Vendor Reviews.

Flamingo Hotel (hotel only): B
We got to Vegas on Wednesday morning and immediately checked into the Flamingo.  Unfortunately, we were there before check-in so our room wasn't ready.  We didn't try the $20 bill trick, so we were offered an upgrade for a charge.  We declined and dropped our stuff in my MOH's room instead.  Only downside was this meant we didn't have time to shower before we left to get our marriage license.  Not a huge deal, but it would have been nice :)  We spent Wednesday and Thursday at the Flamingo and it was pretty standard.  We got an upgraded room, which I don't think is worth the extra money (although, since its the Flamingo and not the Wynn - our room only cost $72/night for the upgraded room).  Our room was hot pink, which was kinda fun, but nothing else felt different from their standard rooms to me.  There was a tv in the bathroom mirror - which was kind of cool, but didn't get much use from us.  Overall, as always, I would give the Flamingo a B.  There are no frills, but you cannot beat the location for the price.  And, as a fun surprise, we all really enjoyed the pool here.  You have to get there early to get a group of chairs together, but I think that's expected.

Caesars Limo Service: A
At 1pm on Wednesday we had a reservation to take Caesars limo service (included in our Cleopatra package) to the marriage license bureau.  Things couldn't have gone more smoothly.  Our driver, Igor, was there right at 1pm.  Since we pre-registered we were in an out in under 10 minutes (there wasa bit of line ahead of us, even in the pre-registered line...I guess the secret is out!).  Igor waited for us around the corner and pulled right up when he saw us walking out

Yolos: A+
Went here for the 'bachelorette party' on Thursday night.  Service was outstanding, food was great, and the drinks were very tasty.  We only had a group of 10 - so I didn't deal with group reservations.  Our total bill at the end was only $332.00 - incredibly cheap when divded among 10 people who all got 2 drinks as well.  I also don't know how splitting the bill would have been.  I told everyone to bring cash so we didn't have to deal with it.

Peepshow at PH: B
Very weird show - went to after Yolos.  Lots of boobs, which I guess is expected.  The storyline wasn't great and I think people onyl go to see Holly and Josh (that's the reason my friends wanted to go).  She's in the show more than I expected from reading reviews, and Josh is a great singer.  There is only one good part of the show, which lets you down by the end (if you've seen it, you know).

Le Burger Brasserie in Paris: A-/B+
We held our welcome dinner at Le Burger Brasserie in Paris on Friday night.  THe location is extremely tricky to find if you enter through Paris.  My MOH and I scoped it out the night before and tried to spread the word for guests to enter through Ballys.  Most people got the message, but a few didn't.  Overall, everyone found it, but it wasn't as easy as I would have expected (I had never been there before booking this location).  THe restaurant does not have a private room, which I was a bit worried about, but it worked out perfectly.  We had 47 guests and the restaurant gave us their entired rasied portion, behind the bar.  We weren't 'private', but it did feel that way.  Some guests had arrived before my FI and I, and the staff was sure to get them drinks and take care of everything.  Dinner was standard bar food - which is what we were going for.  Potato skins, chicken wings and chicken tenders for apps, burgers (or chicken or salmon burgers) for the entree with a sampling of fries, and cheesecake for dessert.  The burgers all had fun.unique toppings, and people seemed to enjoy them.  This place also gets extra points for allowing my in-laws crazy German cousin to put on a crazy 'skit', complete with food props.  I don't really know how to explain what went on - you just need to know him and his culture to understand, haha.  Oh, and they get bonus points for allowing us to stay over our booked time.  I only paid for 2 hours of venue space, which I was told was all I would need and that they only book packages in 2 hour blocks.  Although, my contract stated that I could be charged up to $500/hr that we went over those 2 hours.  We ended up being there for almost 3 hours before we were kindly asked to leave (they had a line outside and needed the seating).  The manager couldn't have been nicer about it, and didn't charge us - so bonus points to them for that!...because they should have charged us.

I only have 2 slight complaints:
1) We paid for open bar, but that only included certain liquors.  By the time we got to the event we had forgotten what was actually included.  We didn't want to hinder our guests, but it would have been nice to have some sort of "drink menu" printed, or something.  We ended up with $150 tab at the end of the night for unincluded drinks that were ordered.  Not a huge deal, but it was unexpected.  Although, we did have to laugh because the majority of the drinks we paid for were Captains with Diet - which is what FI was drinking all night.

2) At the end of the night, I was told that my pre-paid code wasn't working.  Basically, I had paid for the entire event ahead of time and got a code from my coordinator that she said would show I was fully paid.  The manager on sight that night told me he couldn't get the code to work and offered me two options - I could either pay the entire $3,000+ balance again and they'd re-credit the old, supposed payment (um, not a chance in h*ll, sir) or I could just pay the $150 extra owed for the extra drinks and they'd figure out the $3,000+ tomorrow.  Clearly I chose the the second option...but it seemed a little shady to even suggest I pay $3,000 again.

Caesars Hotel: A
We went to check in on Friday, about 2 horus before our welcome party dinner.  Needless to say I was desperate for a room.  We had two nights included in our wedding package, but when we checked in those rooms weren't available yet.  The front desk upgraded us for free to a suite.  The room was amazing!   We had two bathrooms (which worked out very well for getting ready for the wedding) and tons of space.  As an added bonus, we could see the Juno Garden from our window. 

Caesars Salon - Color Salon: A+
I was very nervous about getting my hair and makeup done at Caesars.  I knew they were a quality salon, but there are almost no reviews on here for them.  I made an appointment for a hair trial on Thursday (which I paid for myself) in order to help my nerves.  Ale did my hair and she was so sweet!  She put me at ease right away.  She also did my hair for the actual wedding and was able to tweak a few things I was unsure about after Thursday.  All of my BM's who had their hair done were extremely happy with their hair.  In fact, my sister-in-law was going to be in a wedding the following weekend and took extra pictures of just her hair to show the stylist for that wedding.  For makeup, we all upgraded to the airbrush make up and false eyelashes.  The lashes felt crazy at first, but after awhile I didn't feel them at all.  Only thing I would caution against is when they ask if you want 'some lipgloss for later', I didn't realize I would be getting a full tube.  I ended up buying a bunch of makeup I'll probably never use again.  The added cost might be too much for some - but I was in a bridal fog and just let it pile up.  At the end, my bill was literally 5 feet long.  I'll post a picture once I have it :)  But, if you're on a budget, watch the add-ons (airbrush, eyelashes, etc).  I was paying for all my bridesmaids and no one asked me before the girsl upgraded.  Thankfully, I didn't care, but it could have made paying awkward if we had to split up the bill for the upgrades, etc.  I did however have them pay for any makeup they purchased.  And they all insisted on tipping their stylists themselves.

Caesars Wedding (Juno Garden, WC Shani): A+
I could not be more happy with Caesars Wedding, and particularlly with Shani.  I have been emailling her, at random, for over a year and she's always gotten back to me within a day or two and answered even my most random questions.  She put in a special request for the minister I wanted (Michael Wittig) - and he did our ceremony!  I was extremely happy about that, as the other regular minister seems to 'sell Caesars' in the videos I've seen.  The flowers turned out beautifully - the music was played perfectly - everything just went 100% right.  Shani was very organized and walked us through what we'd be doing - even showing the BM's where they would stand once they got to the end of the aisle (we didn't do a rehearsal, and the Juno Garden has stairs, so this was nice).  We didn't do any kind of upgrades to the garden (plants, rose petals, etc) and everything looked beautiful.  We got so many compliments on everything.  I think alof of our guests thought a Vgeas wedding had to be cheesy and were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was.  The only bad thing about the Juno Garden is getting to it.  Unlike the Venus Garden, there isn't a door right by the Juno - you have to walk through the entire pool area to get to it.  Although I didn't get a ton of cheers and "you look so pretty!" comments walking to the garden - and even more walking out with the entire wedding party and the groom - so that's always an ego boost.  Especially when you 'forgot' to lose weight before the wedding, haha!  Oh, and also - we had our wedding DVD sitting in our mailbox when we returned from our honeymoon, so I give bonus points for the quick turn around.  Yeah, its only a 15 minutes video, but they didn't have any obligation to get it to us so fast!

Presidental Limo: A
I have zero complaints.  They showed up on time, let us load our cooler (which we stocked and left with the bell desk at Caesars during the ceremony --- totally genius move on the GM's part!).  They went where we wanted to go, even though it was a bit different then the intitial order I submitted.  We had 4 places listed for our photo tour, but only ended up going to 2 (totally our fault/decision).  The driver made sure to drop us off as close as possible to where we wanted to go.  He could not have been better.

Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak, and Stone Crab: A+
The set up was perfect.  The food was amazing - people could not stop talking about the food!  The staff was excellent.  We had one waiter (I can't remember his name..sorry) who made sure Jay and I were 100% happy, without being an annoying waiter who is always in your face (if you know what I mean).  He was absolute perfection.  The bartender was very friendly, and made sure to make the guests happy.  Joe's wouldn't let us serve shots, but when people wanted shots he just poured them in 'tumblers' to accomidate.  I raelly have nothing bad to say about Joe's.  We had just an iPod set up, which worked perfectly.  There was no organized dancing, but myself and others danced when we felt the urge, haha.  We had 51 people, with 7 tables and 1 sweetheart table - plus the tables for gifts, cupcakes, and escort cards/guestbook.  I would say this was the perfect setup.  Anymore tables may have felt cramped.  I know I mentioned it before, but they printed our menus on green paper - which was such a nice touch.  We were very worried about the bar package going into Joe's but that turned out great as well.  We ended up doing consumption for the cocktail hour (which turned into an hour and a half), then three hours of open bar, and then we opened up to consumption again.  We ended up doing 3 hours of consumption and only spent $1,200.  We were expecting ALOT more, so we were very pleased with our bill at the end of the night.  I can't say enough good things about Joe's - one of the best vendors we could have booked.  All our guests were very impressed.

Todd of Bently&Wilson: A+
I don't know if a more relaxed, go with the flow man exists in this world.  He was exactly what I needed on the wedding day.  He took direction when I gave it (i.e. he made sure to get certain shots I asked for - rings on a newspaper, my shoes with Jay's socks, etc), but jumped right in and took pictures without any direction.  He took us to spots I didn't even think of while on the strip tour - and he nudged his way to the front of the line at the Vegas sign (even though there was already a bridal party there when we arrived and I don't think tourists were too happy to wait for both bridal parties, haha).  I got a little tipsy on the photo tour and told him "you're all over the Knot!  people grade their vendors, and I'm giving you an A+", haha.  So, here is Todd's A+ - and he deserves it!  I can't wait to get our pictures back!

Retro Bakery: A+
Again, everyone loved the cupcakes.  My favorite was the Apple Cider and Jay loved the Pucker Up.  I also devoured at least 2 Chocolate Fountain cupcakes..ooops!  I would say you should listen to Brian.  He told me we'd only need about 70-80 cupcakes for our 51 guests.  I thought that seemed way too low and ordered 120.  Needless to say we had alot left over.  I didn't feel like dealing with them so we left them at Joe's - I hope the staff took them home, because they really were too good to just get thrown away.

Fit for a Bride (Debi): A+
Debi could not have been easier to work with.  She called me as soon as my dress arrived (I shipped it ahead of time from DC) to let me know I could breathe again.  She steamed my dress and Jay's suit, shirt and tie.  We also threw in 6 extra ties (GM's and dad's) and she steamed them at no charge.  Everything was delivered to our hotel at the expected time and she called ahead of time to make sure we were still good to meet at the selected time.  Debi couldn't be better and was well worth the cost of not having to drag my dress through the airport.

The Palette (Pam): A
I never met Pam in person, but the flowers at Joe's were perfect.  I sent her the same picture I sent Caesars for my bouquet and told her to draw inspiration from it and told her was I wanted to spend.  The end result was beautiful.  She had a few different green flowers than Caesars used, but they were gorgeous!  She even threw in a few loose cymbidium orchids to decorate the tables with.  The orchids didn't end up where I wanted, but that's more on the moms then on Pam :)  And in the end, I didn't care enough to move it when I got there - so there's that, haha.  Pam provided a great product at a great price.