Ryan always wanted to get married in Vegas and luckily for him, when he ran it by his fiancé Beth she was up for it too! They travelled from New Zealand with 20 of their closest friends and family – 8 of them even went with them on the honeymoon to Hawaii!
“Beth is a full time burlesque entertainer and lounge singer and my background is in theatre too, although I’m now mainly a web designer”, explained the groom. “I really wanted to get married in Las Vegas, so Beth chose the date to fall on her 25th birthday, I think so I couldn’t possibly forget either event ever.”
“We had about 20 people at the wedding in total, and 8 of them travelled with us the whole way, including coming to Hawaii for the honeymoon. The dress code was sequins because Beth is practically a magpie. Everyone wore a sequin dress or white, and the girls all put bright colour in their hair to complement her bright pink hair. Even my mother in law coloured her hair bright purple.”
Beth wore a stunning sequinned dress from Jovani. “My favourite part of the whole experience was my beautiful bride”, he continued. “I could have cared less about anything else that happened that day as soon as I realised she was mine forever. I think Beth would say the same about me. Our biggest expense was our photographer, of course, because having beautiful images was our number one priority. The dress(es) ended up costing more than we anticipated too because Beth had had a champagne gold sequin dress made in NZ, but the day before the wedding (literally) in Vegas she was shopping for wedding shoes, and I got a phone call from her in tears because she’d walked past a shop full of sequins and realised that there was a dress inside which she absolutely had to wear or the world would end. So I did what any smart man would do and told her to just buy it. So each of those dresses cost around $1500 NZD, but that’s a lot cheaper than the alternative…the wrath of your wife!”
“However our biggest saving was not having a reception. By going overseas we only had our very very close friends and family with us, plus we got to have a Hawaiian honeymoon on the way home. Because everyone was travelling in such a tight little group we felt it was unnecessary to have a specific reception dinner. The whole trip was our reception, really. People seem to think that going overseas costs you more, but living in NZ everything is far away. Hawaii was the place I really wanted to take her on honeymoon anyway, so we would’ve spent the money going overseas for that either way; it was only a few hundred more to get tickets to Vegas and have the wedding there instead of NZ.”
“My advice for future brides and grooms would be that the day really does go by super fast”, Ryan concluded. “And you don’t need to spend money on tiny details. No one will miss them. I promise. Also, I advise letting your wife plan everything but if it goes off amazingly, take at least half the credit. It’ll drive her nuts, but the best way to ensure a long marriage is to both be a little crazy!”
“I’m so lucky that I have married my best friend. I love her so much, even though I totally hijacked her glory with this questionnaire. She was really excited to be featured on this blog. The least I could do was answer these questions and tell the whole world that I’m the happiest man alive because I get to grow old with her and be by her side forever. Plus now I look really romantic.”
The Gallery
Suppliers
- Photography: Nisha Ravji Photography
- Venue: MGM Forever Grand Chapel, Las Vegas
- Bride's Dress: Jovani
- Bride's Jewellery: Forever New
- Hair & Make Up: Christophe Salon
Thanks Kat,
This truly means the world to me! So honoured! Your blog was my BIBLE before our wedding.
You’re such a doll.
x the new Mrs Dowsett 🙂
the bag is to die for (the whole wedding is amazing) is it handmade also?
This is one of my favourite weddings you’ve featured! The bride looks stunning, I love her hair and makeup, so beautiful!! I love the venue backdrops in this set too!
Amazing!!! The bride looks like a 50’s poster pin up!! So pretty!! Love it! The photos are awesome!
Wow the bride looks beautiful! What a brilliant outfit. Love the 50s feel to this wedding…they look really happy.
I love the video. I nearly cried and am so happy for the bride, she look stunning and happy. 🙂
Adore. Adore. Adore. Love love love love this.
I’ve been to a wedding in that chapel! Very cool, they both look super snazzy. That video is the sweetest.
Love this palette and the awesome tattoo birds (both as actual tattoos and the matching purse)! And those shoes… Definitely linking to this as a favorite on my blog this Thursday. Marnie and John – you two are too cool.
Hi Kelsea, thanks lovely!!
And Kim, the bag is made of recycled number plates from Little Earth. Very cool!
Everything about this wedding looks gorge! Did you completely make the dress yourself? Or did you buy a white one and embellish? I am desperately trying to find a dress that length and shape! Any help would be greatly appreciated thanks 🙂 x
Beautiful and fun!! I’ld love to know more about the dress, like if she used a pattern what was it?
THIS IS WHAT IM LOOKING FOR! Basically exactly what I envisioned. I even have my own shoes. I just can’t figure out how to make my dress. Can anyone help me? Maybe someone knows of a similar pattern. I’m a bride on a teeny little budget.
I meant to say the same shoes. Of course I have my own
Where did you purchase your dress?
Marnie I have to know what pattern you used to make your dress!
Is there anywhere buy this dress?
Hello gorgeous ladies who commented about my dress.
I am so sorry for the tardiness of my reply. This is the first time I have looked at our album for a while 🙂
My dress, head piece, sash and petticoats were hand made from scratch by me. No pattern used. I was blessed with the most divine of grandmothers who taught me to sew like a vintage gal!
If you’re keen to find out more you’re welcome to email me at marnz77@hotmal.com.
Oops marnz77@hotmail.com.
Apparently grandma taught me to sew but not to spell check 🙂
Hi could you please tell me where you got your handbag from would love this for my wedding on the 29th thanjs
How did you make the dress especially the petty coat
Where do I buy THAT DRESS?????