Jessica and Luke decided to trade their Georgia lifestyle and head west for what would be a moment they will never forget. Take a peek at this sweet couples modern desert micro wedding at Red Rock Canyon Overlook and their experience eloping in the fabulous Las Vegas desert.

WHAT WORDS WOULD YOU USE TO DESCRIBE YOUR WEDDING?

Beautiful

Unique

Unbelievable

Breath taking view

Stress Free

Organized

Well planned out

THE PROPOSAL:

Luke and I went to Disney World in Orlando, FL for a long weekend. We visited Animal Kingdom March 27, 2021 to see the giraffes because giraffes are my favorite animal in the whole world! I had my Micky Giraffe ears on at the park and we were standing by The Tree of Life. Luke told me to turn around and look up at the tree and he was going to take a picture of me looking up at the tree with my giraffe ears on (he takes a lot of pictures of me, so I didn’t think much of it haha!) When I turned back around, he was down on one knee with a ring and asked me to marry him!! I immediately started crying and hugging him then he got up and put the ring on me and said, “Is that a yes?” and I said, “YES OF COURSE!”. We called all of our friends and family and they were so happy for us. I couldn’t stop staring at my ring all throughout the park! Then he was telling me how scared he was going through security when we got into the park because he has the ring in his pocket, and he didn’t want the security guards to ask him to empty out his pocks. (They didn’t thank goodness). We went out to dinner in Disney Springs that night and has a romantic and fun dinner together at House of Blues. When I got back home my sister decorated my whole house with engagement gifts, balloons, cake and flowers!

THE VISION:

I really didn’t have much of a vison. I was never the “planning my wedding since I was a little girl” type of girl. All I knew is that I didn’t want a Barn Style wedding. I live in Georgia and about all you see if Barn Style weddings. Burlap and mason jars are not my idea of a wedding. I wanted something different… something that Georgia could not offer us. Luke said his vision for a wedding has always been a small/intimate wedding, nothing too big, with no stress. Plus, we are both Finance and Accounting majors with an MBA degree, so we know the value of a dollar haha! We didn’t want to go into debt for 1 day when we could go on an amazing trip for a week and have the most beautiful wedding I’ve ever seen for a fraction of the cost.

THE PLANNING PROCESS:

After we got engaged, I was on a high for like a week. Then it all came crashing down when I started looking into things. We visited multiple venue, sampled a few caterers, and tasted a couple of wedding cakes. I was not really into the whole process and nothing we found fit our vision of “anything but a barn wedding”. I kept feeling stressed out and overwhelmed. Neither one of us handles stress well anyways. And it always seemed like there was just more and more stuff that needed to be added to the “to-do” list. After all of this we sat down and laid out our options. We literally made a “Pro’s and Con’s” list of Wedding VS Elopement. I added a picture of the actual list we made that day. Eloping won by a long shot! And that’s when we realized Eloping was the way to go. We looked at all of our options from Hawaii to Vegas and decided that Vegas would be perfect for us. Vegas seemed like so much fun and an easy place to get married in! The furthest West we have ever been is Mississippi so when we saw your beautiful pictures of all the mountains, Joshua Tress, and cactus we couldn’t believe our eyes! It seemed like it would be a dream come true to get married in a place like that. Luke or I have never seen anything like it in person before. As soon as we reached out to Elopement Las Vegas they took it from there! My stress and worries went away. We just filled out a questionnaires and they took it from there. I could tell by their social media, reviews, and their prompted responses I had nothing to worry about. The only thing I had to plan on my own the Hair and Makeup and the Limo. Both of which ELV provided excellent recommendations for. Also, we chose the Deluxe Package because it offered everything we were looking for and then some! We got and amazing wedding cake, the most beautiful bouquet I’ve ever seen, and allowed a few close friends and family to come. After everything was finalized, we told a few close friends and family (we tried to keep it somewhat of a secrete for a surprise element) and 6 of our close friends and 2 family members flew all the way out to Las Vegas to be there with us and celebrate.

YOUR OUTFITS AND ACCESSORIES

Jessica: I got my dress from An Affair to Remember in LaGrange, GA. I wanted a simple dress that was not big a puffy and with no tulle so I could travel with it easier and something that wouldn’t wrinkle in a suitcase. I also wanted something that shows my back to show my freckles and something with a little sparkle. I knew what I was looking for was pretty specific and despite what is advised by many people, I bought the first (and only) dress I tried on. I knew it was the one for me! It was the Faviana Style #S10228. It has everything I was looking for in a dress. When I showed it to my best friend Brianna, she said “This is perfect for Vegas!”. I knew it was the one. When I started posting my wedding pictures, An Affair to Remember posted them as well and tagged Faviana in the pictures, then, Faviana posted my pictures on their Instagram! I guess they thought the dress was perfect for a Vegas Elopement too haha! My shoes came from Dillards. They are the Blue by Betsey Johnson Mari Black Heel Dress Sandals. They have the same beaded pattern that my dress has with a low heel perfect for walking in the dessert. I don’t wear many heels so I though the low block heel would be a perfect fit for me. They also had baby blue bottoms! Perfect color for a wedding. I was wearing my Disney World Alex and Ani bracelets that Luke got for me after we got engaged. I had 3 of them: one had Animal Kingdom on it, one had the castle on it, and the other one has a Ring charm with a little Mikey Mouse on it that said “Love”. I was also wearing my mother’s diamond earrings that she gave to me a few years ago. I only wear them on special occasions. My hair piece came from Amazon but the ladies at Glammed Up Vegas did my hair and makeup and she did an amazing job at doing my hair positioning my hair piece. I have very thin hair and I was blown away at how full she made my hair look. My dad even asked me if I was wearing hair extensions haha; I wasn’t though, it was all my real hair!

Luke: I got my suit at H&M it was the first suit I had ever bought I actually bought the suit when I first met Jessica’s dad. It was a black suit with matching black dress slacks and back dress shoes that I bought at Belk. My tie I bought online, and it was burnt orange, Jessica was worried that it would look like Halloween, but it turned out to be a great color and matched her flowers perfectly. I also wore a white polo button up shirt and Calvin Klein dress socks. I specifically picked out the dress socks because I thought it was going to be very hot however it turned out to be beautiful weather and nothing to worry about even though it was 98 degrees. The weather it’s a little different than Georgia. I also had a pin that Jessica gave me as a wedding gift to each other, the pin had my pawpaw and one of my close childhood friend Austin Pope picture in it who both passed away. They were at the wedding with me in sprit. It was a great gift and I know that Jessica thought long and hard about it before getting for me as she knew how close I was to each of those individuals in my life. I chose the outfit because I wanted to be comfortable in what I wore I did not want to be in something uncomfortable or something that I was not emotionally connected too. Wearing the suit I first met Jessica’s dad in made me feel right at home and helped ease all my stress.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

–        Jessica: We got married 1 day before Michael Jacksons birthday (and I am a huge Michael Jackson fan). Well the day before our wedding, all of our friends took us out to Carmines in The Forum Shops for a pre-celebration. Well I was just feeling a little overwhelmed since I was getting married the next day and I went into the bathroom and started freaking out and crying. My best friend, Brianna, followed me in there and was trying to calm me down but I was stressing out (for no reason really). Then all of the sudden she said “Jessica! You cannot cry on Michael Jackson birthday; he would be so upset.” And when she said that I started laughing and for some reason I felt so much better and I really appreciated her being there for me and knowing exactly what to say to cheer me up and calm me down.

–        Jessica: After we wedding, we went out to a nice dinner at Mon Ami Gabi then we went out for drinks at the Chandelier Bar and walked the stip. I was still in my wedding dress and everyone was coming up to us, congratulating us, taking pictures with us, and making us feel so special! I felt like a celebrity in a way. It was an amazing feeling so get so much love and support from people we didn’t even know.

–        Jessica: Hearing each others vows! It is so funny we both started our vows off the same way by saying “When we first met in the Library” and it was so funny. Then as I was reading my vows, I was tearing up and my uncle stood up and gave me his handkerchief. Also, just hearing Lukes Vows was amazing. That is another great reason to get the video.

–        Luke: Seeing Jessica for the first time in her wedding dress walking up the mountain.  

 ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES

–        Obviously, booked with Elopement Las Vegas! They are the best! I was truly blown away with all they did for us and how smoothly everything turned out. They made it a stress-free process and made sure everything was perfect for our wedding day. Not only is everyone extremely nice but you can tell they truly have your best interest at heart.

–        Get the video! I could not believe my eyes when we got our wedding video back. It is one thing to watch other people’s wedding videos if you are trying to make a decision, but it is a whole other experience to watch your own wedding video. Your wedding day is one of the most important days of your life and to capture all of the love and emotion into a video is honestly priceless. Every time I watch it, it feels like I’m watching a movie and I cry tears of joy each time. Our wedding video is something we are going to cherish for the rest of our lives.

–        Do not let other make you feel guilty or bad about eloping or having a micro wedding. A wedding is for two partners who want to join their lives together and however you want to do it (whether it be just the two of you or a huge party) is how it should be done. You friends and family should support you and your decisions no matter what because it’s not about them. Do what makes you happy.

VENDORS

Officiant : Peachy Keen Unions

Photographer : Karla Grzankowski 

Floral: Amy Wong Events

Video:Pablo Zanardi Films

Coordinator & Permit: Desert Elopement Las Vegas