Vegas, Baby!

As I was cleaning the other day, I came across my wedding album, and instead of continuing to clean, I allowed myself to get distracted and take a walk down memory lane.

On a beautiful fall day in 2005, Carlos and I got married in Vegas!  Why Vegas?  Why NOT Vegas!?  As a musician, Carlos had been to his share of weddings, and when we began to think about the logistics and costs, the idea of a destination wedding seemed more and more appealing!  I had never been to Vegas, but I was 100% on board with getting married there because it was a wedding and adventure all in one!

The first question people always ask when we tell them we got married in Vegas is "Did you get married by Elvis?"  The answer is no, we had a traditional, religious ceremony performed by a retired pastor.  But we did run into a couple of Elvis impersonators, which was always fun! 

We got married atLittle Chapel of the Flowers, just in view of The Stratosphere - where we stayed! Carlos found and bought me a vintage dress off of Ebay.  In 2005, it was the go-to site to buy anything online.

We were very lucky to be able to include our best friends in this adventure!  Carlos invited his best friend Angelo to be his Best Man.  Angelo and Carlos are both jack of all trades - they are both hairdressers and dancers, but while Carlos is a musician, Angelo is a stand-up comic. So in addition to his Best Man duties, he also did my hair!

Angelo pulling double duty as Personal Hairstylist/Best Man

Carlos and Angelo in a "dance battle" on Fremont street. 

Did they win?  Of course they did!

I invited my best friend Iris to be my Maid of Honor.  Iris is from Australia, she loves to travel and used teaching as a tool for her own adventures.  She has taught in 4 different countries, and we met while she was teaching in North Carolina.  She was teaching in Japan and was able to fly into Vegas to be part of our wedding.

Fun on Fremont Street

In addition to our best man and a maid of honor, we had wedding guests!  My aunt and uncle were in town for a conference so they were able to attend the wedding in person, but we also had virtual guests!  One reason we chose Little Chapel of the Flowers is because our wedding would be live streamed on the internet.  Now that everything in the world is streamed live that doesn't seem like a big deal, but in 2005, it was pretty cool!  So our friends and family from all over the world were able to virtually attend the ceremony!

After the wedding, we had dinner at Top of the World Restaurant and Lounge, the rotating restaurant at the top of the Stratosphere.  It was the perfect reception with our intimate wedding party.

After an amazing dinner, we headed down the Strip - we walked through the casinos, danced to some music, watched the Bellagio fountains, and received well-wishes from hundreds of strangers!  It was an amazing night, and we loved every minute of it!

Our wedding started our life of adventure together, and since then we have had many more adventures - but I'm confident that the best adventures are yet to come!