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My Opinion of Canyon Gate Country Club for a Wedding

Discussion in 'Vegas Weddings' started by raraavis, Jul 14, 2012.

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  1. raraavis

    raraavis VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2010
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    Location:
    NJ
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    9
    I am going to do a review of each wedding venue I visited, and the first section of each review will be the “Background.” If you have already read the background from another one of my reviews, feel free to skip to the actual venue review.

    Background
    I got engaged in December 2011. After a month or so of trying to settle on a state (yes, I said state), we decided on Nevada (Las Vegas specifically of course). My family/friends are primarily in Michigan; fiancé’s (we’ll call him J from now on) are in New York City area. We live in NJ. If we had it in either Michigan or NJ, we would have well over 250 guests since we assumed that most people would be willing to make the drive (or short flight if they choose) to either location (p.s. we have many friends in Long Island, and it would be at least a 1.5 hr drive for them to come to our area in NJ). Then J kept saying it wouldn’t be fair to his friends and family if we got married in Michigan (where it is at least half the cost of NJ weddings btw). So I countered with the same argument for my friends and family, haha. We were at a stalemate. Well I had mentioned Vegas when we first got engaged and told J it is my number 1 choice. But J was hesitant about having a destination wedding. After thinking of the pros and cons of being married in the mitten (aka, Michigan) or in NJ, J finally agreed that Las Vegas was actually the most practical and fun thing to do. Next on the list was to make sure our very closest family and friends would be ok with flying to Vegas for our wedding because frankly they are the only ones that matter!

    We booked a good deal at Bally’s for Sun-Thurs and stayed with my dad the other days of the trip (he lives there). My initial plan was to see 13 venues, but I decided not to see the two at mt. Charleston. So I only saw 11 venues over the course of 3 days. It was a lot!!

    Basically the type of wedding I want is a non-religious ceremony followed by a traditional wedding reception. I do not want to get married in what I deem a “wedding factory”, which is what some of the venues I saw felt like. In the same regard, I do not want a chapel wedding at all. I did check on the strip, but nothing met our needs or was within our budget. I began my search in January and finally narrowed it down for our June trip. My tastes revolve around golf/country clubs apparently. We are planning for a Thursday wedding in October 2013.

    Canyon Gate Country Club
    2001 Canyon Gate Drive Las Vegas, NV 89117
    http://www.clubcorp.com/Clubs/Canyon-Gate-Country-Club/Weddings-Events/Weddings

    I met with Shelley at 1pm on Friday June 15. I made the appointment by phone the week before, and I have to say she was the nicest of all the people I talked with. I told J after I got off the phone with her “I really like her. I have a good feeling about this place.” He rolled his eyes at me. Shelley has the customer service touch I’ve been seeking. I don’t care if it’s a fake niceness; it’s not like I expect her to be my bff or something. She actually moved from my area of Jersey to Las Vegas, what a small world.

    Shelley shows us around the venue. Let me say that if you’ve never been to Canyon Gate Country Club, wow. It’s a gated community (with security). The golf course is the backyard of multi-million dollar homes. As we left the last venue, my dad asks what’s next. I tell him Canyon Gate. He guffawed a bit and said are you sure? I was like “why, what’s wrong with it? Is it bad?” He then explained how ritzy it was, which made me wonder if missed a zero on the price tag haha :haha:. So we stroll in and have to confirm with security that I have an appt. before they’ll let us in. As we are driving to the clubhouse, my mouth is hanging open just looking at the houses. “Are these apt. complexes dad?” No, no they are houses. WOW. :eek:

    The entrance to the clubhouse is gorgeous, and I’m already starting to like it. The lobby and hallway area are just as gorgeous. Seriously, I was starting to doubt I could afford this place. We meet Shelley, and she is just as nice in person as she is on the phone.

    First we see the cocktail hour room, which is right off from the terrace ceremony site.
    [​IMG]

    Then we see the ceremony site with the amazing view of the mountains. My dad even said he’s never seen a view of the mountains without telephone poles and electrical wires everywhere.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    From there, we go to the reception room. It is smaller than others we have seen, which is perfect because we don’t want a huge space where our small number of 70ish would look weird. When we saw it, she had it set up for 80 people. It looked awesome! I don't think the picture does it justice though.
    [​IMG]
    And here is the entrance to the reception room from the cocktail room:
    [​IMG]

    Here is the hallway off of the cocktail room where we would have a sign in table and gift table.
    [​IMG]

    Next we went to the ready rooms, which were really just the locker rooms. These aren’t your high school locker rooms; these are actually nice.
    [​IMG]

    I only get an hour in there though, but I am sure she would be ok if I asked for more ahead of time. I think she mentioned that we get snacks and champagne. I asked if it would be private, and if there are places to lock up my stuff. She said no. All of the lockers are actually assigned to members (they all have a name plate on them). Members will have access to the locker rooms while I am getting ready. However, she made some good points: there aren’t a lot of female golfers, so the locker room is usually empty; my wedding will be late in the afternoon/evening time, so golfing is pretty much over by then; and the women are big on etiquette and would not intrude on me if they saw a bride getting ready. J and his groomsmen might have a more crowded room, but men usually are ready before they get to the venue anyway.

    After we scouted out the facility, Shelley gave us some picture albums to peruse while she went to get a quote for me. While she was gone, my dad whispers “I really like this place, you should book it.” My dad actually looked really happy as he was gazing around. I had the same feeling. I tried really hard to not get excited about this place because it was only the 3rd venue we visited, and we had 8 more to go.

    2013 Pricing for 70 people with a plated dinner (more expensive than buffet) and 5 hours of premium open bar is $10,967 (includes the $2,000 ceremony fee, gratuity, taxes, and service fees). Shelley said she can offer me a small discount on food for booking a Thursday wedding, yippee! :thumbsup: Also that price doesn’t include floral, DJ, and photography, which I must contract myself. J and I were trying to avoid that; we really wanted an all inclusive package since we are far away. And that price can come down a bit if we go to a 3 hour open bar and do buffet instead of plated (which I am considering if it means I can have my wedding here). Also, Shelley said a round of golf for the groom and groomsmen is included.

    Included in aforementioned price (taken directly from their package document) is the food (including a 3 tier cake) and beverage costs plus the $2000 ceremony/reception fee, which includes this:
    Ceremony-terrace location, white wooden padded chairs, complimentary video of the ceremony (Sunday-Friday only), ceremony canopy, ceremony rehearsal, on-site wedding coordination.

    Reception-one hour cocktail room, 4 hour reception, complimentary tasting of meal and cake, chameleon chairs w/ black or ivory cushion, elegant full length table linens and napkins (Somerset Satin, Pintuck, or Dazzle), sign in & gift table, cake table, sweetheart table, dance floor, champagne/cider toast for everyone.

    Overall, I love this place. :blowkiss: It is pretty much my top choice, but J and I have some talking to do. Surprisingly, this place isn’t that much more expensive than the others in my top 5. If you like the swanky country club look, then I suggest you check this place out. Feel free to ask me any questions! :wave:
     
  2. Rara'sFriendJennie:p

    Rara'sFriendJennie:p Newbie

    Joined:
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    Sounds Amazing

    This venue is classy and includes enough necessities in the price like linens, cake, elegant chairs, and especially the extra costs (taxes AND gratuity). I suggest dropping the price any way you can- take the buffet dinner, drop the bar down to 3 hours and ask if there is a mid-grade option. For my wedding, they offered either house, silver, or premium liquor and most of the stuff we normally drink was included in the silver package. Buffet dinners are very common at weddings ;) Don't worry about floral (my mom and I will do it for you!) and put your research cap on for the rest! XO

    So far, this is my favorite too!
     
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