The the beginning of their engagement, Cleone and Richard were planning a more traditional wedding, but the stress and overwhelm of planning a big day soon made Cleone miserable. “Once we decided to stop planning for the sake of everyone else it became very easy,” said Cleone. “Neither of us like the spotlight, so a small gathering was perfect for us.”
They decided to plan the wedding around 8 weeks before the day, deciding not to tell anyone that wasn’t invited that they were getting married and swearing their guests to secrecy. Having to make a lot of decisions short notice stopped the couple agonising over minute details, and meant that they needed to put a lot of faith in their chosen vendors; thankfully it all paid off!
They met a decade ago while Lacey was bartending on a slow night. She was reading The Encyclopaedia of Serial Killers and Austen struck up a conversation about it while ordering a beer. When returned to his friends, she noticed he’s left his number on a napkin and although this has happened to her before, he was the first one she ever wanted to follow up with! They became friends first, bonding of their mutual love of horror and anything spooky. They’d get together regularly to watch scary movies, but only as friends. Then, a few years later, on a road trip to Vegas it became more than that… And the rest, as the old cliché goes, is history.
They decided to return to Vegas to marry on their own terms, and that meant completely alone. “We just wanted to spend some time together”, began Lacey. “I work 70 hours or more a week with maybe two or three days off a month and Austen works different hours than I do, so we don’t get much time together. All we really wanted was a small simple ceremony with plenty of time left to relax and hang out together. Austen is charismatic enough to be a cult leader, and we both love spooky stuff so we tried to dress like cult members! Our only focus for the entire thing was us. We decided that we wanted our wedding to be all about us and not making other people happy or obligated to be there.”
They had their ceremony at A Little White Wedding Chapel and picked the Michael Jordan package so they could livestream it to their friends and family back home. “From the minute we walked through the door the staff treated us as if we were the only wedding happening there that day”, she continued. “They were all so nice and seemed genuinely happy for us. They asked us a few questions about our preferences and took us in to the chapel. We chose a non-religious ceremony and walked arm in arm down the aisle. Minister Johnny performed a short, lovely ceremony and we were finally married!”
Las Vegas elopements… We just can’t get enough! Sorry not sorry we’ve got another beauty heading your way today! But Makayla and Stephen’s day was just too cool to say no to so here we are! That bronze sequin dress… his colourful meets western shirt… the desert shots… Everything is just too damn GOOD! The couple met in Berkley, California. He was tour managing a band that she was a big fan of.
“I went to buy a record of theirs at the merch table and there stood my future husband in all his glory”, Makayla began. “I knew I had to see what this one was about, but only after five months of contemplation and rigorous encouragement from my friends did I finally reach out to him on social media.”
After getting ready together at the Cosmopolitan Hotel, they drove out to the desert with photographer Ashley Marie Myers in tow, for their intimate and emotional ceremony in front of a Joshua Tree.
Stephen and Perla met through work, hitting it off during a company merger. It’s just as well they worked well together as they now own a photo booth business together! You are going to absolutely LOVE this wedding for so many reasons… But the big one has got to be those adorable BABY GOATS!!
Unlike many couples who head to Vegas to elope, Stephen and Perla live and work in the city so they had the capital of unique weddings right on their doorstep. The couple chose The Doyle to host their day – a laidback, downtown venue complete with a cool, industrial space that they could put their own stamp on, and resident baby goats and alpacas! “The venue having baby goats and alpacas in residence was a huge plus,” said Perla. “They made for some adorable photos and everyone loved petting them during cocktail hour!”
A lot of weddings follow the same format… Even non-traditional weddings can end up looking quite similar. But I think we can safely say that Pati and Francesco (aka Salsa and Disco Jesus – yes, really!) completely tore up the rule book for their Vegas elopement! Apart from the ceremony, where they were married by Elvis (arguably one of the biggest Vegas traditions there is!), everything else was one-of-a-kind and completely and utterly them.
Starting with their outfits. The bride’s dress came from Discount Universe and she wore it with United Nude shoes. They both had custom panted jackets by Bobby Coyote. “Our outfits were definitely unique because they were custom made!” said Pati. “We brainstormed them ourselves based on our lifestyle and weird interests. We have this whole thing about aliens… He proposed on the Burning Man Playa in 2018 with a beautiful UFO-shaped ring (it even spins!) so we really wanted our jackets to be about us and our story. We brainstormed the designs in this moodboard that we put together and sent to super talented LA artist Bobby Coyote. She really worked her magic and painted them for us! In typical Disco Jesus fashion, Francesco wasn’t even wearing a shirt underneath!”
Gina and Russ weren’t into the idea of having a traditional wedding – instead they wanted something intimate and just about them and their daughter. They were inspired by other elopements in Rock n Roll Bride, and their love for the States, and so their Las Vegas elopement was born!
“We wanted to get married somewhere unusual,” said Gina, “and stumbled upon The Neon Museum on Pinterest. I love comic book artwork, so having a colourful, vintage style backdrop for our photos was cool, and being surrounded by the history of Vegas felt a very unique experience.” They also wanted to tie their wedding into a big road trip of California, so everything fell into place quite quickly after finding the perfect venue.
