Las Vegas Wedding

My brother in law got married at the Flamingo it was really pretty and nice!! Good Luck!!

Awww, Vegas..my home away from home! I used to live 4 hrs from LV and have stayed many places and eaten @ many more places! NYNY is a very nice hotel and in the middle of everything....as is Caesars, Paris, Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Treasure Island etc... Statosphere is a little off the strip so you're likely to find better room rates there than the others I mentioned. A great hotel with no frill rooms and is fairly inexpensive is Circus Circus. It's one of the oldest down there, and the place shows it...but again it's reasonable (and they used to have $2 min bet Black Jack in the mornings!! But you said you weren't a gambler!). The Rio is another that is off the strip and I believe they are all suites. (I could be wrong). The Gold Coast is another hotel off the strip and although I've never stayed there, I have heard nice things about it. Reasonable and there is a bowling alley inside. Rio's buffet is AWESOME. Mandalay Bay also has a great buffet. The Fiesta Hotel and Casino is a little off the strip as well and they have an AWESOME mexican restaurant there called Gardunos. It's traditional New Mexican food and always a stop for us in Vegas. The Stratosphere also has a 50's diner where the staff sings rock & roll songs <think Grease!> and it's pretty neat. (Strat also has the roller coasters outside! Rides will be closed on real windy days though, FYI) As for shows...Celine Dion is there and 'O' at Bellagio. Tickets are SUPER expensive for decent seats, but since you're not going until March, there is plenty of time to save! Oh, one thing that I always do when I'm there is in Caesar's, there is a virtual coaster called "Race for Atlantis" and it's SOO fun. They also have the cool mall with real talking "statues" and the painted cloud sky above you (inside!). Yes, bring your walking shoes and they have a tram that will take you from hotel to hotel (around the strip) so you really don't need a car. Traffic is a nightmare anyway. You also might want to send a message to Addie. She grew up there. Take care and have fun! I'm jealous! If you gamble on a machine, play the 25c Wheel of Fortune machine...or the Elvis ones! SOOO FUN!! <I'm a gambler, can ya tell?!?!)

We got married in Vegas at the Chapel by the Bay with Mandalay Bay's hotel. We didn't have a whole lot of time, but some things our family members did were the shark reef, they took a day trip to Hoover Dam, a weekend trip to Grand Canyon, a helicopter ride and of course my wedding and reception! There were the roller coasters at Stratosphere and New York, New York. We also did a spa day at Spa Mandalay (heavenly!) They raved about the pools at Mandalay Bay, too.

I hope you all have fun!

Check out: http://www.lasvegas.com/

Try to stay on the strip. Anything off the strip is going to cost you to get back and forth. New York, New York is fun and has lots of different types of food. The Luxor is cool to stay in for the elevators that go up at an angle. I have stayed at the Mirage too and it is beautiful with its vast swimming pools and dolphins.

I wouldn't go to the Shark Reef attraction at the Mandaly Bay. Like most attractions, the cost is extreme for the actual exhibit. Do go to a show! We went to see Carrot Top and we were on the forth row. It was great! If you can't get into a show when you first get there, wait until around four o'clock and then go try to purchase tickets. Most hotels have extra tickets later in the day that are returned from people trying to get you to go view their properties. Don't fall into that scam either... :P

Take WALKING shoes. Las Vegas is a walking town!!! Eat all you want, because you will be walking it off up and down the strip.

As for the time she is getting married, that is around March Madness and you may have issues getting hotels. Do research on the hotels on the site I listed above. If they do not show a vacancy, call the hotel directly.

Have fun... Vegas is the amusement park of adults.

Jodi

Get tickets to go see "O" by Cirque De Soliel...I belive it's at the Bellagio... I've been to movies, plays, Broadway and nothing ever has come close to the experience of this show.. it's AMAZING...

I don't know that anything is "reasonable" there if you're looking to stay on the strip -- esp. during spring break b/c it's still a destination for people to get away to...

Try a package deal with air/hotel/round trip transfers ... you shouldn't need a car b/c you can walk most everywhere (if you're on the strip) or hop a hotel... besides, valet fees everywhere will eat you alive.

Check out a lot of the sites to plan meals... the buffets are mind blowing and DELICIOUS!!!! Take advantage of them! :)

Viva Las Vegas! My husband and I eloped and had an Elvis wedding. I love it there. Although I haven't been back in like four years. Remember that as I make recommendations. :-)

No problem if you don't gamble. Make sure you see some shows, and if you take a tour flight out there, there will be ticket specials and whatnot available on the plane. If you want to see any of the more popular shows like Cirque, buy your tickets NOW as stuff does sell out. Best show we saw was Second City at Bally's -- fairly cheap ticket, compared to others, and we laughed ourselves sick.

Lots of cheap/free stuff to do too. So much in fact that you need to buy a good, current (because stuff changes in Vegas every week, practically) travel guidebook and make a plan because you'll never see everything. My favorites are the Coca Cola Museum (on the top floor you can sample every Coke product from around the world), the Caesar's Forum shops, the dolphins and big cats at Mirage, the museum at Bellagio (seriously, with traveling exhibits; last time I went I saw the Faberge exhibition), the Fremont Street Experience (just to get an idea what Vegas used to be like), the Ethel M factory tour (then again I'm a chocoholic -- and don't do this one unless you have a car because it's a haul across town)... those are the ones that are jumping to the top of my brain. But I've been like five times, I don't gamble and I have NEVER been bored in Vegas.

All hotels can be reasonably priced; there are a ton of Web sites with deals and I would just start making the rounds on those. I would make sure to get one VERY close to wherever your sister is planning her shindig though; Vegas traffic is terrible, getting cabs is iffy to downright hard depending on what's going on in town (particularly early in the year), and remember these hotels are HUGE properties. In fact I'd just stay in her hotel. The MGM, for instance, will take you 20 min just to walk through the ground floor of the HOTEL. Forget about the parking garage or getting to the hotel next door.

You CAN spend money to eat in Vegas but it is not required by any stretch. There are buffets and deals absolutely everywhere. Do however expect to pay similar or more compared to here if you eat at a place that takes reservations, for instance. Some of the restaurants are world renown and therefore pricey, but it may be worth it to you if you just have to eat at Emeril's place or Wolfgang Puck's place, or whatever. Again, consider making your reservations now, or at least calling and finding out how far in advance they take them.

If you decide to rent a car -- and I would if you want to go around town a whole lot, rather than take cabs -- just accept that you're going to valet park. Bite the bullet, cough up the money and do it. Like I said before, self-parking can literally be a 20 min or more walk away, you're already going to be doing a TON of walking, and you can valet pretty much everywhere in Vegas. I probably self-park overnight at my hotel, but I would valet at every other stop I planned to make. And if you're just running around the hotels, for instance, you may park at one and take the monorail system or tram system to the next one and just work your way back. (Many of the hotels that are owned by the same company have linked their hotels with some sort of transportation.)

Wow, this is really long. Sorry! Hope it helps!
J.