So fellow Brit Peter Cooper mentioned on Twitter that he is getting married in September this year in Las Vegas. I said that my wife and I got married in Las Vegas last September, and he asked if I had any advice or tips to share. Unfortunately, 140 characters isn’t really enough :-)
We had an incredible time last year, and I wouldn’t have changed a thing. So for those like Peter who are planning or thinking of planning a wedding in Las Vegas, here are a few tips I can think of just from our experiences:
- it’ll probably depend on where you are getting married (we had our ceremony at Caesars Palace, in the beautiful Venus Garden), but try to make sure that there is a dedicated wedding planner Stateside at your venue of choice that can deal with any queries over the phone or e-mail at any time. Having that peace of mind knowing that they will walk you through the process and answer any question you have within a day or two makes the whole thing a lot easier
- if you’re getting wed at a casino hotel, make sure to remind them just how much you’re spending on the ceremony, and I’m sure they’ll see what they can do with regards to discounts for other services. For example, by getting married at Caesars Palace, owned by Harrahs, we were offered discounted rooms at any Harrahs casino hotels (such as Ballys, Paris, Caesars Palace etc) for us or anyone in our wedding party. Also see what else you can get included within the package, such as a honeymoon suite for the night of the wedding, free champagne in the room etc
- even if you are planning a small reception do (we had 11 people including us), book ahead. By doing so, you can try to secure a private room in one of the many amazing restaurants Vegas has to offer, and you’ll find that having a private room isn’t too expensive in many places, providing you are able to commit to a set menu, or choose a set of meals ahead of time (so the restaurant roughly know how much your business will be worth!). We had our reception meal at a private room in Canaletto (within the Venetian hotel), and it had a private balcony overlooking the faux Venice Grand Canal within the hotel. It was absolutely beautiful, and while it was by far the most expensive meal I’ve ever paid for, every cent was worth it
- you absolutely must ensure you are in Vegas at least two days before the wedding, preferably longer (we landed on the Sunday, and got married on the Thursday). This will ensure that you are able to get over jet lag, and get used to the hot and humid weather over there
- on top of the above, it’s really worthwhile heading downtown to the courthouse to get your marriage license as soon as possible. You need to provide identification (such as a passport), and will need to pay a fee for the license (it was around $50 for us back in September last year). However you’ll need this done and dusted before the ceremony, and if you go as soon as possible, then if the courthouse is busy, you’ll leave yourself enough time to get the license without having to rush around
- it sounds obvious, but plan every detail you can before you set foot in Vegas – don’t leave anything to sort out when you get there. You want the whole thing to be as stress free as possible, and if you have everything set in stone beforehand, it will be. Take printed paperwork for everything (e-mail confirmation of reception restaurant booking, for example), just in case
- if you’ve got a room booked as part of the ceremony package for the wedding night, then when you check in on the day of the wedding (the grooms job, as the bride is busy elsewhere!), don’t be afraid to ask for an upgrade. At the very least, you’ll get a reasonable price on a fantastic better room (for a small upgrade price, we got a honeymoon suite on the 42nd floor of one of the amazing Caesars Palace towers, overlooking the Bellagio fountains and down the strip!). If you’re lucky, you may get a great upgrade on the house
- budget for everything, and err on the side of caution. Remember tax, and gratuities. If you plan for every penny, and round up, as well as going for the most expensive scenario, then if it comes in cheaper, you’ll have a few extra bucks for the slots
- pay extra for the video/DVD of the ceremony. It’s worth every cent (no matter how expensive) to be able to re-live the best day of your life over and over
- on the day itself, take in every minute, and enjoy it all. It sounds simple, but I had it mentioned to me before the big day, and I tried to make sure that on the day itself, I stopped and took in every little detail as much as possible. It’s an amazing day, and it’ll be over before you know it, so make sure you enjoy it
I wholeheartedly recommend Caesars Palace for the ceremony itself, as it was absolutely fantastic, and our wedding coordinator was brilliant. However there are a number of very classy casinos up and down the strip that I’m sure would provide similar services. It really comes down to personal preference, and finding “the place” that is right for both of you.
As for Vegas itself, and the experiences on offer, I can honestly say that the six days we were there for weren’t enough to even scratch the surface of what it has to offer. But the stuff that we did that we really enjoyed:
- a tour out to the Grand Canyon. The flight out there didn’t agree with me, but I’d do the whole thing again to see the views – absolutely stunning. Worthwhile doing the incredible Skywalk there too
- set aside at least one day to just walk up and down the strip, and look at the incredible variety in hotels and resorts. You can do some great shopping, and see all of the quirks of some of the major hotels (lions at MGM, NY hot dogs from New York New York, the pyramid at Luxor) by just braving the heat and taking a full days walk around. You won’t cover it all, but you’ll have a blast
- gamble a little! Set aside a budget for slots or blackjack each day, and any money you win, can go toward a round of drinks! I’ll never forget putting $4 into a slot machine, and on the last quarter, turning out $120 in winnings. So long as you stick to your budget, it doesn’t matter if you win or lose – it’s all fun!
- stop and watch the Bellagio fountains
I’m probably missing a load of stuff here, but off the top of my head, this was the most useful information I can think of. I can honestly say however that in my (almost) 23 years on this planet, my wedding day was the happiest day of all.
It does sound as if we're taking a bit of a different tack. We're literally only in Vegas for two nights, as it's part of a week long roadtrip (and yes, with several other people!) so it's going to be a bit manic :) The advice about getting to the courthouse ASAP is good as I'd forgotten about that part of it.. we'll have to make sure we get down there as soon as we get in town the afternoon before!
We haven't picked anywhere to actually get married yet, but it's going to be somewhere cheap and cheerful and, hopefully, very tacky (we're already booked to stay at the MGM). I still want an Elvis to do the ceremony, but we'll see, although my father-in-law is already convinced he's wearing a white stetson at the ceremony *g* Your wedding looks classy, whereas ours is probably going to end up as trashy as hell. We leave Vegas almost immediately after (well, the next morning) to head for the Madonna Inn at San Luis Obispo, possibly the tackiest place in the whole of California :-)
What tour did you do of the Grand Canyon? I'm pretty sure we won't have enough time for this - though some of our entourage might - but I'm interested in case it's not a particularly time consuming affair (driving there and doing it that way would take a whole day, but it sounds like you flew).
Sounds like you had a great time and you appear to share the geek's luck of landing attractive ladies above our benchmark :)
Yep the courthouse bit is important, it can get very busy there and the courthouse is downtown so is a 15 minute cab ride (at least) away. When we went, it was when OJ Simpson had been arrested in Vegas, and the very morning we went to the courthouse there was something going on there to do with him, and there were camera crews and reporters everywhere! Only took us probably an hour all told to get the license sorted, but as you mentioned, it's worth doing as soon as you possibly can, better safe than sorry!
Thanks, well we did consider the Elvis wedding style, but in the end decided against it - the great thing about Vegas is that pretty much any idea or style you want for your wedding can probably be catered for somewhere by someone! So if thats the wedding you want, then there is no question you are headed to the right place :-) Make sure you put some photos up when you return though, it'd be great to see that!
I can't remember the name of the tour off-hand, you'll find plenty of tour leaflets in the hotel room though I would think and I seem to remember we picked the tour off of one of those. It was one where the coach picked us up from our hotel, took us down to a small airport about 10-15 minutes from the strip, and then we flew the rest of the way (amazing views) over to a small airfield on the west side of the Grand Canyon, in a 9/10 seater airplane. From there, buses took us around to three main viewing points on the Grand Canyon, including the brilliant Skywalk/glass bridge, that lets you walk out 80 feet or so over the edge, with glass floor below so you can see straight down! The whole excursion took around 8 hours, I think you could do it quicker though if you needed to, and it's well worth doing.
And thanks, you're absolutely right, I've been incredibly lucky to have found such an amazing and attractive lady to be my wife!