Nevada-Las Vegas

Why Vegas??

Is anyone else getting constantly asked why they're getting married in Vegas?! I've spent the last year being questioned by friends, family, colleagues, complete strangers...it's non-stop! So I thought I'd ask you ladies (and gents), why did you all choose Vegas too?

For me, I knew I wanted a small destination wedding right from the start, I never saw myself having a traditional wedding with 100+ guests. When we started talking about destinations, Vegas just made sense! It has awesome weather, plenty to do for guests, and my fiancé & I absolutely love it! The wedding will be our 4th trip in the last 5 years. I guess if you don't love Vegas it's hard to understand though.

Especially interested to know if any of you other UK brides are getting fed up having to explain your decision to people!

Re: Why Vegas??

  • 1. There was already no logical location to have the wedding. All his family is clustered in one spot in the Northeast (in the U.S.), all my family is clustered in one spot in the South, and most of our friends live in the Midwest. Since at least 2/3 of the invited guests would have to travel a long way no matter where we did it, and since neither of us are all that sentimental about the places where our families live, we figured -- why not have a destination wedding someplace fun?

    2. I love Vegas! FH has never been, but is really excited to go.

    3. Pretty much the only thing we really, really want for our wedding is a bacchanal with all our friends from all over. Vegas is ideal for this. 


    I'm not getting much in the way of questions about "why Vegas," but I think that's because it's just one thing about our wedding that'd make traditionalists clutch their pearls... there was no big proposal, I'm wearing a short blue dress, we're not having a wedding party, we don't have a registry, I'd sooner can the whole thing than fuss with "centerpieces" and "wedding colors"...
  • BEACAUSE IT'S AMAZING!!! It is truly one of the few places where you can have just about anything you can dream of. 

    I would start responding "why wouldn't you?" lol


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  • I was nervous about people reacting the same way with me, but for some reason every single person I told was excited about it or told me they themselves got married there or knew someone who had. It's YOUR wedding and your decision. You shouldn't have to explain your reasoning behind it, other than its what you and your fiance want to do! When I tried planning my wedding in my home town I was so stressed out I wanted to pull my hair out! As soon as my husband and I decided to go the Vegas route, I had everything planned within hours!!! It's so much easier and so much better! Scenery for pictures is limitless! It's a non stop party and so worth it! My husband and I also have been there every year for the past 3 years! Neither one of us has a big family and the thought of having to invite 100+ guests (most of whom you really wouldn't want to, but would have to) just didn't sit well with me.

    Good luck to you and your planning! Hoping your friends and family eventually see it your way!
  • Similar to damnthetorpedos...majority of people were going to have to travel, no matter what, so Vegas seemed like a good choice. There are usually decent air fares and since we're getting married on a Tuesday, hotels are inexpensive.

    I honestly had pictured (and started planning this based on) a small amount of people...I thought 20 would be pushing it. Well...that turned into 50-60, which has made things a little more hectic, mostly because I want to make sure everyone has a good time. And then I think...it's Vegas, if you can't find some fun here, the RSVP should have been No! lol


  • My wife and I took our first trip together to Vegas, we both love gambling and partying, I was strongly opposed to a traditional wedding (although she actually thought she'd be married in a church originally), our whole family often meets in Vegas, etc.  It just felt right, and when we saw the venue where we ended up getting married, we knew there'd be nothing else like it anywhere but Vegas.  Love that place. :-)

    Married in Vegas - June 2011


  • tcnobletcnoble member
    First Comment First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its
    Because we live here! Ha!

    But really.. why not Vegas?!
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  • We had a few questioning our decision early on but everyone quickly accepted.

    Here's why we chose Vegas:
    1. All of the venues I LOVED and dreamed about back home quoted me $18-20k for just rental space and F&B!! I was crushed. My budget is $8k. My whole family and his are all within an hour away so my guest list was easily 130+ to start. Ugh. Cue stress and we had only been engaged a week. Suddenly this wasn't fun anymore.

    2. We are getting married on our 10 year dating anniversary. This constitutes (in my mind lol) a giant celebration lasting more than just a few hours.

    3. The weekend after our wedding is a big IT convention in Vegas that we and many of our friends were already going to. Last year we arrived in Vegas on a Monday and the conference didn't start till Thursday so now we are just rolling out stay back a few days more.

    4. Budget. I'd rather spend my $8k budget on my 40 closest friends and family than have to stretch it to cover 100+ people at home. I'm paying for this wedding myself. :)
  • Oh and 5. The thought of planning a whole wedding myself was daunting. I literally panicked. Having to work with a million vendors for everything to come together was the last thing I wanted to do. I figured Vegas would be more packaged and way easier (and I was right!)
  • edited May 2015
    1. I'm a new attorney, FI is a new doctor and we just don't have the time or energy to plan a traditional wedding. Work keeps us pretty busy.
    2. FI absolutely loves Vegas, and visits annually. (But I have never been)
    3. Our families are spread throughout several states so they would have had to travel regardless.
    4. We wanted to have a FUN wedding atmosphere.
    5. We already live together (which isn't so traditional) so we didn't feel the need to conform to a traditional wedding.
    6. We secretly want to win big while in Vegas! Lol

    There were quite a few complaints about the choice being so far away (we live in southeast US). But that's to be expected.
  • Going to Vegas from Scotland to get married, we always knew we wanted to go away to get married, we got engaged in New York and after attending our friends wedding in Vegas in 2013 we knew it was the place for us!  We love Vegas!!  For various reasons we have no family coming with us and are not having a traditional wedding at all but at the moment we have 7 close friends coming with us....another reason is that me and the future husband are having the holiday of a lifetime ..7 nights in Vegas followed by 2 weeks in Mexico and then a stop off in Miami on the way home!  I say life is short and you have to do what is right for you....my really close family understand our decision to get married away from home and are totally supportive.
  • We met in Vegas. Have been there twice since. We both have been married before and wanted to have a fun wedding. We thought small~ but that has since changed to about 60.  But we are doing it they way we want. Getting married in Irish Pub and having reception there as well. Low key to enjoy it all and not worry about everything. Close family and friends are all in and lots of extended are as well. We never even thought about any where else!
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  • adverbadverb member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    I LOVE Vegas. Always have. Even before I was old enough to gamble. My bat-mitzvah theme was Vegas.

    I don't know it just made sense. And since I wanted a small wedding AND I was paying for it, Vegas helps too.
  • My FH and I have been to Vegas 4 times in the last 4 years and it's sort of our thing. We love it. Since we got engaged I've been saying the whole time that I wanted Vegas. My family seemed really upset about the location and really gave me a hard time but I never wanted a large wedding either. I think it's hard for people to accept that your wedding is not about them.
  • We're not telling anyone until we're back. This is my second wedding, my FH's first. We both want to elope (that's what I did for my first wedding too). I had SO many negative comments from my family the first time round (arguing that I should have a big traditional wedding and include them) that this time I don't want anyone to know until after the fact.
    Neither one of us has been to Vegas but are really looking forward to it, as well as our honeymoon in Disney (Orlando) and Miami.
    We want something fun, short and sweet, just for the two of us.
  • xoedenxoeden member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    edited May 2015
    Sing it, @damnthetorpedos!'

    We're an international couple. I live in Vancouver, Canada, he lives in Washington state, USA. All of his family is back east where he was raised (Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia). My family is all from a small, isolated coastal town about 8 hours of travel time from where I live (we're 30 minutes apart through the border). Although we could technically host a wedding in Vancouver and each family would have to travel approximately 8 hours, it would be much more expensive for his family to travel, and it wouldn't be fair for them to travel. For that reason, we chose a destination wedding.

    We explored a number of different options before deciding on Las Vegas. Originally, it was going to be Disneyland or Disneyworld (continuous fight there - I'm a west coast girl, I want Disneyland! He's east coast, he wants Disneyworld!). Then we realized it'd only be fun for us and our friends, and our parents would be bored out of their minds.

    Then we thought Hawaii. And then we realized, Hawaii is boring. And expensive. It's like getting married in Mexico; no thanks. Don't get me wrong, I like Mexico, but all inclusives bore the snot out of me.

    So then we started trying finding campy little niche ideas. We tried looking in to getting married at the hotel from the Shining. And then my grandmother made a great point: Who wants to go on vacation in Colorado?!?

    Vegas seemed to be the only logical option. I'm a Vegas enthusiast, and my fiancee just finished his first trip there (our wedding scouting trip). Thankfully, he didn't hate it, but enjoyed it, so Vegas it is!



    We don't get asked, "why Vegas?" We're getting asked, "you're not getting married by Elvis, are you?" We're not, but seriously considering getting Rev. Roland to do an Elvis impersonation... ;)
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  • sasalewsasalew member
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    @CCvegasbride we're coming over from Scotland too, and going to Mexico for our honeymoon! Haha, looks like we have a lot in common! Definitely holiday of a lifetime :) When is your wedding? Mine isn't til October - still feels like so long to go.
  • sasalewsasalew member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment Name Dropper
    It's so good to read everyone's reasons, I think I'm definitely going to go with "Why wouldn't you get married in Vegas?!" next time I'm asked!!
  • Our wedding is in July....feel like we have done loads but still so much to do!  Good Luck with your planning!

  • 1. My fiance and I have been to Vegas together several times and absolutely love it. It was one of our first trips together as a couple.

    2. My fiance loves to play poker. I enjoy the free drinks and table banter. :)

    3. We both live abroad, and, thus, have many friends all over the world. We weren't about to ask our international friends to buy a ticket to Oklahoma. Hahaha...

    4. Living abroad makes wedding planning a nightmare. We were in the market for a package wedding deal. 

    4. My mom's family vacations in Vegas once each year. I figured they could make our wedding their annual trip. 
  • xoedenxoeden member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    That's exactly how we felt when we were thinking Colorado!
    3. We both live abroad, and, thus, have many friends all over the world. We weren't about to ask our international friends to buy a ticket to Oklahoma. Hahaha...
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  • sasalew Exactly! Why not Vegas!!! :-) I always knew "IF" I ever got married it would be Vegas. The 1st time I ever went to Vegas and stepped off the plan I turned to my bestie and said "If" I ever do it, it's gonna be in Vegas. The Glitz, the Glam, the Grandeur, just all of it was me. Then when I went w/ my now Husband for the 1st time (eek! still weird) he was like this would be perfect for us and it was!
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