Vegas Wedding

[MissMI5]

Hi all, I'd like to get married in Vegad next year but I don't really know where to start looking! Should I buy the flights and organise everything directly with my chapel of choice or buy a package from the UK that includes everything (flights, chapel, hotel etc)?
Thank you in advance for any tip/advice you will be sharing with me!

Unless you're planning to have a wedding with only yourself & partner, I'd say, Don't.

Or are you counting on paying for all your guests to go out there, too? It's likely to cost them each £1000 to attend. Can they all afford it? Can they all afford to take all the extra time off work that a transatlantic trip takes?

My favourite wedding ever was in a registry office with only 4 guests and the bride & groom. Flashier is not necessarily better.

I'd say it depends on whether you enjoy planning or not, if you do then DIY bookings will probably save you a fair bit.
When are you looking at next year? Flights come out 11 months in advance but that's not always the cheapest time to buy them, look out for the airlines sales, sign up to Virgin and BA to get advance notice.

I can recommend The Mirage hotel, we had a fabulous free upgrade to a tower suite for our 25th anniversary a couple of years ago.
The Venetian had lots of people having wedding photos taken outside.

This site has a useful FAQ section which sets out the documentaton required for a wedding in Las Vegas: www.theweddingtravelcompany.com

Shop around before deciding whether to opt for a package or make your own bookings.

If you have a particular hotel or chapel in mind check out whether they offer package deals you can book direct from the UK leaving you to simply arrange your flights.

Hi,

My DH and I got married in Vegas, but I'm not sure how much help I'll be because we literally got the license and walked across to the registry office and got married there and then, so we didn't do the chapel thing (although I did think about it and looked around online out of curiosity).
What kind of chapel are you looking at? Some of the hotels have their own chapels, and these tend to be nicer/posher than the stand-alone chapels. I don't think you need to stay in that particular hotel in order to use their chapel, but I think some may offer a package or room discount if you do.
I would probably organise the flights, hotel and chapel separately, but that's because I have been to Vegas several times and know some of the hotels. I also usually fly to and from LA, driving to Vegas and back as part of that holiday. Be wary of Vegas flight/hotel packages- you may end up in a crappy hotel that's far away from all the action on the strip and with flights arriving/departing at weird times. For example, my BIL ended up in Circus Circus (which is technically on the strip but miles away from everything else!).
My only tip would be to make sure you know which documents you need to bring in order to get the license.. once you have that, everything else can be done last minute- even things like hiring a dress or organising cakes/food!

Good luck!

Friends of a friend rented a house and split the costs per head, MUCH cheaper than a hotel for each of them.

Was just friends though, no kids, no parents/in laws.

I got married in Vegas and we loved it. There were 8 adults (all friends) in the party including us. My parents and siblings booked booked couldn't go at the last minute due to ill health. One couple (our very best friends) stayed with us the and the other two couples travelled and met us there.

There is no typical wedding. You can go for something nice in a chapel attached to the hotel. We went for a wedding chapel on the strip and booked it online. We booked the holiday separately and stayed for two weeks - this may be a bit long but we loved it. Our wedding package included a limo back to the hotel. We had paid for meal and champagne for everyone. We flew with Virgin and all brides took their dresses with them on the plane.

You have to go to the county office before you marry. We were married by Elvis and went backstage and we married again by an official. I quote "by the power vested in me by the State of Nevada I declare you husband and wife". It was for us a great fun relaxing day.

LOVE Vegas, going back for our 10th anniversary (without DS).

We had a massive party back here. Meh.

Thank you for your answers. I should have given you a bit more info.
I am not going to pay for my guests as I cannot afford it, however we will let our close friends and family know that we intend to get married there and if they decide to come with us to celebrate our wedding, then we will pay for dinner and drinks (like you would normally), but nothing else. It has always been our 'dream' to get married in Vegas as we always thought it would be a laugh, neither of us wants a traditional wedding so Vegas seems like the best option. We would also travel through some of the Southern States for our honeymoon. Our DD would also come with us so we would need to find a child friendly hotel, restaurant etc...
I think our chapel of choice is Graceland ( don't ask!), I'd like the hotel to be nearby and I think the dinner/drinks will be at the hotel so it's going to be more practical to get back to our room after the celebrations!
Is any of you familiar with Graceland Chapel? Also I think that for those first three nights (wedding included) we would want to treat ourselves to a nice 5 star luxury hotel nearby. Do you have any suggestions?
I know wedding dresses are cheaper in the US, however I think I would buy it here or do you have other suggestions?
Thank you!

eggrule you seem to have done what we would like to do. Did you stay at a hotel near the chapel? I'd like the limo too for our guests. Did you negotiate some kind of 'meal deal' for your guests at the hotel?
So many questions!!! Sorry!
We are thinking about September 2013, and we'll give everyone their invite in September 2012, they will then have until Jan/Feb 2013 to let us know if they are definitely going to join us or not. Is that reasonable?
Thank you!!

I got married in Vegas, one of the nicest hotels, really beautiful and in no way tacky in the hotel chapel.

Booked through Virgin and costs about £7k for 2 weeks in 5*+ hotel for 4 of us, wedding package (hair, photos, dvd, flowers plus lots of other bits). It is probably cheaper to book separately but I thought it was easier to get it booked by one person, they provide a wedding planner in the UK and in Vegas so it was so easy and so well organised.

There were 19 of us altogether, the cost for the guests varied hugely depending on the hotel they stayed in, The Excalibur is great value and lots of the guests stayed there, less than £1k for the week but it was Oct/Nov time.

We just went for a meal in the hotel with all the guests, we bought the champagne, paid for taxes and tips and the guests (as agreed in advance) paid just for their meals. We had a party once we got home which cost £1k for abotu 120 guests.

I bought my dress here and took it hand luggage. The Bellagio is absolutely amazing - would highly recommend. I would be happy to let you see the wedding photos if you inbox me.

It sounds a bit tight that we didn't pay for dinner but we bought them lovely gifts and paid for their dinner on the day of the party in the UK. We did not expect so many people to come actually so that was amazing!

Most places are suprisingly child friendly - ours were 18 months and 3 when we went. There is so much for them to do in Vegas and there are lots of internet guides about children in vegas. The Excalibur is great for kids, my SIl and niece stayed there.

I would be happy to answer any questions if you inbox me.

Bellagio all the way. Mouth watering now thinking of the Japanese restaurant there. And waking up to a Bellagio Brunch Buffet the day after your wedding would be pretty special. It's like no buffet on earth!

Can't advise on chapels etc as only been as part of my honeymoon, sorry.

I got married at The Little Chapel of Flowers in Vegas 10 years ago. It was fab. We stayed at Ballys which was nice but not luxurious. Stayed for a week and it cost us £3500 all in including car hire. Our wedding was live on the internet so family amd friends could log on and watch.

link here we got photos and video and it was $280 but sure it will have gone up by now.

Hi we got married in Vegas in 2007 at Mandalay Bay hotel and it is out of this world- just stunning, we stayed there in the honeymoon suite too. There were 7 of us that went including me and DH and it was just lovely. Got the platinum skies package which takes care of everything. Hired a limo with champagne around Vegas after the ceremony which was amazing. We had our fantastic wedding dinner at Aureole restaurant in the Mandalay Bay We flew with BMI direct from Manchester in business class which was awesome, I took my dress (it was BIG) as carry on baggage. We had a big party for all those who couldn't attend in Vegas when we got home (I got to wear my dress again )
Go to Vegas and get married you won't regret it! Good luck

I agree with other that have said Vegas is child friendly.

I would pick your hotel and arrange the wedding around that. Virgin brochure is a great place to start your search. Most hotels will have a wedding organiser and chapel. Mandalay Bay is lovely and has a great outside pool area. Excalibur would be great for kids. I like the hotels towards Mandalay Bay, Paris, New York New York, Luxor, MGM Grand. I like hotels on the strip best and Venetian, Caesar's Palace are also good choices. We all had a different favourite to go back to. At the moment I fancy Aria

We didn't pay for our guest's travel or holiday. We actually planned to elope on our own and told people when we got engaged about 4 months before. We were delighted that people planned holidays around us. We planned and booked the Vegas trip and evening wedding reception within a week or so of deciding to get married. People found out we were getting married when we invited them to the evening reception.

I am glad I got my dress and accessories here. I just wanted to relax and enjoy myself when we got there. The chapel provided flowers but I was a bit meh about having them anyway.

We didn't need to plan a a meal, we booked a table at a restaurant in the hotel we were staying at and mentioned we were getting married. We paid for all food drinks and champagne from when we got together on the day. We had a poolside cabana the day before and went to Bellagio for dinner and the rest of the strip for drinks. We bought the package on line directly with a chapel It had a limo included and it dropped us back at the hotel for the meal. Elvis was great