Trip Report incl. wedding, Barbary Coast, eating out, etc.

Hi everyone, just back from our first trip to Vegas. What can I say but it was fantastic! We arrived around midnight on Wed 8th Nov. Got ripped off by taxi driver from airport to Barbary Coast. Cost us around $22 - forgot to tell him not to take the tunnel. BC was everything we expected and more. The rooms are quite big and the plasma tv is great.

On Thursday we went to Bally%26#39;s Sidewalk Cafe for breakfast which was very good. Then we jumped on the deuce to go to courthouse to get our wedding license. I think we waited around 10 minutes (around 11am). Then we had a walk back up the strip stopping in by every hotel along the way. Gave up walking when we got to the Frontier and caught deuce back to hotel. At night we went downtown. Fremont experience was great. Went to Main St Station for buffet dinner. Excellent food and great value for money. Visited almost every casino downtown then made our way back.

Friday was our wedding day. Went to Paris Le Village for buffet breakfast. It was one of our favourite meals of our vacation. Huge selection and only $13.99 each including juice and coffee. Went back to hotel to start getting ready. We booked A Special Memory Chapel for 4pm. Limo picked us up at 3.30. Thought I was a celebrity (1st time in a limo). Our minister was called Jean Claude and service lasted around 10mins. Chapel was lovely. We booked a basic package then added on extras like DVD, photos and flowers (cost around $500 including tips). Glad we chose this one. Had a look at some others which looked a bit dingy from the outside. Limo took us back to hotel where we had a couple of drinks to celebrate. Forgot to mention, only the 2 of us went to Vegas. Our biggest disappointment of our vacation was our wedding meal. We booked Mon Ami Gabi for that night. Although we had a reservation, we still had to wait for our table (around half an hour). We both had French onion soup to start which was the best I have ever tasted. For our main course we both ordered steaks which we so flat. Was expecting a 2'; thick steak. Although it did taste nice there were more fries than anything else. We ordered a bottle of wine which cost around $40. They gave us a dessert to split as a congratuations which was a nice touch but I thought the place was overpriced and overrated. But maybe that%26#39;s just me.

On Sat, we went shopping. Went to fashion mall and Forum shops which were great. Was expecting shops that I couldnt afford to buy stuff in but I was pleasantly surprised. Bought a few xmas presents and had lunch in a deli in Forum shops (think it was called Main stage). Very good and not very expensive. At night just wandered in and out of some more hotels and played lots of slots and lost lots of money. Think we had a snack in one of the hotels. Ended up at Casino Royale - 1$ drinks (beer and margaritas).

For Sunday we booked with Scenic to go to the Grand Canyon. It was awesome!! Views were breathtaking. It cost us around $280 each but was worth it. Would like to go back and spend a few days there. Sunday night we went to Margaritaville for dinner. Just ordered a couple of starters. Had the volcano nachos. HUGE!! Wish we took a picture. Great atmosphere. After that we hit more casinos. Had some good luck in the Mirage. Then back to BC where we had some more good luck.

Monday was our last full day. Did more shopping and more casino hopping. At night we went to the Rio for World Carnival buffet which was brilliant. Huge selection. There is no way you could get round the whole thing. It cost $23.99 each and was worth every penny. The rest of the evening was spent casino hopping at the South end. Went to Mandalay bay first. Put $5 in slot and won $405! Then went to Luxor where hubby won $300. Didnt like Excalibur at all. New York had a great atmosphere and good bands playing. We both won some more on the slots. All in all we won almost $1000 on our last night.

Tuesday morning back to airport for long flight back. Taxi cost us around $12 (that%26#39;s more like it).

We had a fantastic time and are planning on returning for our 5th anniversary.

High points - Our wedding, Hotel/casino hopping, Rio and Paris buffets, shopping and winning on the slots.

Low points - Getting ripped off by taxi driver , Mon ami Gabi

Best cocktail service - In my opinion, Mirage, New York, BC

Wow factor - Venetian, Caesars palace, Bellagio fountains and Mirage Volcano.

Not so wow - lions/tigers in Mirage/MGM. Didnt like that much at all. Doesnt seem natural to me.

Cant think of anything else at the moment. Will write separate reviews for chapel and hotels soon.

Thanks for all your help with planning our vacation. See you in 5 years hopefully!!

Trip Report incl. wedding, Barbary Coast, eating out, etc.

Congratulations on your wedding. Glad you had a good time. I love hearing stories about weddings in Vegas.

Trip Report incl. wedding, Barbary Coast, eating out, etc.

Gardenfrog, thanks so much for your TR. I%26#39;m really glad you had a great time, and congratulations.

Congrats on your marriage, Jean Claude was the minister that married us too! We are going in Dec for our 3rd anniversary. I hate to hear that about Mon Ami Gabi as we have that reserved for dinner one night. I am willing ot give it a chance though. Thanks for posting!

Glad you have a great trip, and CONGRADULATIONS!!! Makes it nice to win on your last day. The flight home is so much nicer when that happens! Thank you for sharing your trip report with us.

Nice report ,wishing you both a long and happy marraige.

Congratulations Gardenfrog, wishing you both a long and happy

marriage.

My sis got married in Vegas Nov 2003, my first trip ever to Vegas which was never on my list of places to visit. All I can say is thank you little sis, just booked our fourth trip. Maybe I shouldn%26#39;t be thanking her didn%26#39;t know of this type of addiction existed.

Great TR. Thanks for writing. Congratulations and Best Wishes!

Best of luck to you both. I really enjoyed reading your report! I hope you manage to get back to Las Vegas sooner than 5 years.

Gardenfrog wrote, ';Got ripped off by taxi driver from airport to Barbary Coast. Cost us around $22 - forgot to tell him not to take the tunnel. ';

You should contact the Nevada Taxicab Authority and turn the driver %26amp; company in for longhauling you! I was longhauled on a recent trip and the officer from the taxicab authority is going to take the case to court so the driver gets fined. I%26#39;m only doing it so people like you and others unfamiliar with the tunnel scam don%26#39;t continue to get taken in by dishonest drivers. You were not in the wrong for not requesting that you not go by way of the tunnel. The drivers are required by law to take you to your destination via the shortest route. If you%26#39;re interested, you can read more about what happened to me in today%26#39;s ';I have a bunch of dumb taxi questions....'; thread.

If you%26#39;re interested in filing a complaint, here%26#39;s the link to the site:

http://taxi.state.nv.us/

Thanks for the report- I%26#39;ll read the rest of it now. ;-)

Congrats on your Wedding! Wow if your luck playing the slots is any inidication of your future you are on a roll! I%26#39;m happy you had fun and some wins! Really enjoyed your report and it sounded like you checked out alot of the Casinos. Glad you thought the BC was a good stay.