Jeri and Kason: Scouting Trip -- in Vegas!!

We were in Vegas Saturday - Monday this last weekend! We decided on Las Vegas a few months ago after being completely frustrated with the venues in AZ. Everything was SO costly and just didn't fit our idea of how want to the knot! My parents decided we needed to SEE the places we were eyeing in person to make a better decision!

I didn't take pictures of everything...but... we started off viewing The Wellington, which was off strip. There was a wedding/reception there later that day and the place was decorated very nicely. It was an extremely cookie cutter/banquet wedding that we just didn't have a feel for. We toured the property with the owner and she said she would email us as soon as we left with her new pricing brochure..Still just waiting on that email...

When we got in town we went straight to the Wellington and got in a little early so we actually had a little time to kill before our next appointment so we had some lunch and wandered a gift shop.

Then we had a meeting with Maggiano's for our reception. LOVE LOVE LOVE. It was like when we found our house -- TADA! It's the one! The wedding coordinator there sounds great to work with and the place had just the right feel!

With the venue meetings over for that day, we went over to Minus 5 (an ice bar) in Mandalay Bay and drank until our behinds were freezing (didn't last long!) The place was so so neat - everything but the ground was ice, including our glasses. My dad had been joking the whole time about throwing the glasses against the wall and right before we left I barely nudged my mom's glass and it flew right off the table and crashed. OOPS!

Mandalay Bay is pretty fantastic!! They had an entire Guinness store and right next door an Irish pub. Yes, we'd like some Guinness, please. After that, it was late enough to check in to our hotel, Bally's.

We checked in, had a drink or three in the room and talked about the places we had seen earlier that day. We went out to KGB burgers - YUM - and then headed to the piano bar in the Paris. Awesome!!

Saturday morning we slept in a little, had coffee, went to the pool and then got ready for our next wedding appointments. First up was the Flamingo. It was beautiful, really, but so loud. The garden gazebos were right next to the pool and it was SO loud, it was distracting. The view looking at the couple was great, but for the couple you saw the pool or the hotel. We had lunch at Margaritaville, yummm.

Our second appointment was at the historic Little Church of the West. As we were driving up to it, we realized just how teeny tiny it is. Pretty and rustic - it was nice.

After the wedding meetings, we got our tickets for the Blue Man Group (ahh! thanks again!) and went back to the room to get ready really quickly. Took a super speedy cab to the Venetian, had some drinks, played some video poker and went in to the show. So, so awesome! Must see! Jason had never seen the sky in the Venetian, so we walked around a little and then took an even speedier cab back to Bally's. (Our cab driver told us about the lion KINK!) We gambled. Won, lost, up, down, pretty much even and then crashed.

Monday morning, we had an early meeting at Caesars Palace so we checked out and hustled over there. That's the place! Ah! Inside and out, it was gorgeous. We spent the longest time there and can't even make up our mind which chapel/garden we want to get married in because they were all so beautiful!

Here's some pictures:

Taking advantage of the gardens @ the Flamingo