Our expertise is desert elopements and we still can not get over how dreamy Valley of Fire is. With its scenic drive through the valley and awe-inspiring views of the sunset, it is hard not to imagine how dreamy an elopement would be here. Amanda and Ryan had the perfect simple and modern elopement with the added details of cake and champagne at Valley of Fire. Take a peek of the gallery and details below.
Loved, Exciting, & nervous but SO ready ! I felt silly being so nervous the night before our wedding thinking we’ve been together seven years why am I freaking out now! Ryan and I definitely did our wedding the non-traditional way and decided to get married after years of being together and having three beautiful daughters but it was our way and had we gotten married earlier in our relationship I do not think that we would have gotten married at red rock and had such a great experience eloping !Â
We were in seaside Florida sitting in bed enjoying our morning coffee and Ryan had our daughter Lily ask with him, it was truly so sweet & perfect ! We spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach and enjoyed the day!Â
Our vision was simple but our own way too !!I wanted a boho look but still glammed up, it was such a wonderful experience getting my hair and make up done I loved the way glammed up Vegas did my makeup & hair !I had a lot of fun personalizing things, the cake topper, the forks and the individual goodies on everyone’s chair a lottery ticket! It was fun keeping our wedding traditional in some ways but making it our own too!! I also wanted a first look & im still so happy we did before the ceremony !! It was the sweetest seeing Ryan so excited haha ! He was like a kid on Christmas morning!
So our planning was very short I felt Like but talked about for years Ryan would always joke and ask when am I going to plan our wedding ! We were engaged for 5 years before our wedding !! I contacted ELV in December then decided to run with it in January and only had till March 5th to find a wedding dress and plan all the things I wanted to definitely have & it worked out perfectly planning our wedding in Vegas since Ryan races for nascar he had a race on Saturday March 6th ! It was perfect timing to have our wedding just the day before ! Ryan was excited about the idea of it too! We started booking this it flights, hotels and I went dress shopping !! I found my dream dress at the first store I went to and tried on 8 others before deciding on the one I did ! I kept My dress a secret from Ryan which was fun because I knew we wanted to do a first look !We stayed at Aria along with our family and friends. Flew in Thursday afternoon picked up Ryan’s tux from men’s warehouse he’s always so causal so we ended up just renting his tux. After the ceremony our party bus took us back to aria and we ate dinner at Jean Georges Steakhouse and it was wonderful everybody enjoyed their meal and we ended up splitting up the rest of our wedding cake and everybody got some after dinner.
Bride: I got My dress at charme bridal in Buford GA, I tried on 8 dresses & fell in love with this dress instantly ! The brand is wilderly bride- they have the MOST beautiful boho dresses ! I loved The lace details in the sleeves and the back of my dress with the lace details was beautiful !! My shoes were boots I found at a boutique, they were perfect for for walking around and super comfortable !!
Groom: Ryan got fitted in GA at a men’s warehouse and picked up his tux the day before our wedding ! It worked out perfectly and one of my girlfriends ran in with him to make sure everything fit right to calm my nerves about it !Â
Definitely our FIRST LOOK & our personal vowels to each other. The first look was very fun to do I loved seeing Ryan‘s reaction to me all done up with my hair and make up it was so cute. We rode separately there and the rest of our guest took a party bus to meet us there it was very neat because no one had seen us prior to the wedding that day and we got ready separately that morning. Our vows to one another is something  that I knew I wanted to do whether we had a big wedding or small I’m so glad that we had a smaller wedding because I don’t think I could have said all of my vowels in front of a huge crowd we are both so shy and I was definitely nervous saying my vowels in front of 18 people so I couldn’t imagine doing it in front of any more than that right before the ceremony after our first look Ryan was asking me are you sure that you want to say our vowels to one another and I definitely was like we are not backing out of it I have worked really hard on these & know exactly what I wanna say and I wanted to hear his too! I am still so happy we chose to do our vows it’s definitely something that we can always remember how we felt that day and how we feel for each other.Â
My advice as a bride would be to definitely elope it’s so much easier than trying to plan a huge big wedding we love the personal experience that we had with elopement Las Vegas they were so helpful and reassured me up until the moment I walked down the aisle that everything is beautiful and that I was beautiful and not to worry about anything else and that definitely calmed my nerves before the ceremony. I would definitely recommend doing personal little things we chose to do personalized forks with our wedding date on them and we also ordered a personalized cake topper that looked very cute on top of the cake. I would also recommend as a groom if you do not dress up often Men’s Wearhouse or anywhere you can run a tux was super easy for Ryan to pick up and return after we were done using it and it worked out perfectly. Ryan and I couldn’t have been more happy with the way that our wedding turned out we loved everything about it and can’t wait to look back on this wonderful day and the amazing backdrop of all of our wedding pictures that was so unique!Â
VENDORS
Officiant : Gayane M
Photographer : Onyx and Arrow Photography
Floral: Amy Wong Events
Video : Impreza FilmsÂ
Coordinator & Permit: Desert Elopement Las Vegas