The New Las Vegas – Wedding Capital of the World
Whether it’s a case of ‘I do’ or ‘I do, again’, the Wedding Capital of the World can provide a great place to get married or renew your wedding vows.
Enjoying a resurgence as a ‘must see’ destination, Las Vegas has shaken off its tawdry, low-brow image and re-emerged as a glittering jewel in the heart of the Nevada desert. If you want 5-star luxury at your hotels, world-class dining with more than your fair share of celebrity chefs, and entertainment to rival any major city anywhere (shows include several from Cirque du Soleil, while artist residencies as Celine Dion and Elton John have become one with the city), Las Vegas is for you.
The Las Vegas Strip is home to some of the biggest and shiniest hotels in the world. The latest addition is the namesake Wynn Hotel from casino developer Steve Wynn. The Wynn is a $2.7 billion development, and like most hotels in the city, it’s massive in scale. To give this some context, the main feature of the hotel is a man-made mountain and waterfall that flows into a 3-acre lake. The waterfall and the lake have images displayed on them to produce a unique show on the hour, every hour, called “Lake of Dreams”. And if you have your own waterfall and lake, why not?
The Wynn was built to outshine Steve Wynn’s previous luxury hotel, The Bellagio, which recently became famous as the casino robbed by George Clooney and Brad Pitt in the movie ‘Ocean’s Eleven.’ And the Bellagio is no slouch in luxury either: its Picasso restaurant has real Picasso paintings on its walls. Outside the hotel, its musical fountain shows have become one of the must-see places in Las Vegas.
If you wanted more proof that Las Vegas is changing, you don’t have to look far. The Venetian Hotel has its own Guggenheim Museum. In the hotel and independent shopping malls, you’ll find all the luxury shops you’d expect to find on the more exclusive shopping streets: Chanel, Dior, and Ferrari-Maserati, to name just three, as well as more affordable staples.
But if you’re looking for a place to get married or want to renew your wedding vows, Las Vegas might be the place for you. So what’s the draw? Well, it can be as simple or as elaborate a ceremony as you like. It can be as traditional or themed as you like. And there’s a ceremony for any budget, from just $25 to $20,000 plus, and everything in between. And you will have a wide variety of restaurants to celebrate your wedding.
There is no minimum stay required to obtain a marriage license in the city; all you need is $55 and some ID and you’re ready to get married. And the wedding is legal in the UK when you get home. If you are renewing your vows, you will only need to bring a copy of your marriage certificate to the chapel of your choice. There are more than 70 chapels and other locations around Las Vegas, some of them inside major hotels, as well as a large selection of freestanding chapels. And that’s before looking at ‘destination’ wedding venues like the Grand Canyon, Mount Charleston, and Lake Las Vegas.
If you’re looking for a wedding chapel with celebrity ties, The Little Church of the West is a cute little wooden chapel that’s been around for over 50 years, which is definitely old in Las Vegas terms! They have married stars like Judy Garland, Betty Grable, Deanna Durbin, Shirley Bassey and Richard Gere; it is also the chapel where Elvis and Ann Margaret exchange vows in the movie ‘Viva Las Vegas’. Or the famous Little White Wedding Chapel, which has married stars like Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland [she obviously liked Las Vegas for her weddings!], Joan Collins and, more recently, Demi Moore and Bruce Willis. It’s also where Britney Spears began her first round of married life: it lasted just 55 hours.
If you want to follow in the footsteps of the King, Elvis and Priscilla were married at the original Aladdin Hotel in 1967. That hotel was replaced by a new and improved Aladdin, but you can still book your ‘Love Me Tender’ Elvis Impersonator wedding package here . In fact, if you want an Elvis impersonator at your wedding, you have 94 ceremony options at various chapels – Graceland Wedding Chapel even has a ‘Duelling Elvis’ package where you get 2 different Elvis eras for your money.
So what are the most romantic wedding package options available in Las Vegas? Well, it obviously depends on your definition of romance: if you’re already married to your bike, for example, you can have a Harley Davidson wedding where you ride down the aisle, or you can even get married at the Harley Davidson Café, surrounded by pigs and memorabilia. related. But we have some of our favorite options:
1) Get married on a balcony overlooking the lake at the Bellagio Hotel. When the minister pronounces you husband and wife, the fountains will play for you.
2) Get married in a gondola on the Grand Canal at the Venetian Hotel while a gondolier serenades you both.
3) Get married on top of the Eiffel Tower at sunset for stunning views of the city.
4) Take a helicopter ride to the Grand Canyon and get married in the Canyon itself – your wedding photos will be stunning
And for something more out of the ordinary, how about the following:
1) Wedding on a pirate ship in Treasure Island. The bride enters a rose-covered walkway before a pirate swings from the rigging with the rings. It’s not the most private setting in the middle of Treasure Island Lake, but it’s a lot of fun nonetheless.
2) Star Trek Wedding at Star Trek Experience. Get married on the deck of the Starship Enterprise in the presence of Borg, Ferengi, and Klingons (depending on package), before celebrating your nuptials with a Federation wedding cake in Quarks Bar.
3) Wild West Wedding in Bonnie Springs. Just outside of town, get married Wild West in this Old West town with your minister on horseback and cowboys holding the groom at gunpoint during the ceremony.
4) Beauty Dogs at the Beauty Wedding Chapel. If you can’t bear to be separated from your four-legged friend during your wedding, why not make it part of the event? Bring your dog to the ceremony, and Beauty will even throw him a bag of dog biscuits to keep him happy on the honeymoon.
