Eye Candy and had a blast, luckily.
I had such high expectations of a place as big and reputable as Mandalay Bay…and they failed on every level (except for the bellmen, which I will rate separately). I will never stay here again. And ALL of our guests who stayed there had similar reviews. Everyone was treated rudely by the front-desk staff. We were so turned off by the whole experience that my husband and I wouldn’t even go back there to eat or anything during our honeymoon. The only reason they are not getting an F grade is because we did eventually get the Vista Suite.
Mandalay Bay Bellmen: A+
These guys were the only good service MB had to offer. They were great. Helped unpack our car, moved 3 carts worth of stuff into the first room, then moved it all again the next day, and then moved it all again at check-out, and they were all very polite and nice. One of them even insisted on helping me hang up my wedding gown and veil since I was too short to reach the top of the door.
MB Accommodations: A
The rooms themselves were very nice, especially the sky-view suite as it was newer and in the “penthouse” tower, but the view was awful The Vista suite was exactly as it appeared in videos and photos, and it very easily fit our 50 guests plus the DJ. 60 would fit FINE in there. The furniture was a little worn…but when you’ve got 50 people and dim lighting, no one will notice a thing, trust me. And the view was AMAZING.
Wynn Wedding Salons: A++++++++
I cannot give them enough pluses. Seriously, best decision we ever made was to get married at Wynn. I only wish we had enough money t do the reception there too, as I’m sure it would have been amazing and much less stress than our experience with MB. Our WC was Ann Marie and her assistant, Meagan, and they were so amazing. She worked with our budget on several occasions, and went above and beyond in every way possible to make everything perfect and special. Ann Marie was the nicest lady ever, and she made sure we felt totally comfortable and confident with everything. Yes, the Wynn is super expensive compared to other options, but SO WORTH THE MONEY. We ended up spending more money on our ceremony than on our entire reception…and didn’t care one bit in the end. Worth every penny.
Glamsquad: A+
Oh my goodness these guys were awesome! Arrived early, and even called in a third guy to help once they saw how long my hair was so everything would stay ok on time. I didn’t catch the third guy’s name, but we also had James and Anthony. James was so calming and nice, and Anthony was hilarious and made us all laugh all morning long. Anthony was making me mimosas while I was getting my hair done (I was a bit stressed due to the room situation), and James even offered to “have some words” with the front desk if we needed someone to get a little bitchy. J Plus, we all looked fabulous, and they finished with us like 90 minutes before we needed to get dressed, so we had plenty of time to relax. I cried (happy tears) when I saw myself in the mirror. I do regret getting the eyelashes, as one of them came off during the ceremony, but I don’t blame Glamsquad for that, I blame my insane amount of tears all day. So if you are a crier, I do not advise doing lashes. But otherwise, these guys were awesome.
Todd Wilson: A+
As everyone says, Todd is great. We haven’t seen our pics yet, but he was so super chill and helpful during the strip tour. He arrived at our room right in the middle of everything being moved out to go to the Vista Suite, and we were already done with hair and makeup, so I felt bad that there wasn;t really anything for him to take pics of. But he went right along with the flow of the madness, took lots of detail shots and became a fly on the wall while we ate our $150 burgers. Then he totally took control during the strip tour so we didn’t have to worry about a thing. Can’t wait to see his pics.
Cashman Photography: B
They get a lot of bad reviews on here, but our photographer was really good. He was super nice, and he did get a lot of good shots. The only reason they get a B is because of the prices. It would have cost us $2500 for all of the ceremony pictures!! And if I had the money, I would have bought them…but that just wasn’t in the budget. We spent an extra $200 on some of the prints, but that’s the most we could do. Luckily we have awesome friends who took lots of great pics during the ceremony.
Masterpiece Cuisine: A+
Scott was the nicest person to deal with throughout our entire planning process. He went through like 6 different proposals along the way for us, answered every question and concern, and the food was DELICIOUS. Everyone at the reception told us they loved the food. And we had a lot left over (except the shrimp – they went FAST!). They even arrived early, and the person who was supposed to meet them was still at our ceremony at Wynn, but they were very nice about waiting until she could get to MB.
Culinary Pros: A+
We hired a bartender and server through Culinary Pros. The owner was a bit pushy about getting us to hire the server, but she worked with our budget to be able to afford both of them, so I’ll let the pushiness go. J Plus, they were totally worth it. The bartender remembered everyone’s drinks, and even had a glass of water waiting for me everytime I even got close to the bar (that’s all I could drink for some reason). The server made sure there were no plates or cups sitting out anywhere, he rearranged the cupcakes as they started dwindling down so that the stand didn’t look empty, and he even went all the way downstairs with my brother to bring their gift back up for us when they left. We paid them to stay an extra 30 minutes, and they even stayed later than that to clean up the entire bar and get all the rental items packed up for us.
RSVP Rentals: A
I had no contact with them, but FI made the reservation for tablecloths, china plates and champagne glasses, and there were no problems. Everything looked great, easy to deal with, and great prices.
Travis Allen: A+
Travis was great, and such a hit with our guests. He was pretty difficult to get in touch with before the wedding, and we didn’t actually talk to him until the day before, which was a little stressful, but it was fine in the end. He even arrived early. He got people into a Conga line and he made 2 of my friends cry when he sang for our first dance. As everyone says, he stayed for pics with everyone, and was very nice.
DJ Godzilla: A
We hired him last minute, only 2 weeks before the wedding, but I am SO glad we did. It made the reception so much better, especially the lighting he used. He played every song on the list we gave him, and he stayed later than he was paid for. My only complaint was that he kept announcing me as “jenna” instead of Gina…it was annoying, but people just laughed and got over it.
Presidential Limo & VIP Limo: A
It was cheaper for us to go through two different companies for the Party Bus before the wedding and then a stretch SUV after the wedding, but both companies were fine to work with and we had no problems. Presidential gave us free champagne, and VIP gave us free beers. Both were early for their pick-ups and friendly drivers.
Costco: B
We planned all along that FI would make a trip to Costco to pickup beverages and things for the reception. No problem right? Well it turned out that the closest Costco to the strip, according to Google, is a business center and doesn’t sell alcohol. He ended up having to drive to the store in Henderson to get what we needed. A bonus to that trip is the Wal-Mart that is right down the street for the smaller things.
We dropped off bags at Mandalay Bay and Excalibur. It was incredibly difficult to drop them off at MB – you have to go underground to this bell desk storage area, and it took over an hour to get 5 bags located with their rooms, and then it was a $2.50 per bag charge. On the good side, though, the guests actually DID receive them, which is more than I can say for Excalibur. The process there was super easy and only took about 5 minutes…but no one got them. Only one of my BM’s ended up getting hers because she asked about it at check-OUT. I do NOT recommend dropping off bags to any of the hotels…it was a horrible process (which is why we ended up giving the MGM and Luxor bags to the guests themselves).
Mandalay Bay Guest Services: D
This was the absolute worst part of our trip. We had the Vista Suite booked for 10 months, and specifically booked it for the day before the wedding so we could set up everything. We even confirmed the reservation 2 days beforehand. Yet at check-in on Saturday, we were very rudely informed that we were not getting the suite, or ANY suite for that matter. I have read of MB trying to give other brides the Media Suite, but I have never read of them simply denying our reservation altogether and putting us into a standard room. We talked to the manager on duty, and all she eventually offered us was a sky-view suite (which is MUCH smaller) for no charge for Saturday night, and said that HOPEFULLY we would get a Vista suite, or a “comparable” suite on Sunday afternoon. FI spent 45 minutes arguing with them (while I stood there and cried) about the fact that it was our wedding reception and we HAD to have a suite, and that we had no way to check in and set up everything the next day when we would be on our strip tour and ya know, GETTING MARRIED. No matter how many times we asked, we were never even given a reason why our reservation was not being honored, and they were very cold and inconsiderate about the whole thing. They did absolutely nothing to make up for it, except to comp the first night in the other room, although everyone, including my BM who is a GM at a hotel, strongly believes we should have been comped our entire stay. Oh, and we were still charged the resort fee for both nights. Ridiculous.
We then had to spend our entire rehearsal dinner rounding up a team of people (family members, boyfriends of BMs) who could change all their plans for the next day to be able to move everything into the suite once we got it and set up everything for us. Luckily, we are blessed, because we had several people offer to help since neither FI or me or any of the wedding party could do any of it.
SO, on Sunday morning, my FI went straight down to the front desk at 9 AM to see if any suites had opened up yet. They offered him a media suite at that point, but he did not take it (for several reasons). After that, my Godmother took over calling the front desk every hour, and by about noon, we were finally given keys to a Vista Suite. Sadly, the bad review doesn’t end there.
My Godmother made it very clear to the front desk that even after we got the Suite, we would not be leaving the room we were in until later afternoon after we were all finished getting ready. They said it was fine. Well, about 10 minutes after were assigned to the Vista, we tried to order room service for lunch. Room service rudely told us we could not order anything because “no one is assigned to that room” and hung up. Then about 2 minutes later, we got a phone call, and someone very rudely told us “to get out of the room right now”. My Godmother (and I) were beyond PISSED at this point. We had 3 Glamsquad guys, 4 BMs, my Godmother, myself, and an entire reception-full of stuff in the sky-view room…and THEY HADN”T EVEN SENT UP THE BELLMAN YET TO MOVE OUR STUFF. Yet we were told to LEAVE the room after only 10 minutes. My Godmother called the front desk and had some words with them, and after that room service called back to take our order…to which my Godmother responded “we don’t need your food, thank you” (BEST MOMENT EVER!)
2 of my BM’s then went downstairs to get us sandwiches at one of the quick-eat places (I don’t know the name). When they ordered 7 sandwiches, they were told “sorry we don’t have any bread, you’ll have to order burgers.” OMFG. So they spent $150 on cheeseburgers, and guess what? The people in line behind them ordered sandwiches. Basically the front line people were too lazy to make 7 sandwiches, and instead wanted the kitchen to do it so they said they had to get burgers. HOLY COW.
My final complaint: After our reception, we really wanted to go to Mix. We walked all the way to the front entrance to be told “sorry, we’re done for the night.” UM, seriously, what nightclub in VEGAS closes before midnight???? Are you kidding me? Apparently it’s not as awesome as they make it out to be. We went to Eye Candy and had a blast, luckily.
I had such high expectations of a place as big and reputable as Mandalay Bay…and they failed on every level (except for the bellmen, which I will rate separately). I will never stay here again. And ALL of our guests who stayed there had similar reviews. Everyone was treated rudely by the front-desk staff. We were so turned off by the whole experience that my husband and I wouldn’t even go back there to eat or anything during our honeymoon. The only reason they are not getting an F grade is because we did eventually get the Vista Suite.
Mandalay Bay Bellmen: A+
These guys were the only good service MB had to offer. They were great. Helped unpack our car, moved 3 carts worth of stuff into the first room, then moved it all again the next day, and then moved it all again at check-out, and they were all very polite and nice. One of them even insisted on helping me hang up my wedding gown and veil since I was too short to reach the top of the door.
MB Accommodations: A
The rooms themselves were very nice, especially the sky-view suite as it was newer and in the “penthouse” tower, but the view was awful The Vista suite was exactly as it appeared in videos and photos, and it very easily fit our 50 guests plus the DJ. 60 would fit FINE in there. The furniture was a little worn…but when you’ve got 50 people and dim lighting, no one will notice a thing, trust me. And the view was AMAZING.
Wynn Wedding Salons: A++++++++
I cannot give them enough pluses. Seriously, best decision we ever made was to get married at Wynn. I only wish we had enough money t do the reception there too, as I’m sure it would have been amazing and much less stress than our experience with MB. Our WC was Ann Marie and her assistant, Meagan, and they were so amazing. She worked with our budget on several occasions, and went above and beyond in every way possible to make everything perfect and special. Ann Marie was the nicest lady ever, and she made sure we felt totally comfortable and confident with everything. Yes, the Wynn is super expensive compared to other options, but SO WORTH THE MONEY. We ended up spending more money on our ceremony than on our entire reception…and didn’t care one bit in the end. Worth every penny.
Glamsquad: A+
Oh my goodness these guys were awesome! Arrived early, and even called in a third guy to help once they saw how long my hair was so everything would stay ok on time. I didn’t catch the third guy’s name, but we also had James and Anthony. James was so calming and nice, and Anthony was hilarious and made us all laugh all morning long. Anthony was making me mimosas while I was getting my hair done (I was a bit stressed due to the room situation), and James even offered to “have some words” with the front desk if we needed someone to get a little bitchy. J Plus, we all looked fabulous, and they finished with us like 90 minutes before we needed to get dressed, so we had plenty of time to relax. I cried (happy tears) when I saw myself in the mirror. I do regret getting the eyelashes, as one of them came off during the ceremony, but I don’t blame Glamsquad for that, I blame my insane amount of tears all day. So if you are a crier, I do not advise doing lashes. But otherwise, these guys were awesome.
Todd Wilson: A+
As everyone says, Todd is great. We haven’t seen our pics yet, but he was so super chill and helpful during the strip tour. He arrived at our room right in the middle of everything being moved out to go to the Vista Suite, and we were already done with hair and makeup, so I felt bad that there wasn;t really anything for him to take pics of. But he went right along with the flow of the madness, took lots of detail shots and became a fly on the wall while we ate our $150 burgers. Then he totally took control during the strip tour so we didn’t have to worry about a thing. Can’t wait to see his pics.
Cashman Photography: B
They get a lot of bad reviews on here, but our photographer was really good. He was super nice, and he did get a lot of good shots. The only reason they get a B is because of the prices. It would have cost us $2500 for all of the ceremony pictures!! And if I had the money, I would have bought them…but that just wasn’t in the budget. We spent an extra $200 on some of the prints, but that’s the most we could do. Luckily we have awesome friends who took lots of great pics during the ceremony.
Masterpiece Cuisine: A+
Scott was the nicest person to deal with throughout our entire planning process. He went through like 6 different proposals along the way for us, answered every question and concern, and the food was DELICIOUS. Everyone at the reception told us they loved the food. And we had a lot left over (except the shrimp – they went FAST!). They even arrived early, and the person who was supposed to meet them was still at our ceremony at Wynn, but they were very nice about waiting until she could get to MB.
Culinary Pros: A+
We hired a bartender and server through Culinary Pros. The owner was a bit pushy about getting us to hire the server, but she worked with our budget to be able to afford both of them, so I’ll let the pushiness go. J Plus, they were totally worth it. The bartender remembered everyone’s drinks, and even had a glass of water waiting for me everytime I even got close to the bar (that’s all I could drink for some reason). The server made sure there were no plates or cups sitting out anywhere, he rearranged the cupcakes as they started dwindling down so that the stand didn’t look empty, and he even went all the way downstairs with my brother to bring their gift back up for us when they left. We paid them to stay an extra 30 minutes, and they even stayed later than that to clean up the entire bar and get all the rental items packed up for us.
RSVP Rentals: A
I had no contact with them, but FI made the reservation for tablecloths, china plates and champagne glasses, and there were no problems. Everything looked great, easy to deal with, and great prices.
Travis Allen: A+
Travis was great, and such a hit with our guests. He was pretty difficult to get in touch with before the wedding, and we didn’t actually talk to him until the day before, which was a little stressful, but it was fine in the end. He even arrived early. He got people into a Conga line and he made 2 of my friends cry when he sang for our first dance. As everyone says, he stayed for pics with everyone, and was very nice.
DJ Godzilla: A
We hired him last minute, only 2 weeks before the wedding, but I am SO glad we did. It made the reception so much better, especially the lighting he used. He played every song on the list we gave him, and he stayed later than he was paid for. My only complaint was that he kept announcing me as “jenna” instead of Gina…it was annoying, but people just laughed and got over it.
Presidential Limo & VIP Limo: A
It was cheaper for us to go through two different companies for the Party Bus before the wedding and then a stretch SUV after the wedding, but both companies were fine to work with and we had no problems. Presidential gave us free champagne, and VIP gave us free beers. Both were early for their pick-ups and friendly drivers.
Costco: B
We planned all along that FI would make a trip to Costco to pickup beverages and things for the reception. No problem right? Well it turned out that the closest Costco to the strip, according to Google, is a business center and doesn’t sell alcohol. He ended up having to drive to the store in Henderson to get what we needed. A bonus to that trip is the Wal-Mart that is right down the street for the smaller things.
