I spent the last weekend in the fabulous city of Las Vegas. The main reason I was there was to run the Rock and Roll Half Marathon with some friends. The second reason I was in Vegas was because its Vegas, gambling, drinking Sin City stuff. The reason I went out a few days before my friends was because I needed to do some research for not one but two weddings.
I met with two makeup artists, two photoagraphers, went to six different quickie wedding chapels and two nicer casino chapels. I also spent a good deal of time walking up and down the strip looking for nice places to take some pictures around town.
When I arrived on Thursday I spent some time getting a car, having some lunch and getting the lay of the land around my hotel room. I stayed at the new Trump and was a little surprised that there is no casino at the property. They say that it is because half the complex is residential and they don't want the noise and hustle bustle. I think they just couldn't get a license, but whatever the reason, that where I was. It was a short walk down to the Wynn so I could make my bets there.
At 4:00pm I had my first makeup meeting. She was a nice person who worked days doing makeup for the Lion King production in Vegas and moonlighted on weekends and days doing other makeup jobs. Being that she hadn't met me and I found her through Craigslist, she brought someone else along for safety. I have no problem with this, safety first. I was a little surprised she brought her husband but I figured he already knew I was a guy wanting a makeover and I need to get used to wearing makeup and soon enough a wedding dress around Vegas. She was there for maybe an hour and did a nice job with my makeup Maybe a little light on the makeup but I did ask for a more natural look. That can be fine tuned the day of the wedding and she was open to my input. She gave me advice on shearing back my eyebrows and we discussed the possibility of her doing my hair or bringing in a hairdresser if I want something more elaborate. Overall I was very happy. I didn't get much else done that night, made a couple bets and planned my Friday.
Friday morning I had a 10:00am appointment with a photographer. She was five minutes early, answered ll my questions and we discussed a number of topics from backup batteries and cameras, good places take pictures, how best to deal with a camera shy groom and how the chapels really don't like outside photographers in their chapel. All said and done I was very pleased with the meeting and she even followed up with a thank you e-mail.
After the photographer meeting I made a run up and down Las Vegas Blvd between the strip and downtown, where all the wedding chapels are. This is not the best part of town. Lots of Bail Bonds shops, strip clubs, and wedding chapels mixed into a couple of neighborhood bars and gas stations. Some of the chapels looked like I wouldn't stop there to change a flat tire to another very nice place right next door, The each had their won little rules about Elvis, photographers, how quickly things progress, and how they feel about a role reversal wedding. I found one place that would not likely allow a role reversal wedding while another one just had a commitment ceremony between two women and a man wearing the gown. They also have Star Trek weddings. If found one Elvis who can legally perform the ceremony while most are there for just the music. We also found an Elvis who not only sings and plays guitar, he might be able to learn a specific song for us (Elvis Costello) where most refuse to go off the Elvis songbook or even outside the list of 5 songs they always perform.
I decided to check out a couple of Casino chapels just to compare and even they will bring in an Elvis for you but depending on which casino, these will run a lot more money. The Bellagio for instance, their minimum price fro a weekend wedding is $3900. Where the cheesy chapels will charge as little as $129. It depends what you are going for. At this point I need to go over what options look best to my girlfriend and I for the April wedding, I would like to mix it up a little for the Halloween wedding and not do the exact same thing over again.
After my chapel tour I had another makeover but this time with a MTF transformation specialist. She was also very nice but seemed a little more rigid in her idea of what I should do for makeup versus what I wanted. To be fair I'm sure she has plenty of experience doing this type of makeup. She also really wanted to have me wear a wig which is not what I was looking to do. I have been growing my hair for over a year and would like to avoid a wig if possible. Her point was that she can easily hide tape under the wig, the tape is used to pull up the eyebrow for a more arched look. While this is nice I'd rather go natural hair for comfort.
Finally on Saturday I spent the afternoon walking up one side of the strip and down the other scouting good photo opportunities. There are plenty of nice places to have pictures taken in Las Vegas both outside and inside. The difficulty can be in getting to those locations. We are really not interested in walking up and down the strip in a gown and tux when it would be easier to just get dropped of somewhere close to our photo locations. I think I came up with a good number of places, some are even out of the way even in the heart of the strip so we can have some privacy at times. I'm sure we will draw comments and possibly a crowd but we will want a little downtime too.
The goal for now is to discuss the April wedding and some of the October stuff and finalize some things. I will be ordering a custom corset and soon enough have my first dress fitting. Things are stating to seem a little more real now that I have to pick an actual photographer and book hotels and chapels. I am still very excited about the big day(s). I love planning my wedding.
