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Do you have any tips for a Las Vegas wedding?

10 things to remember when getting married in Las Vegas

1. Holidays:Keep holidays in mind when choosing your Las Vegas wedding date. Valentine’s Day is a hugely popular date for weddings in Las Vegas, and while it might seem romantic, you may change your mind after waiting in line for a wedding chapel for up to five hours. New Year’s Eve is another busy wedding day in Las Vegas. It’s also party central for tourists, which means your out-of-town wedding guests may have trouble finding a flight or a hotel room unless you book a year in advance. Keep in mind that reception sites also will be booked solid during these holidays.

2. Weather:Las Vegas has beautiful, sunny weather most of the year. However, even though the summer months are popular for weddings, the weather here can be extremely hot and downright uncomfortable if you’re dressed in a tuxedo or a long, heavy gown. The hot sun can melt everything from the bride’s makeup to the icing on the wedding cake. Las Vegas temperatures can top the 100-degree mark from May until September. However, temperatures can be pleasant at night, so you might want to think about an evening ceremony if you absolutely must get married during the summer. Check out our weather section for a list of average temperatures.

3. The dress:Since Las Vegas has no waiting period for getting married, spur-of-the-moment weddings are a common occurrence. So where can you find a wedding dress with only a couple of hours notice? There are several places in Vegas that actually rent wedding dresses. Who wants to spend $2,000 on a dress you’re only going to wear once anyway? Oh, and remember the 100-degree temperatures? You might want to pick a dress that’s sleeveless.

4. Legal:Even though Vegas is known for quickie marriages, that doesn’t mean you can just waltz off the street into a chapel and get married. There are legal requirements you must meet before being issued a marriage license. Check out our section on the legalities of weddings in Las Vegas.

5. Witnesses:If you’re one of those couples who decide on an unplanned wedding, you might not have any guests in town, which brings up the question of having a witness at your ceremony. Not to worry — Las Vegas wedding chapels always have someone on hand to serve as a witness for your happy occasion.

6. Time:If you have your wedding in one of the hundreds of wedding chapels in Las Vegas, don’t expect a long ceremony or a lot of quality time in the chapel afterward. Because there are always several weddings scheduled in each chapel every day, you often are allowed only a half-hour of chapel time. Some chapels can be booked for longer times, but you usually end up paying more for those packages.

7. The official:Most wedding chapels in Las Vegas offer either a civil ceremony or a religious ceremony and provide you with a minister or rabbi. Keep in mind that most chapels don’t allow you to bring in an outside minister or other official to perform the ceremony.

8. Language:What if you come to Las Vegas to get married but you don’t speak English? Have no fear. Many wedding chapels in Las Vegas will perform ceremonies in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Japanese and other languages. Check out our hotel chapel guide to find chapels that offer foreign language ceremonies.

9. Wacky weddings:Las Vegas is the crazy wedding capital of the world. If you come here to get married, you don’t have to have a traditional ceremony. If you’re getting married in Sin City, why not make it a wild and crazy experience? Las Vegas wedding chapels offer unique weddings galore. You can get married in a drive-through chapel, get married by Elvis, have a Harley Davidson-themed wedding or even have a nude ceremony. Only in Vegas.

10. Hair and makeup:If you’re from out of town and you’re in Vegas for your wedding, you will probably want to find a hairstylist to help you prepare for the big day. Many hotels have salons or spas right on property. You also might want to try a local salon off the Strip. In either case, be sure to book your appointment well in advance and keep those holidays and weekends in mind. The salons can get booked up fast. There also are some services in town that will come directly to your hotel room to fix your hair for your wedding.

My parents don’t know about my tatoo. How can I hide it?

Q: I’m a grown woman and  my mother and father don’t know that I have a tattoo and I’m afraid for them to find out.  My dress will DEFINITELY leave part of it exposed.  Any thoughts on how to cover this up?

A: Even though we suggest honesty is the best policy, you can cover everything up for the fitting with a Tattoo Cover Kit. The kit is around $25 and, while it sounds to me a bit complicated to actually execute, it’s probably good enough.

For the wedding day itself though, you might consider getting more serious and bring on a professional make up artist for the day. While anyone can cover your tattoo really well, the best bet is definitely airbrushing… it tends to not rub off on your dress or on others and can tolerate the heat.

What can you do instead of a guest book?

Something new and different is a “Wish Tree.” Right when your guests walk in to your wedding or reception, can be displayed an actual tree (could be a real Ficus – for indoors – or something to plant at their home or a silk tree) where guest can write a special “wish” and roll it up and tie it onto the tree or it can be a small card that’s hung on the tree. The bride and groom keep the wishes and place the tree wherever they would like to always have a special reminder of the wedding day.

When do you cash a wedding check?

This is a good question.

I’d suggest you examine the date on each check. It’s relatively common for people to post-date wedding gift checks for the actual wedding day, so you can’t actually deposit those beforehand. Otherwise I’d deposit them immediately knowing that many people don’t keep registries and if you wait months and then cash the check it might throw off their balance. If you cash them immediately, then I recommend you also immediately write your thank you note.

However, I would suggest that any check that arrives less than two weeks before the wedding be held and not deposited until after the wedding. I say this only because some people who give late gifts will assume the check won’t be deposited until after the wedding, and may not have money in their bank until that date.

When should we send out engagement photos?

If you are planning on using your engagement photos on your save-the-date cards, make sure your photographer has them ready for you about nine months ahead of your wedding date, which is when you should send out your save-the-date cards. (If you don’t know your wedding date and location at the nine-month mark, send them out as soon as you have those details.)

If you are planning on running your engagement photo in your local newspaper’s engagement announcement section, find out from the editor when you need to have your photo and text sent in.

You do not have to mail your engagement photo by itself to friends and family. You may want to show them to both your immediate families, in case they want to order copies of them; but you do not need to mail them to your guests.

I am confused. Can I do couple setting cards, or should they be for each guest attending?

Place Cards (or escort cards) is a fantastic way of doing a couple of things: the first and most important is giving you an accurate count of guests that will be attending your reception. Yes, everyone should have their own card, including children. It’s always a good idea to have everyone’s name so that you may include them as you are designating seating. The other wonderful thing about place cards is that they serve as perfect cues to the servers if you plan to offer your guests entree choices on your response cards (i.e fish, chicken or vegetarian selection). This will give your catering staff the opportunity to see the entree selection (i.e. special meal, children’s meal requirements etc.) as opposed to asking your guests when it comes time to serve.

What exactly are the groom’s parents responsible for paying and doing for the wedding?

Traditionally, the grooms family pays for their own wedding attire, their own travel and lodging, a wedding gift for the bride and groom and the rehearsal dinner. Another thing I’ve heard of the grooms parents paying for is the honeymoon.

A friend of mine is holding my bridal shower at her house. Do I need to bring a hostess gift?

Absolutely. In fact, you should show your gratitude for her efforts both in writing and with a present. You can give her a personal token of appreciation either before or after the party or send flowers in advance so she can use them as a shower decoration.

What is the appropriate way to check in with guests who have not RSVP’d to my wedding?

There’s really no choice but to directly ask the invitees via phone,email or in person if they are planning to attend-however, you can always solicit the help of your attendants to do the dirty work. To ease the awkward nature of these conversations, phrase your inquiries like this: “Aunt Mary, it’s Beth. I hope you’ve received our wedding invitation. We need to give the our final numbers to the caterer this week, and I haven’t received your response card,so I’m calling to ask if you and and Uncle Bill plan on coming to the wedding. We hope you’ll be able to join us!” Do not point fingers or lay blame regarding their forgetfulness. After all, invitations and response cards are occasionally lost in the mail.

I don’t want to spend my entire reception posing for pictures. How can I speed up the photographer so I can eat, drink and be merry?

Be prepared to cast superstition aside and take the bulk of your pictures with your groom, his family, your family and your attendants before the ceremony. Although it makes for an even longer day, snapping photos of your wedding party a couple hours before the ceremony will guarantee you more fun-time later. If you and your fiancé don’t want to sneak a peek at each other prior to the “I do’s,” prepare a list of each formal photo you want taken after the ceremony. Designate one list-keeper and have her organize groups of people so they’re photo-ready as soon as the previous group is finished. You can also build in extra time—no more than two hours—before the reception starts. One more solution: Hire a photographer who specializes in candids. Just make sure someone points out the family VIPs to him.