My daughter and her now husband chose the Lake Club at Lake Las Vegas about one year prior to their wedding date. They had a budget of $25K.
This venue advertised that it's a co...mpletely inclusive package. Before they signed the contract I insisted on seeing a list of things NOT INCLUDED.
Aleksandra, the venue director, wrote down several things like the DJ, Photographer, cake, etc. I should have been more careful but this was my first child getting married.
Make sure you go over any contract with a fine tooth comb! I was indeed hesitant because the cost for the venue was around $24K so I knew these young people
were already going over budget, but they fell in love with the venue. Fast forward to 6 weeks prior to the wedding & on a Friday: Aleksandra tells the young couple
they need between $8-12K over the original contract amount and they discover that flowers are not included. They in fact, being naive, left that meeting thinking they
still needed chairs and other basic things. In fact, Aleksandra was trying to upsell them fancier chairs, etc. They were frantically trying to find other options to rent chairs and figure out what was still needed. By Monday, after a very stressful weekend, Aleksandra explained that all the rentals were indeed included, but she didn't think they would want to go with the "basic" and outdated options. Ultimately, 4 weeks before the wedding they did have to pay about $6K over which was for gratuity (that was not disclosed prior).
In addition, this predatory vendor did everything in her power to increase her commission and she was terrible as a wedding planner. She billed herself originally as the one who would do it all. But when asked for a wedding day timeline she offered a handwritten scribbled piece of paper with a general timeline. She never made note of the fact that they had their own vows written or that one table was to be designated for immediate family and so MANY other details. She did not reach out to the couple with reminders - like florals or shuttle arrangements or anything except payments. She never reached out to ask about outside vendors to make arrangements with them - we constantly had to reach out to her.
Both myself and the mother of the groom were extremely frustrated and unhappy with our experience working with this vendor, however, we did end up with a beautiful wedding day for our children. I cannot recommend this venue due to the current director in charge.