Would love to have a Vegas wedding! Where to start?

Knottie93815920

Hi everyone!

I live in NJ and am recently engaged (9/6/14) and after doing the initial poking around at venues/pricing here, it is simply impossible to have the wedding of my dreams because it is extremely expensive. I would really love to have a Vegas wedding but have NO idea where to start! Would greatly appreciate any tips - how long do you go for? where do you stay? what do your guests pay for? what do you pay for? what's the best time of year to do this? Is there a website that spells all of this out for you? I'm so lost!!

Thanks so much!

aggiespartan

Figure out your budget first and where you want to do it.  Our guests are paying for their own hotel rooms.  We are going to be there for a full week, but our guests are staying for various timeframes.  We are having an un-hosted meet and greet 2 nights before then we are paying for a meal the night night before, and of course dinner the night of the ceremony. 

littlevegasweddings.com is a good place to start, and of course here. 

KrisLSmiley

Vegasgroom.com has a bunch of great info too.

amelisha

For most destination weddings, your guests pay for flight/hotel, but you should pay for all wedding-related expenses the same as at a normal wedding. You still should pay for a reception of some kind, for example. I don't know if this is "standard" etiquette, but we are also going to pay for a little extra on the events front (besides the reception dinner/strip tour, we'll also be paying for a little extra thank you individually - for our friends, VIP and bottle service at a club the night before; for the older generation, high tea/show tickets) and we are pretty adamant that no gifts happen (which, I know people say it's rude to mention "no gifts", but I have waited until people ask, then said "no, you are spending more than enough just to be there, thanks.")

As far as how long and where, that is up to you. We are having ours on a Saturday so that people can come for as long or short a time as they like without having to take vacation time. We're going Thursday-Sunday but we want everyone else to have the choice. Same for where - we told everyone where we're staying and offered our assistance booking flights/hotels/looking for details, but because we have a small group (about 20) I'm not booking a room block. Too many of our guests have preferred hotels, so I don't want to interfere. I just want everyone to have a budget-friendly vacation that suits their own preferences. However, lots of people (especially who book a wedding at a hotel chapel) book room blocks because of the group discount. But you know your own crowd best and whether they'd prefer to book independently or just have it handled in a group.

As far as ceremonies go, you have endless choice, from the $99 specials at tiny chapels to $30,000 packages at the best hotels in the Strip. If you give more details people here can give better suggestions.

For time of year, my advice is to choose a less-busy time (not March Madness/during a big music festival/long weekend) to keep the price down for your guests. If you want an outdoor wedding (either out on the strip or in a garden chapel, it might be better to avoid high summer, too. We chose spring when the pools were open, though, so that our friends could enjoy that part of a Vegas vacation. But again, you know your guests.

Ultimately, I think a vegas wedding is whatever you want it to be. It can be as easy or as complicated or as cheap or expensive as you want!

hmgiffor

Agree with above. Figure out your budget, number of guests, and style you want. Then from there you can narrow down the chapel/reception options. We are paying for meet/greet night before, welcome bags, dinner and nightclub reception, special dinner when we arrive for bridal party, cabana day before. Guests are paying for their flights/hotels and anything else they want to do. 

Ndelible

We are only hosting for the wedding and party/reception afterwards. We have a large group, about 70, so hosting other activities gets expensive. Decide on what you want. We ultimately decided that the ceremony was the most important aspect of the weekend, so that's what we focused on.

vegasgroom

Here's a where to start article I wrote:

http://www.vegasgroom.com/Wedding-planning-in-Las-Vegas-is-overwhelming-where-do-I-start_143.html

wrigleyville

Guests pay for their flights, hotel rooms, and non-wedding-related activities (like if they decide to see a show or grab dinner at a restaurant).

Any hosted wedding activities (Meet & Greet, rehearsal dinner, reception, post-wedding brunch) are paid for by the bride and groom. If you want to keep your costs down, don't have a Meet & Greet, skip the rehearsal, and don't do brunch the next day.

Well, you could do brunch, but don't send everyone an invitation. That makes it "hosted". Just spread it via word of mouth. My mom told everyone about it in passing. "We'll be at the buffet around 11:00 tomorrow morning. Come join us if you have time before your flight."

You can get wedding packages at the strip chapels for as little as $99. We hosted our reception in our hotel suite and spent about $1500 to feed and hydrate 43 people (that included alcohol).

Also, we decided to do a Meet & Greet, but we hosted it in our hotel suite instead of going to a restaurant. We got a bunch of pizzas, soda, and beer. It was way cheaper than doing a bus tour or going to a restaurant.

Check around the forum and vegasgroom's website.

debralavette

I am having a Las Vegas wedding which will be considered a destination wedding as both my fiance and I LOVE the place!  My fiancee is living in Phoenix (I will be moving there) and I live in Atlanta.  Our families live all over the US so anywhere we decided to get married would have been considered a destination wedding.

Our wedding date is April 2015 and since it is somewhat a large wedding (over 100 guests) I hired a local planner, Andrea Eppolito.  We have chosen The Four Seasons as our venue and will be hosting a Welcome Reception after the rehearsal in order to include all of our guests.  As the planning process moves forward it gets pretty pricey but I think it would have been the same had we decided on Phoenix or Atlanta.

We are not doing room blocks because as one of the earlier posters noted people have their preference of where they would like to stay.  We are trying to make things as convenient for our guests as possible since they will be coming out of pocket for hotel and airfare.  I will have to let you know how it turns out!

Rosebubbly

I have wedding envy @debralavette‌
Four seasons! Bound to be nice!

hmgiffor

Phoenix! I live in Phoenix as well. I am jealous of Four Seasons as well...it will be beautiful  

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FutureMrsP2014

Wrigley, $1,500 is amazing!  Which hotel did you have your wedding at?