skinny malinky
Low-Roller
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2005
- Messages
- 171
Goin' to the chapel and we're…gonna sign a contract Day 1
We rolled out of LA around 9 am, and boy was the weather crappy. We left the rain behind us by the time we got on the 15, but it caught up with us when we stopped at the outlets just over the boarder. What can I say, my wardrobe is getting raggedy and I'm cheap. By the time we ate lunch and finished shopping, we had to sprint to the car. It was one of those cold, stinging rains, too. Good times.
We got into Vegas around 3:30 and decided to go to the MGM first. This trip was 90% to find a place to get hitched in October, and 10% for my birthday. Thanks to Ken2V's book and our own research we'd narrowed the options down to five, and the MGM was first up to bat. It only took us 30 minutes to find the chapel (I kind of hate the MGM because it's so ridiculously large. It's just too big to be a hotel. They should call themselves the MGM Territory, or the Republic of MGM. Grand isn't specific enough to convey the unwieldiness of the place.)
We made our way through a flock of overdressed people and went into the very tasteful chapel area. We casually strolled up to the desk and said we wanted information about weddings. The woman behind the desk unkindly informed us that, basically, she was very busy and maybe they could draw up a dummy contract if we were serious about this. Whoa. What the hell? We've never done this before; you're supposed to ask us guiding questions to figure out how much we already know. Surely we're not the only people who have come to Vegas to shop around for the best chapel. And it's not like we'd met the day before and were just screwing around; we knew the approximate number of guests, the date, what we wanted for a reception, etc. They were busy (I think in the time we were there they had three weddings), but we couldn't predict that on a Wednesday afternoon there would be a sudden rush on wedded bliss. We were treated like a couple of teenagers, and almost walked out. As my fiancé said, they'd better not all be like this.
The rude woman (she was even from Canada. Canadians are never rude!) handed us their brochure and had us sit and wait for one of the wedding coordinators. The brides shuffled in and out. The whole chapel area, from the entrance to the lobby to the chapels themselves, is very nice. The chapels looked a little like conference rooms, but I'd rather have a conference room than a room where Cinderella exploded. My fiancé was a little overcome when we walked into the actual chapel & had to sit down. Coming to grips with the fact that you're waking up next to me for the rest of your life can be a lot to take. After a few minutes the weddings were over; the wedding coordinator came over and was very nice and helpful. The packages were reasonable, and despite the rude service at the beginning, my fiancé wanted to just go ahead and book it, mostly because she didn't want have to look anywhere else.
We decided to go to the Venetian next. On our way to the chapel we passed a river of be-suited business people fresh out of some conference. So that's the reason hotel rooms were so expensive this time.
The Venetian was at the very top of our price range, and unless you want to do the whole gondola wedding, it is not worth it. The chapel is nice, but remarkable only for the odd shape of the room. We would have needed the whole room, which would have meant that for at least a few of the guests, they would have had a wall literally two feet in front of their faces. We wouldn't have gotten anything above and beyond any other chapel except a larger bill. So that was a waste of time.
Next came TI, which is now too cool for Robert Louis Stevenson. We got there at 5:58, which apparently means 6 o'clock in Vegas time, since the chapel was closed. By now we're beat; driving and wedding shopping all day is exhausting. We decide to eat at Isla, in Treasure Island. Isla is a tres hip Mexican restaurant that is very proud of its tequila selection. They even have "tequila goddess" wandering around who is something like a giant blonde tequila sommelier, only with less clothes and more silicone. Not that I'm complaining.
Anyway, we're not exactly discerning tequila drinkers, so it was house margaritas for us. They were quite good, which they should have been for $9 a pop. They give you this ornate salsa stand thingy that puts 3 kinds of salsa a foot above the table, so you can really stare your salsa down if it's too spicy. I don't know. Why give you something that makes it difficult to look across the table? The salsas were good (a chipotle, a verde, and pico de gallo) We got queso fundido & split an order of flautas. The food was good; not exceptional, but then again we didn't order anything exceptional. There's only so much you can do with a bowl of melted cheese and deep-fried, tortilla wrapped chicken.
Finally we checked in to our hotel, the (Las) Vegas Club, downtown. We got to the room, a north tower, two-queen. We wanted a king bed, and the room was a little beat up. I went down and, using the birthday & wedding-related reasons for the trip, got an upgrade to a "mini-suite." In all honesty I didn't think there were any upgrades available @ the LVC or else I would have asked in the first place. Go back up, collect our stuff from the old room and head down to the new room. And realized I had no recollection of what the new room number was. All I knew was that is was somewhere on the 5th floor. So I had to go back down to the clerk, feeling not so smart since I was there 2 minutes ago, and ask, "What room am I in?" He was kind enough to write it down this time.
The Vegas Club mini-suites are not well named; don't suites have separate rooms? This is just a bigger room with a love seat, a couple of chairs, a mini-fridge and a coffee maker; a decent-enough room. We lay around for a while, recharging from the long & busy day. After a while I went gambling. I did okay at blackjack at the Golden Gate, then held my own in craps, but the drink service was brutally slow. That's what I like about downtown though; if you don't like something at one casino, there's another 30 seconds away. So I went back to the Vegas Club and hit the craps table.
I've stayed at the Vegas Club 3 times now, and while I think the rooms are good for the price, the casino is a bit depressing. It's weirdly set up, and it's usually dead. I almost never gamble there. But this time I actually had fun, and I saw someone get cut off from alcohol, a personal first at a casino. I used to bartend and am a big fan of people being cut off if they need to be. This guy wasn't loud or obnoxious, and at first I was surprised, but after a couple of minutes it was obvious this guy's motor skills were out the window. He could barely get his bet down on the table, much less speak intelligibly. And he was evidence that the drink service here was good. I got tipsy, lost money, and went to bed.
We rolled out of LA around 9 am, and boy was the weather crappy. We left the rain behind us by the time we got on the 15, but it caught up with us when we stopped at the outlets just over the boarder. What can I say, my wardrobe is getting raggedy and I'm cheap. By the time we ate lunch and finished shopping, we had to sprint to the car. It was one of those cold, stinging rains, too. Good times.
We got into Vegas around 3:30 and decided to go to the MGM first. This trip was 90% to find a place to get hitched in October, and 10% for my birthday. Thanks to Ken2V's book and our own research we'd narrowed the options down to five, and the MGM was first up to bat. It only took us 30 minutes to find the chapel (I kind of hate the MGM because it's so ridiculously large. It's just too big to be a hotel. They should call themselves the MGM Territory, or the Republic of MGM. Grand isn't specific enough to convey the unwieldiness of the place.)
We made our way through a flock of overdressed people and went into the very tasteful chapel area. We casually strolled up to the desk and said we wanted information about weddings. The woman behind the desk unkindly informed us that, basically, she was very busy and maybe they could draw up a dummy contract if we were serious about this. Whoa. What the hell? We've never done this before; you're supposed to ask us guiding questions to figure out how much we already know. Surely we're not the only people who have come to Vegas to shop around for the best chapel. And it's not like we'd met the day before and were just screwing around; we knew the approximate number of guests, the date, what we wanted for a reception, etc. They were busy (I think in the time we were there they had three weddings), but we couldn't predict that on a Wednesday afternoon there would be a sudden rush on wedded bliss. We were treated like a couple of teenagers, and almost walked out. As my fiancé said, they'd better not all be like this.
The rude woman (she was even from Canada. Canadians are never rude!) handed us their brochure and had us sit and wait for one of the wedding coordinators. The brides shuffled in and out. The whole chapel area, from the entrance to the lobby to the chapels themselves, is very nice. The chapels looked a little like conference rooms, but I'd rather have a conference room than a room where Cinderella exploded. My fiancé was a little overcome when we walked into the actual chapel & had to sit down. Coming to grips with the fact that you're waking up next to me for the rest of your life can be a lot to take. After a few minutes the weddings were over; the wedding coordinator came over and was very nice and helpful. The packages were reasonable, and despite the rude service at the beginning, my fiancé wanted to just go ahead and book it, mostly because she didn't want have to look anywhere else.
We decided to go to the Venetian next. On our way to the chapel we passed a river of be-suited business people fresh out of some conference. So that's the reason hotel rooms were so expensive this time.
The Venetian was at the very top of our price range, and unless you want to do the whole gondola wedding, it is not worth it. The chapel is nice, but remarkable only for the odd shape of the room. We would have needed the whole room, which would have meant that for at least a few of the guests, they would have had a wall literally two feet in front of their faces. We wouldn't have gotten anything above and beyond any other chapel except a larger bill. So that was a waste of time.
Next came TI, which is now too cool for Robert Louis Stevenson. We got there at 5:58, which apparently means 6 o'clock in Vegas time, since the chapel was closed. By now we're beat; driving and wedding shopping all day is exhausting. We decide to eat at Isla, in Treasure Island. Isla is a tres hip Mexican restaurant that is very proud of its tequila selection. They even have "tequila goddess" wandering around who is something like a giant blonde tequila sommelier, only with less clothes and more silicone. Not that I'm complaining.
Anyway, we're not exactly discerning tequila drinkers, so it was house margaritas for us. They were quite good, which they should have been for $9 a pop. They give you this ornate salsa stand thingy that puts 3 kinds of salsa a foot above the table, so you can really stare your salsa down if it's too spicy. I don't know. Why give you something that makes it difficult to look across the table? The salsas were good (a chipotle, a verde, and pico de gallo) We got queso fundido & split an order of flautas. The food was good; not exceptional, but then again we didn't order anything exceptional. There's only so much you can do with a bowl of melted cheese and deep-fried, tortilla wrapped chicken.
Finally we checked in to our hotel, the (Las) Vegas Club, downtown. We got to the room, a north tower, two-queen. We wanted a king bed, and the room was a little beat up. I went down and, using the birthday & wedding-related reasons for the trip, got an upgrade to a "mini-suite." In all honesty I didn't think there were any upgrades available @ the LVC or else I would have asked in the first place. Go back up, collect our stuff from the old room and head down to the new room. And realized I had no recollection of what the new room number was. All I knew was that is was somewhere on the 5th floor. So I had to go back down to the clerk, feeling not so smart since I was there 2 minutes ago, and ask, "What room am I in?" He was kind enough to write it down this time.
The Vegas Club mini-suites are not well named; don't suites have separate rooms? This is just a bigger room with a love seat, a couple of chairs, a mini-fridge and a coffee maker; a decent-enough room. We lay around for a while, recharging from the long & busy day. After a while I went gambling. I did okay at blackjack at the Golden Gate, then held my own in craps, but the drink service was brutally slow. That's what I like about downtown though; if you don't like something at one casino, there's another 30 seconds away. So I went back to the Vegas Club and hit the craps table.
I've stayed at the Vegas Club 3 times now, and while I think the rooms are good for the price, the casino is a bit depressing. It's weirdly set up, and it's usually dead. I almost never gamble there. But this time I actually had fun, and I saw someone get cut off from alcohol, a personal first at a casino. I used to bartend and am a big fan of people being cut off if they need to be. This guy wasn't loud or obnoxious, and at first I was surprised, but after a couple of minutes it was obvious this guy's motor skills were out the window. He could barely get his bet down on the table, much less speak intelligibly. And he was evidence that the drink service here was good. I got tipsy, lost money, and went to bed.
Now THAT'S funny. Nice report Skinny 
