The weather in Las Vegas recently has been… well magical! As temperatures drop, Mount Charleston becomes a snowy desert escape. Marcelo and Brenda exchanged vows underneath falling snowflakes and it could not get more romantic than that! Take a peek at their snowy wedding day below and experience an elopement at Mount Charleston.

WHAT WORDS WOULD YOU USE TO DESCRIBE YOUR WEDDING?

I loved my wedding! We loved our wedding haha.  As a bride we have high expectations for everything to go as planned. & everyone did an amazing job to make my dream wedding come to life. The whole experience came and went so quickly. My wedding coordinator on site was amazing, had all the trust in her from the get go. She made me feel so calm and at ease before the ceremony. Weather was an issue regarding the roads but thankfully we were able to get to the location. My guests were amazed on how it came out. I felt all the support and love from everyone. Which is all I wanted for my wedding, GREAT VIBES our officiant was amazing she really incorporated our story with some details to the ceremony. Had me thinking how does she know lol 

THE PROPOSAL

Marcelo proposed to me at a winery in North Carolina. I was doing travel nurse contract and he went with me to help me get settled. Before he was to head back home we went to a local winery, and I mentioned this is a nice setting for a wedding/ proposal.  He kept excusing himself to the restroom then to buy food etc.. little did I know he was getting help from the winery to help him do a quick spontaneous proposal. He asked me to walk down the vineyard & proposed. I was very shocked didn’t know he had a ring.  He had planned to propose on a trip that got canceled due to my contract. So he had the ring waiting for a moment to propose. 

THE VISION

We both wanted a small wedding I personally wanted to elope didn’t want to plan a wedding & deal with potential covid restrictions and the stress. However we’re very close with our family and wanted close family & friends to be there. I didn’t want a basic wedding, I wanted something unique & different. I liked art castles in Texas but due to covid didn’t even get a tour. Stressing for a location we realized how about Vegas. We both always enjoyed going to Vegas & thought of looking to see if there was anything within our budget since covid was here knew it would be a challenge. Again, still wanted to find something unique for my wedding. 

THE PLANNING PROCESS: 

I took over the planning all by myself. I was looking for elopements as a possibility and came across Elopement Las Vegas and loved we had multiple choices for locations ON or OFF the strip. Choosing the location wasnt hard we both like outdoors & when I saw Mt Charleston I knew a snowy, winter wedding is what I wanted to go for. The best thing with Elopement Las Vegas I didn’t have to worry about any details. My stress level for the ceremony was low. All I had to do was answer the questionnaire, send pics of what I wanted as in the bouquet and any potential extras. Due to COVID I did stressed a lot with finding a location for dinner after especially with my guest count. More guests ended up coming to our wedding & luckily found a event center by the strip to host our guests for dinner. 

 The ceremony came out perfect, we wanted the backdrop to be our theme.  With the snow it gave fairytale vibes. Which is what I wanted!

YOUR OUTFITS AND ACCESSORIES

My colors were navy blue & silver (gray blueish tones) 

Marcelo is filipino,&  I wanted to incorporate his culture along with mine. A barong is a groom top for a wedding & felt it was too casual for the ceremony & thin material so we agreed on filipino tux. During the summer before the wedding we took a trip to the Philippines and we got a custom filipino tux style in the navy color. It came out perfect & he looked very handsome. 

For my wedding dress I knew I wanted a long sleeve lace dress that puffed up a bit at the bottom that gave off sparkle/shimmer. I wanted to feel like a Queen in a fairytale wintery wedding ceremony. I found mine at David’s bridal. I ordered a navy shawl off of Amazon to add color (in case it was snowy) (didn’t know if it would snow & it’s not guaranteed lol) My bouquet also was meant to give that color contrast as well. I am clumsy so I got white snow boots just in case didn’t want to slip. 

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

My most memorable moment was walking up the aisle, praying & kissing my husband in front of our family & friends. Our first dance was lovely dancing in the snow. My poor husband opening the champagne was a struggle haha snow in the ice bucket haha. Marcelos memorable moment are exchanging vows. & dancing our first dance. My favorite one is he & I alone having our very last moment together @ Mt Charleston dancing alone & taking in the moment as Mr & Mrs. 

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES

Our wedding planner Martha said it best to not forget to take it the moment. 

I say WRITE YOUR VOWS! I have a great memory & thought I’d memorize them & I forgot. With so the stress with it all I forgot what I wanted to say. Wish I had a copy of my vows handy to be able to deliver. Marcelos advice for grooms is to help the bride fulfill her dream wedding. “My dream is to make her happy” Do whatever she says haha 

Also, look up every pose you can think of for your photo shoot. That’s the moment to try it all. Even if you think it’s too much or might look weird. Just pose it lol 

Special thanks to Elopement Las Vegas  our ceremony was beautiful. You truly helped with the small details of the ceremony. I know if I wanted extra this or than yall would have made it happen. At the same time made our wedding feel unique and special. Thank you Martha & your team you truly made it all happen. We’re truly grateful for all your hard work. Marcelo & I are very happy with our wedding & our pictures. Thank you to our photographer we really didn’t know how to pose. No models here lol 

VENDORS

Officiant : Gayane M

Photographer : Kristen Joy Photo

Video: Lomax Wedding Films

Floral: Amy Wong Events