A campy retro Vegas elopement with Elvis and "The American Dream" #Real Weddings: Western US#brides in glasses#dreadlocks#eloping#hippie#las vegas#long-haired groom#nevada#retro September 14 2016 | Offbeat Editors offbeatbride Photos by: The couple Photos by the couple! The Offbeat Bride: Chelsey, Editor/Account Executive/Retail Manager Her offbeat partner: Mike, Production & Inventory Manager Date and location of wedding: Viva Las Vegas Weddings, Las Vegas, NV — April 8, 2016 Our offbeat wedding at a glance: We live in Colorado and our family is on the east coast. We decided to have a planned campy retro Vegas elopement with an Elvis impersonator and just the two of us. Our friends/family reception is this October in Asheville, NC. Our theme evolved on its own: The American Dream. We are huge fans of Hunter S. Thompson, who also lived in Colorado for a large portion of his life. When we think of Vegas, we think of Fear & Loathing so we chose a lot of elements from that story, with a few fashion accents from the movie. We are both spiritual, but not religious, so we did not want to be married in a church or with a priest. We always visit '50s diners whenever we travel, so we chose the Doo Wop Diner at Viva Las Vegas Weddings in the Fremont district (old downtown Las Vegas). Our outfits were slowly pulled together and almost everything was purchased on Etsy. My favorite accessories were the Grateful Dead pins we wore that said "Cosmic Sisterhood of Hippie Chicks" and "Intl. Brotherhood of Groovy Motherfuckers!" Tell us about the ceremony: We truly had no idea how the ceremony was going to go. The venue didn't give many details on how things were supposed to flow until we got there. We did not prepare vows because we weren't sure if our Elvis would have something already prepared for us. Luckily, he did! It was very sweet and romantic — we both cried a lot (another reason we chose to elope privately, haha)! Elvis sang "Love Me Tender" as I walked down the aisle. One of my favorite photos was captured of us dancing to "Viva Las Vegas!" after we said "I do." We definitely feel our wedding was super fun, special, and unforgettable. We even got to see our names on the marquee! Tell us about your reception: After our Elvis wedding ceremony we took our OWN photos with a tripod at The Neon Museum. Later that night we saw The Beatles "LOVE" Cirque du Soleil show. We had so much fun walking through the casinos in our wedding outfits. Everyone we passed would cheer for us! The following day, we took our Fear & Loathing-themed photos at Red Rock Canyon State Park. We also visited a few spots from the movie. Vendors Ceremony: Viva Las Vegas Weddings Venue: The Neon Museum Hotel: Flamingo Resort Show: The Beatles "LOVE" Gallery This slideshow requires JavaScript. Reporter Name * Reporter Email * Original text Enter the original text here. Edited text* Enter your suggested copyedit here. Notes You can add a note for the editor here. * Required information. Fix Typo PREVIOUS You may need safety goggles to take in the awesomeness of these science-themed wedding invitations NEXT I'm a wedding pro, and THIS was my top wedding priority… Show/Hide comments [ 11 ] These two are adorable! The whole day looks so cute and fun! I love the photos as well. It's pretty amazing that this was all shot on their own too! I'm also super obsessed with the glasses btw. Each pair is freaking awesome! 3 agree Reply Thank you so much! I definitely have an obsession with glasses… I have about 9 pair! Coastal.com makes it way too easy since you can save your prescription/size details. The gold glitter frames were Kate Spade and matched my Kate Spade glitter keds. 1 agrees Reply I actually have these gold kate spade glasses and they're my favorite favorite ever. I'm desperate to get the pink glitter ones, but I'm trying to save money right now… You guys both look fabulous and it looks like the wedding was so much fun! 2 agree Reply Thank you so much 🙂 I LOVE those pink/confetti glitter ones too! They're so bomb! 1 agrees Reply I am 17 days away from my October 1st wedding and keep saying "I wish we just eloped to Las Vegas and gotten married by an Elvis impersonator!" This almost makes me wish I had! What a perfect wedding! 2 agree Reply Thank you so much! And you know- you can always renew your vows with an Elvis in Vegas 🙂 Our venue said that most of their business comes from vow renewals. They had a lot of fun themes and packages to choose from! Reply Thank you and you are so right! My sister lives in Carson City and we could do a whole vacation. We're in NYS so it will be a trip! Best wishes. Reply Such amazing photos! Congrats! 2 agree Reply Thank you so much! 😀 Reply For my first wedding, we eloped at the DooWop Cafe too! The venue photographer was crotchety; but we finished up and got out to see the marquee just as the lead runner of the Las Vegas Marathon was running by! Reply Dang, I'm so sorry to hear your photographer was a grump! Our package photographer was SOOOOO sweet! She cried when we exchanged vows and she witnessed our certificate. Sounds like it was still pretty special since you got to see the marathon leader run by 🙂 How cool! Reply Join the conversation Cancel Reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Sign me up for your offbeat awesomeness newsletter! No-drama comment policy Part of what makes the Offbeat Empire different is our commitment to civil, constructive commenting. Make sure you're familiar with our no-drama comment policy. Biz owners & wedding bloggers Please just use your real name in your comment, not your business name or blog title. Our comments are not the place to pimp your website. 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These two are adorable! The whole day looks so cute and fun! I love the photos as well. It's pretty amazing that this was all shot on their own too! I'm also super obsessed with the glasses btw. Each pair is freaking awesome! 3 agree Reply
Thank you so much! I definitely have an obsession with glasses… I have about 9 pair! Coastal.com makes it way too easy since you can save your prescription/size details. The gold glitter frames were Kate Spade and matched my Kate Spade glitter keds. 1 agrees Reply
I actually have these gold kate spade glasses and they're my favorite favorite ever. I'm desperate to get the pink glitter ones, but I'm trying to save money right now… You guys both look fabulous and it looks like the wedding was so much fun! 2 agree Reply
I am 17 days away from my October 1st wedding and keep saying "I wish we just eloped to Las Vegas and gotten married by an Elvis impersonator!" This almost makes me wish I had! What a perfect wedding! 2 agree Reply
Thank you so much! And you know- you can always renew your vows with an Elvis in Vegas 🙂 Our venue said that most of their business comes from vow renewals. They had a lot of fun themes and packages to choose from! Reply
Thank you and you are so right! My sister lives in Carson City and we could do a whole vacation. We're in NYS so it will be a trip! Best wishes. Reply
For my first wedding, we eloped at the DooWop Cafe too! The venue photographer was crotchety; but we finished up and got out to see the marquee just as the lead runner of the Las Vegas Marathon was running by! Reply
Dang, I'm so sorry to hear your photographer was a grump! Our package photographer was SOOOOO sweet! She cried when we exchanged vows and she witnessed our certificate. Sounds like it was still pretty special since you got to see the marathon leader run by 🙂 How cool! Reply