My last wedding at Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas

First I have to tell a little story why this was my last unknown wedding at the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas.  As one of my favorite venues in town, the Mandarin Oriental has never disappointed when it comes to weddings.  The wedding of Laura and Paul definitely was no exception, however, I didn’t realize that it would be my last wedding as the Mandarin Oriental.  I have another couple contracted with the Mandarin but last week we found out the venue will be the Waldorf Astoria.  Of course the name immediately strikes people as an upgrade which left my October bride in awe when I spoke to her.  She said I’m not that fancy but the sound of having my wedding at the Waldorf is an honor.  They still guarantee to follow the guidelines of our current contract in which I think they will only deliver better service than Mandarin already provides.  I’m excited to see the progress of the property and hoping they keep their best features.

Now to describe the gorgeous wedding of Laura (Lulu) and Paul Evans.  I met this fabulous couple along with Lulu’s parents about a year prior to their wedding day.  Lulu from day one was the most organized bride I have ever met.  I honestly wish she lived here so she could work with me.  It’s amazing how detailed oriented she was.  Both the ceremony and reception took place inside of Mandarin’s stunning ballrooms.  For the cocktail hour the guests entered the gorgeous foyer area so we could reset the room for the reception.  The couple had around 80 guests traveling from mostly the east coast to enjoy their wedding day.  All of their family and friends were the sweetest group.  When deciding on wedding dates we went back and forth as Laura wanted an early spring date but not during spring break times where a lot of kids would be.  We had the perfect Saturday come to mind which was St Patty’s Day.  The bride being irish and a love for the holiday it couldn’t have been a better fit.  I definitely didn’t know at the time this would be my last wedding as the Mandarin but I’m glad that it was because it was perfect.  Please enjoy the photos below from their amazing wedding day by Susie and Will!

 

Special thanks to our amazing creative team:

Wedding Planner: Desirable Events by Desi

Photographer: Susie and Will

Videographer: Lighten Films

Floral and Decor: Naakiti Floral

Dress: Hayley Paige

DJ: DJ Livinh

Photo Booth: Smashbooth 

Officiant/Elvis: Roland August

Beauty: Sin City Beauty

Doughnuts: Pinkbox Doughnuts

Veil: Sara Gabriel

Shoes: Badgley Mischka

Rings: Brillant Earth & Dunwoody Diamond

Suit: Men’s Warehouse

Stationary: Minted

 

Advertisement

Wedding Venue closes two months before your wedding… Now what?

So I want to start by setting the scene with how perfect the engagement was.  Many of you may have seen this couple either on the Today show or in People Magazine.  For those of you who haven’t, this is the lovely Katrina and Doug. Katrina has an obsession for John Stamos and Doug thought by writing him a letter to him maybe he would get an autograph back to propose with.  Instead John Stamos actually sent a video back asking Katrina to marry Doug.  They had an amazing engagement and had their wedding planned in Las Vegas.  Both being super laid back people, it is understandable that it was easy to plan.  Then November came around (just two months until their wedding day) and they received terrible news.  The restaurant where their wedding was taking place actually was no longer going to remain open.  Completely devastated by the news, the freaked out for a minute then Katrina knew what she had to do which was find a wedding planner stat.  She reached out to me with the following message:

“Hi, are you up for a challenge? Are you ready a great story? Imagine having the proposal of your dreams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qom_RLGsZYE Planning a year ahead to get the venue you always envisioned: http://alizelv.com Just to find out 2 months before your wedding that the restaurant is closing and that you don’t have a venue. What you DO have is invites out, RSVPs in, a total of 92 people attending… most of which have already reserved rooms and flights. Yup… that’s what my fiancé and I are going through right now. What do you do? 1. you freak out. 2. you settle down and realize you still have a love to marry. 3. you contact Desirable Events by Desi to see if there’s anything they can do to match the wedding of your dreams you thought you were already having. Your reviews are great, so let me know if you’d like to chat. Sometimes a phone call can help. Thanks, Katrina & Doug”

I instantly knew who they were since I in fact did see the episode of the Today show they were featured on.  I felt for them completely and instantly connected with them.  I became their planner and immediately began searching for the perfect venue.  Although it seemed impossible, it actually was quite easy for us to find.  You see their original venue was a close fit but never the perfect fit for them.  The perfect venue was actually still in the same hotel, just in a different tower.  All their guests staying at the Palms could remain there and the wedding could begin at the same time.  The only thing they had to do was send out a venue update.  Since the restaurant was originally taking care of all the other items, we had to get floral and decor, photo booth, hair/make up artist, and make sure the band could still perform at the new venue The View.  The vibe in the space was totally meant for Katrina and Doug.  They were going for the old Vegas/Rat Pack style.  The wedding ceremony will go down in history as the best I have ever heard.  Mainly because a very talented writer and director Josh Cooley was one of Doug’s closest friends and performed their ceremony.  The entire day went perfect and these two had the wedding of their dreams.  The one that truly they lucked out on losing their venue.

Thank you Katrina and Doug for trusting in me to find the perfect venue for you and create your beautiful wedding! One other thing that I absolutely love about them is for the welcome reception for guests, Doug and I went to pick up $93.48 worth of Taco Bell.  A couple truly after my own heart that will remain friends forever.  When you two are ready I call dibs on planning your vow renewal at Taco Bell!

Please check out some of the photos below from their gorgeous day by their dear friend and amazing Hailey Magoon:

 

Thank you again to Katrina and Doug as well as our amazing creative partners:

Wedding Planner: Desirable Events by Desi

Photographer: Hailey Magoon

Floral & Decor: Destinations by Design

Venue: The View at the Palms

Hair/Makeup: Esmeralda Aguis

Band: Laura Shaffer’s Midnight Refrain