Vegas Weddings Sans-Drive-Thru?

January 5, 2006 11:51 AM

WeddingsFilter! Recommend elegant (read:non-Elvis), beautiful places in which to have a wedding ceremony in Las Vegas. Sound oxymoronic?

So my SO and I are tying the knot, and due to a desire for fun and central location, Las Vegas seems to be the spot. We are interested in either a place which has ceremony and reception packages, or for recommendations on single-use facilities. We've checked out the Strip's hotels, and none seem to be as free of tourists or as intimate as we'd like.

Details:
We're expecting 75-85 people.
We'd like to spend $50-75/person max on the reception.
Not too far from the strip itself, if possible, since we plan on partying there afterwards.
Wedding would take place around June/July.
Bonus points for places which allow outside photographers, as most locations have a contract with their own company.

What say ye, married MeFites?

posted by plexiwatt to travel & transportation (10 comments total)

Canterbury Wedding Chapel in The Excalibur. We did it almost a year ago. Great place, great people.
posted by horseblind at 12:03 PM on January 5, 2006

If you have not already done so, go to vegas.com and check out their wedding section. Lots of overviews of the chapels and related services which are available. My best buddy chose his chapel based on their info and was not disappointed.
posted by daveleck at 12:33 PM on January 5, 2006

This might be too expensive, but some friends of mine recently got married in the Bellagio with about 40 guests. Yes, the hotel/casino is ridiculously touristy, but the wedding stuff is tucked away and quiet. It was a very lovely and classy ceremony.
posted by echo0720 at 1:25 PM on January 5, 2006

You might consider some locations in the Summerlin area. There are several golf clubs, resorts, and whatnot that have fabulous views of the Strip, which are just stunning in the early evening. Actually getting to the Strip is only about 10 minutes, traffic allowing. It's also only about 15-20 minutes away from Red Rocks, if some of your guests are more outdoorsy.

Be sure you and your guests understand that a) Vegas is in the desert b) it is hot and dry, really really hot and dry in July c) the Strip is the hottest place in the valley in more than one way. May I suggest bottled water and sunscreen as favors for your guests?
posted by ilsa at 2:49 PM on January 5, 2006

I'm not a married MeFite, but I live in Las Vegas and have a few thoughts. (Well, I live in "unincorporated land southwest of the city" - but not even the Strip actually lives in Vegas.)

Tolerance of casino chapels is an individual thing. At several of these places (the otherwise lovely Excalibur comes to mind) you may be queued up with several other parties also waiting for their turn to get hitched. So, even if you get past the idea of parading through the McDonald's in the food court to get to the chapel around the corner, the idea of lining up to get married may put you off. But this depends on season, how much you pay, etc. Just keep it in mind.

The Flamingo has an underrated park outside with a little gazebo and many flamingos (go fig), but it's probably too small for you. If you want to go about 45 minutes off Strip, Mt. Charleston is lovely and there is an inn there that caters to romantics. It isn't as touristy in the summer (no skiers). Red Rock Canyon (about 15 miles west of the Strip) is stunning, but they may not welcome that much of an environmental impact - on the other hand, this is Vegas; someone may have packages and the whole shebang. (And Red Rock Station casino will open before your date, so I wouldn't be surprised if they had some ideas/compromises.) Both the canyon and the mountain are cooler in the summer.

Otherwise, yes, read those reviews...

(On preview: what ilsa said - remember out 120 degree heat last July...)
posted by Liffey at 2:54 PM on January 5, 2006

Little Church of the West, a small country-style church built in 1942. Your wedding photos in and around the church will look more like Vermont than Vegas, if that's what you want. Congrats!
posted by StarForce5 at 3:04 PM on January 5, 2006

I remember seeing this off-the-Strip Green Valley Ranch spa resort place on TV and it looked beautiful. Maybe Liffey can comment?
posted by junesix at 4:57 PM on January 5, 2006

My sister got married at Little Church of the West, and recommends it. You might also ask Dana, who did the Vegas wedding last year.
posted by tizzie at 6:58 PM on January 5, 2006

We chose Vegas for pretty much the same reason...

We got married at Red Rock Canyon and it was lovely, but we had a much smaller group. I bet in July it'd be pretty brutal unless you did it at dawn or something... which I guess you could do in Las Vegas. People are crazy there.

'Course, we considered all kinds of silly things -- believe me, the possibilities for bizarre Las Vegas weddings is endless as you'll soon see -- but in the end, we decided against it. Only gonna do this once, you know... might as well be classy.

We actually set everything up through lasvegasweddings.com. Even though they have a garish website, they did a pretty good job. They hooked us up with a minister, location, photographer, all that kinda stuff... If nothing else, they might be able to clue you in on other locations.
posted by ph00dz at 7:34 PM on January 5, 2006

junesix: Green Valley Ranch is pretty and has great poolside concerts (if your fave 80s band isn't playing the beach at Mandalay Bay) and now has nice Station Casino come-ons for the locals, but it's no more of a spa/resort than any other Strip casino.

(And it definitely isn't a ranch. Its borders are a parking lot, a parking garage, and The District, with a Cheesecake Factory and soon-to-come Whole Foods right across the street. Mind you, the District is mucho fun for walking around if you like to shop or want to kill time before going to the movies.)

I would third Little Church of the West. It's where I settled on getting married, actually. Must have been blocking it out. (What with still not being married.) Not only is it cute as hell and just southish of Mandalay Bay, it has that whole Bob Geldof / Dudley Moore vibe haunting the place. (But it only seats 50, and what about the reception?)
posted by Liffey at 6:03 PM on January 6, 2006