Planning a Las Vegas Wedding

People choose to get married in Las Vegas for many reasons. There are also couples that would like to renew their vows and pick Vegas for it. Some of the main reasons couples decide to get married in Las Vegas are:

• Low cost
• Easy planning
• No wait for license
• Spur of the moment fun

For me, I decided to get married in Vegas because I did not want some fancy ceremony. I also did not want to spend a lot of money. Since Las Vegas is pretty much a one-stop shop for marriage, it is one of the most popular locations for a wedding.

You may be considering getting married in Vegas, and since I am planning it myself, I am happy to help you determine if it is right for you. There have been many unexpected surprises along the way that I am happy to share with you.

Let me tell you a fun fact about me... I am thrifty. When I got engaged, all I wanted was a quiet courthouse ceremony. Then I wanted to stay at a cheap hotel at the beach for a couple of days. That is it. I am cheap and I openly admit that. Unfortunately, everyone around me, including my future husband, thought some type of "real" ceremony was necessary. Las Vegas seemed like a nice place to save money and still have a ceremony. Also, most wedding packages include everything, so little or no planning on my part is needed.

If you do not live near Las Vegas (like me!), you are probably going to have to fly there. Even if you decide to drive, gas prices and hotels along the way won't be cheap. Once you are there, you need to find a place to stay and you are going to have to eat. Then there is the ceremony itself, the marriage license, and the minister's fees, plus any extra fees that comes along with your ceremony if you add photos, video streaming, etc. So basically, a realistic price is about $3,000 to $4,000 for the entire deal.

Considering many people spend $30,000 on a wedding rather than $3,000, it is still quite a deal. For a frugal person like myself, I regularly have to support myself against furniture so I don't pass out when I think of the cost. However, a wedding only comes around once and the honeymoon is included in the deal, so whenever I begin hyperventilating (as I am now), I remind myself about that. All I am saying is, don't just assume a Las Vegas wedding is going to be super low-budget. You will still be shelling out some cash.

One of my major goals in life is to avoid drama whenever possible. Unfortunately, it would seem it does not matter where your wedding is going to be and how silly the ceremony (we are going with Elvis), there are still those that will try create drama. Don't ever kid yourself and tell yourself a Las Vegas wedding ceremony is going to be that different from any other ceremony. There will still be family issues that arise.

Once you decide to introduce others to the idea of the Vegas wedding, you are going to get a lot of feedback... whether you want it or not. Some people are really positive about it, especially my friends and co-workers that know how quirky I am, and what a wacky couple my fiancé and I are together. They totally expect it. However, not everyone has been on board. Some people think it is tacky. Other people want something fancy despite the fact that is not their wedding or their decision.

I do have bridesmaids, which has caused its own drama. I will spare you the details. It is, after all, just a Vegas wedding, but people are starting to take it very seriously. My main advice to anyone deciding to have a Vegas wedding assuming there will be little or no drama, don't count on it. The best thing you can do is just let it slide. When someone asks if they should wear a nice dress or jeans, I tell them to do whatever they want. If someone wants to tell me how the wedding should be, I just walk away or change the subject. After all, Elvis is our minister, so conveying the message to others to stop sweating the small stuff is essential.

A major problem I encountered when planning this Las Vegas adventure was an obsession I had with the ceremony being at the resort where we were staying. I kept finding hotels / casinos that I loved, but I hated the wedding packages they offered. If I loved the wedding package, I did not like the accommodations. I kept trying to make it work and it was a real downer. You don't have to do that.

Las Vegas has a ton of wedding chapels you can choose from surrounding all the casinos. My advice is if you can't find a package deal that works for you, don't worry about it. You can just as easily (for relatively the same price) reserve a ceremony at a wedding chapel and stay at whatever resort or hotel you'd like. You will find in many instances the wedding chapel even includes a limo to and from the ceremony. Sure your guests are on their own, but there are plenty of public transportation options. For my guests, several are coming with their own cars anyway and can transport "car less" guests to the ceremony.

I know what you are thinking, "Las Vegas has nothing but tacky weddings with Elvis." That is simply not true. Sure, we are opting for an Elvis wedding, but that doesn't mean you have to do the same.

I have seen a wide variety of wedding ceremony options in Vegas. You can choose anything from a wedding in front of a shark tank to a gazebo wedding outside with hundreds of guests. Just because you are tying the knot in Las Vegas does not mean you can't plan a more traditional wedding. Yes, there are even wedding chapels without an Elvis option!

If you are looking for something that is fun, you can have that, too. Yes, you can go with Elvis, but you also have options like a Rocky Horror Picture Show wedding or a Harry Potter theme. You can really have anything you've ever dreamed of at your Las Vegas wedding. So dream big and Google search what you want. I'll bet you can find it in Vegas! If you are lucky, you can even make it part of a package deal and have your dream wedding at a lower cost than you can get anywhere else. Good luck!

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