Getting Married in Vegas
 

Hi, We will be travelling from Scotland in April 2005 to get married. Original choice was New York but after reading up on Las Vegas I'm starting to prefer the sound of Vegas.

The one thing I've noticed is the huge amount of places to get married ! Can anyone offer any advise on how good the hotel chapels are compared to the strip chapels ?

Also having never visited Vegas before is it best to stay right on the strip ?

Yes, there are hundreds of places to get married! You need to come up with a budget. I would suggest that you visit some of the websites for the larger resorts-the Venetian is beautiful and you can be married along one of their man-made canals or Paris Resort--and yes, you definitely want to stay on the strip--leave me your email and I can give you additional information. Congratulations!

Almost every hotel in Vegas will have a "Wedding Package." As the previous poster mentioned, it's really just a function of budget.

In terms of budget, think about it this way the Bellagio and Venetian will be on the high end. Caesar's Palace, the Luxor, Mandalay Bay, Paris Hotel, MGM and the Mirage will be a bit less expensive. The Excalibur, Bally's, Treasure Island and the Flamingo Hilton will likely be the least expensive for the major strip hotels. (There are many more hotels that I haven't listed which will be closer to the lower end of the scale) I'd consider looking at the websites for your budget as I'm sure it'll list wedding information.

The good thing about Vegas, for those so inclined to get married there, is that you can get married in one of several major cites. The real NY to much of a problem, well you can always do it the Vegas version, NYNY. You want Venice, Paris, medieval England, acient Rome or Egypt,Star Trek, you name it.

I was married at Caesars. I would say the hotel chapels are generally more reputable, safer locations, well decorated, and more expensive than stand alone chapels. Among the stand alones, Little Church of the West and Little Chapel of the Flowers tend to get the best reviews.

What we did was we went on a scouting trip a year ahead and went to all the chapels and previewed restaurants for the reception. If you can swing it, I'd reccommend doing that. Some places looked great on their websites but they were dumps in nasty areas of town.

Among the strip chapels we liked Caesars, Paris, Bellagio and Mandalay. Bellagio gets great reviews but is very expensive. We checked out the canal wedding at Venetian but it's in the middle of a shopping mall and we found it too noisy and not at all private.

Decide what features and services are important to you and compare packages in your range. We visited about 15 chapels so if you have any specific questions, ask away or leave your email.

I'm attending a family wedding this weekend at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. The couple are being married in a garden and the reception will follow in a suite. I'll post back on Wednesday with the details if you're interested.

We've looked up some of the hotels, The Bellagio was stunning but very expensive, I also liked the Mirage and quite liked the idea of being married in the Paris. Budget wise we are looking middle of the road. If we did go all out for the Bellagio, is it worth the cash ? Sounds stunning but does it live up to it's reputation or are Ceasers, Mirage etc. just as good but without the high price tag ?


Merilee - Would be great to hear how your Ceasers Palace wedding goes, hope you have a great time.

Some of the smaller chapels are quite nice, and many of them even do the theme weddings, too!

My sister got married at one of the smaller chapels last year and it went just fine. (I think it was the Candlelight...it was by Circus Circus.) She did all of the arrangements in advance, and they had everything waiting for her to arrive. Yes, it was very quick and somewhat assembly-line-ish, but she wasn't looking for a big, fancy wedding, so that was fine with her. She had her hair done at the Luxor salon, and it was a work of art!

If you've neer been before, YES, it is best to stay on the strip.