Surprise… We Got Married! (Part 2)
15 August 2015
Wedding Theme
With the wedding taking place in Las Vegas, a destination wedding theme was certainly on the cards. There was something about the ’50s me and Baz really liked; an era of big bouncing skirts, big hair and polka dot patterns, Elvis and colourful milkshakes lining the bars of diners! Uhhh YES PLEASE! So using these ideas for our wedding theme was an awesome way for us to customise all of those special details to our day. We chose ‘simple’, ‘fun’, ‘happy’, ‘vintage’ and ‘casual’ as the key themes to our Big Fat Vegas wedding ‘holiday’.
Just in case you’re looking to create a similar destination wedding style or looking for some wedding inspiration. This blog post provides a detailed account of the creative wedding planning that went on, from the designing of our wedding passport invites through to deciding on the dress and food for the Big Day!
Wedding Passport Invitations
We decided to celebrate the fact of getting married and handed myself the privilege of designing our own wedding invites. As we were getting married in Las Vegas, we wanted to go for a fun, travel theme. We decided to go for the non-conventional wedding invitation – being both Designers, right from the beginning we wanted to do and create something a little more personal, memorable and which would show our personalities. Many ideas were considered but the final invitation were based on the UK passport design. Printed on high quality textured Colorplan Embossed Leather stock with gold foiling, which were accompanied by a personalised boarding pass.
We chose a colour palette of sunshine yellow, white and grey to maintain elegance and sophistication and this was carried through in the design. A complete set of stationery was designed including: invitation passbook, boarding pass invite, order of service, wedding brand identity, table plan, guests place cards and wedding album.
The Dress and Styling
As the wedding was in Las Vegas and knowing that we’d be moving around the Bellagio grounds to take photographs, I had to be very careful about dress choice so I didn’t end up traipsing about in a big dress or melting in the Vegas sun! The dress was actually the fourth one I tried on, and I could never really get this beautiful gown out of my head.
Big wedding styled dresses were always out of the question. I have always loved the style of tea-length dresses and simply adored the unfussy silhouette getting me down the aisle and through to my reception in comfort and style. I went ultra-feminine with big layers on the skirt, classic clean lines and the dress was absolutely perfect as it had plenty of detail on the top. And didn’t forget the most important accessory to pair up my dress — a stunning pair of yellow wedding shoes! The dress also had a fantastic ‘swish’ factor for those romantic photos and also for twirling! The amount of detail on the bodice meant that I didn’t need much additional jewellery, so I opted for some diamond earrings and bracelet. I had my hair up so it didn’t get in the way of the beautiful detail of the dress and my make up was heavy on the eyes and light on the lips.
The Venue
Las Vegas is a very special place to us. We had been here twice already and was overwhelmed by how bonkers the place was, full of life and entertainment, a great place for foodies too and always so colourful! – so we have always mentioned “how cool would it be to get married in Vegas!”…. so we did.
The day was planned perfectly by The Bellagio Resorts, and created spectacular florals to welcome the new Spring wedding season. The Bellagio was absolutely beautiful and a truly amazing venue (so it was wonderful to get married in our favourite hotel on The Strip). The registrar who married us was a lovely and warm guy, we had asked for a non religious ceremony and he understood straight away and delivered a perfect service which represented our values and attitude to life. Cashman Photo were fantastic too, capturing some fantastic (candid) moments and scenes for us.
What started out as an intended elopement (yeah, right!) turned into a weekend party and wedding in Las Vegas with our family and friends. Not only did Baz’s parents and close family members join us, but we were also joined by about 30 of our closest friends for a great destination wedding! We were lucky enough to have lovely weather, (not too hot) and to be in one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Bridesmaid’s Fashion
Continuing the ’50s influence for the rest of the bridal party. I didn’t want bridesmaid’s dresses that were heavy or long – their dresses needed to complement mine but also oozed with personality and playfulness. Eventually I found the perfect bridesmaid dresses. These were simple A-line halter neck, knee length, in sunshine yellow with white polka dot dresses, and to make the skirt part super bouncy I bought petticoats for extra lift. The bridesmaids ‘sunshine’ dresses complemented my dress perfectly and were light enough so that no one overheated! I wanted the girls to have the same hair and make up so they all had up dos with a side plait detail and their make up was similar to mind with a heavy eye and light lips. They all looked super gorgeous!
Groom & Usher’s Fashion
As gifts for the groomsmen, Baz ordered dark grey sophisticated designer suits which the guys wore on the day. Ushers were asked to wear white shirts and brown shoes. Sticking to our colour theme, Baz bought some yellow and white striped ties, complemented by yellow socks which everyone also wore. The guys contrasted nicely with the yellow dresses the bridesmaids wore, and a bright yellow rose boutonniere with light yellow spray rose was the perfect final detail to Baz’s dapper outfit.
Yellow, White and Grey Colour Scheme
Of course the easiest way to express personality and individuality is with colour. We chose sunshine yellow as our wedding’s accent colour because it’s such a happy colour. The venue had so much natural beauty that we didn’t want to take anything away from that. This influenced our choice of flowers. We chose a mix of yellows and spray roses (light and bright yellows with a vintage look); with yellow and white criss cross ribbon for the bouquets, and a single yellow rose for the boutonnieres. We scattered yellow rose petals on each table to create that beautiful soft light (an accent colour) for the photos.
The Food and Wedding Cake
The food was another very important thing to us! And being in Vegas, it’s all about the monstrous buffets!! Luckily the Bellagio’s Buffet, being a 5 star resort, had excellent chefs who provided the most exceptional Buffet for our guests. The cake was a three tiered with red velvet sponge on top, buttermilk chocolate in the middle and victoria sponge on the bottom, all sandwiched with vanilla buttercream, royal icing and decorated with stunning hand made flowers.
Fantastic Team Effort!
I really need to credit my husband for his valued time, excellent copy-writing skills and effort in putting this whole event together with me. The Bellagio Resort with dealing with vendors, setting up the space and floral arrangements; my awesome bridesmaids for running around to buy odds and ends… the list goes on. Fantastic team effort!
• Boutique | Blushes Bridal Studio, Sheffield
• Wedding Passports Printing | Purely Digital
• Hair & Make-up | Chrissi, Dollheads LV
• Bridesmaids Hair & Make-up | Tifani Blakely, Concierge Makeup LV
• Venue | The Bellagio, Las Vegas
• Wedding Planner | Ruby Dague, The Bellagio, Las Vegas
• Florals | The Bellagio, Las Vegas
• Cake Maker | The Bellagio, Las Vegas
• Food & Catering | The Bellagio, Las Vegas
• Bridesmaids | My Evening Dress on Amazon UK
• Groom & Ushers | DKNY
• Photography | Cashman Photo, Las Vegas
{ Official wedding photos by Cashman Photo and our fantastic wedding guests!}
Missie Cindz
