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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
About the Author: Offbeat Editors
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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!
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.
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!
Thank you so much 🙂 I LOVE those pink/confetti glitter ones too! They’re so bomb!
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!
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!
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.
Such amazing photos! Congrats!
Thank you so much! 😀
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!
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!