Standing in the lobby of the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel in Downtown Las Vegas, where my long-time partner and I were soon to be married, a wedding coordinator handed me a bouquet of pink roses and pointed us in the direction of the main chapel with one simple instruction, “Just follow the hula dancer and Elvis.”
To which my soon-to-be, son-in-law immediately quipped, “Said no one ever.”
The fact that almost 30 of our closest friends and family members had made the trip to Las Vegas for the occasion made our day even more memorable, especially when it became quickly obvious they had all taken our suggestion to wear tropical-themed outfits very much to heart. And, located between a Super 8 Motel and a tattoo parlour, the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel was everything we had hoped for and more — so much more. The chapel specializes in themed weddings and we had decided on the vintage-inspired, Blue Hawaii Elvis ceremony to mark our big day.
Upon entering the chapel, my son and I were escorted to a side room while our guests were seated and Elvis, dressed in a black and silver bejewelled jumpsuit, took to the stage. Then, following “Nancy” the hula dancer, my son and I entered the chapel, which by this time was filled almost waist high with fog drifting from a smoke machine there to create the illusion of an “ocean mist.” Wading into the mist it was all I could do to stop from laughing as we walked towards the stage decorated with fabulously fake palm trees and flowers.
But, as Elvis began to croon the first lines of “The Hawaiian Wedding Song,” — “This is the moment, I've waited for, I can hear my heart singing, soon bells will be ringing...” I don’t think there was a dry eye in the place — and that had nothing to do with the fog belching out of the smoke machine. The chapel also live-streamed our ceremony so friends who couldn’t make the trip could watch from home.
Following the ceremony, Elvis presented us with colourful, fabric Hawaiian-style leis, complete with flashing LED lights — adding to the dignity of the occasion — before we all spilled out of the chapel into the sweltering afternoon sun. Even in late September, the temperature in Vegas hovered between 38C to 40C degrees during the day and not much cooler at night. But as we all gathered in the parking lot, my new husband and I quickly forgot the heat in the excitement of seeing our names up in lights on the marquis above the chapel door, with the message, “Just Married.”
After posing for dozens of photos in front of the sign, we all piled back into the mini bus we had rented to shuttle everyone back and forth between our hotel and the chapel.
We decided, in keeping with our vintage-inspired theme, to stay at the Golden Nugget Resort and Casino on Fremont Street in Downtown Vegas — and what a great choice that turned out to be. We splurged and booked one of their two-storey Spa Suites for the wedding, which actually saved us money because we didn’t have to pay to rent a meeting room within the hotel (along with bartender and wait staff), or go out for an expensive dinner. It also saved us a lot of headaches because, as we discovered, making a group reservation for 30 people at a restaurant on a weekend in Downtown Vegas is a lot more complicated than one might think. Besides, the Spa Suite came complete with a gold spiral staircase, two washrooms and enough room for everyone to comfortably sit or mingle depending on whether they were eating or gathered around the bar for shots of Fireball. (Don’t even ask.)
That allowed us to host a cocktail party Friday night and the wedding reception Saturday, which we had catered by the Claim Jumper restaurant situated within the Nugget. I worked with manager Justin Mouzoonon on the menu and he went above and beyond in helping us make both events beyond special. He even went so far as to test bake some of the mini pot pies the night before to make sure they would work, because they were new to the menu.
The restaurant specializes in party platters and we went with a mix of comfort foods (individual chicken pot pies, chicken wings) that included vegetarian options such as macaroni and cheese — and salads so good even my veggie-avoiding husband dug in.
We also ordered two chocolate Motherlode cakes from the Claim Jumper to act as our wedding cake and they were equally delicious and gorgeous. The Motherlode cake was recently named one of the top five most decadent desserts in America by the Food Network. Again, Mouzoonon and his staff helped us set everything up and ensured us if we needed anything else they were only a call away. And when we had leftovers Sunday, they allowed us to bring them down to be reheated. (We didn't receive any media rate or comps for our food and accomodation, it was just great service worth noting for anyone planning a similiar weekend.)
On the day before the wedding, we booked two cabanas at the Tank Pool at the Nugget, famous for its clear Plexiglas waterslide that runs through a 200,000-gallon tank full of sharks. And booking those cabanas turned out to be a highlight of the weekend. We had let all of our guests know ahead of time where we’d be so everyone who arrived late Thursday night or Friday eventually made their way to us and it turned into a day-long celebration complete with hugs and tears as we greeted family and friends, some whom we hadn’t seen in years. Also, no epic Las Vegas weekend is complete without cabana photos.
It really set the tone for a weekend full of laughter, love and enough bad aloha shirts to dress the entire cast of the original Hawaii-50 TV series.
@sthomas10
