Remember how Mike and I got married on July 31st, 2010? Well. Two weeks ago, we realized that we are legally not married. Yep. I bolded that shit. That's how nuts that news was for us. For the last six months we have been going about our lives as husband and wife, but it turns out that was not technically true.
This is what happened... we think: Our officiant was supposed to mail our marriage paperwork back after everyone put down all the appropriate signatures. For whatever reason, this step did not occur. So when we went to go order a copy of the marriage certificate, the state told us that we are not legally married and that it was too late to send them the original paperwork from our July 31st nuptials.
We both let out a collective, "fuck." What were we supposed to do now? Take a day off of work and head down to the courthouse and do it that way? Or hit up the little chapel on Wilshire that we pass on our way to work everyday? We thought it over for the next week or so until I came up with the plan that would not only get us married, but would be a total blast for us in the process.
And that idea, my friends, was to get married in Vegas, cheesy chapel stylie. We literally booked the trip three days before we left, but everything just sort of fell into place with the greatest of ease... something that was completely foreign to me whilst planning our "first" wedding.
After our courthouse adventure, we checked into the Hard Rock Hotel (aka Ed Hardy/Affliction/Rockhead/Douche Central), then proceeded to get really bombed and didn't get back to the room until 4:00 AM. Twas a successful evening indeed.
We woke up the next morning, "our wedding day" morning, if you will, feeling a tad hungover. But since we were in Vegas, hangovers cease to exist the second you take your first sip of coffee and your first bite of buffet and take a stroll through the energy-filled casino. Feeling refreshed, we checked out of douche central and headed to PIMP CENTRAL, also known as The Cosmopolitan Hotel, the newest 5 star hotel on the strip. I found a smokin' deal on the room through OneTravel.com. For a studio suite, with a full kitchen, a huge whirlpool tub, an enormous terrace, two flat screen TV's, a wrap-around couch, free wi-fi, and the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in all for the bargain price of $99. Oh, and did I mention the room was the 58th floor? And that the view was kind of out of this world? Yeah, we kind of lucked out. This was the honeymoon suite we never had for our "first" wedding, and we were loving it.
Our ten person limo picked us up from PIMP CENTRAL around 9 PM. We were all pretty loaded already at this point, keep in mind. And things were only going to get crazier. The limo was white and gaudy and had the words "Heavenly Bliss Wedding Chapel" pasted across the heavily tinted windows. And the inside was decked out with a starry night rooftop and pleather seats. It was baller. We arrived at the chapel and almost immediately got shuffled into the chapel to say our "I do's."
All of the following images were taken by the house photographer at Heavenly Bliss Chapel. I had Dave walk me down the aisle (I love that he was wearing a Guinness T-shirt):
Mike and I call this whole experience our "happy accident." We got to have the big wedding and the cheesy fun Vegas wedding. We couldn't be more thrilled with the way this all turned out. So. Much. Fun. And yes, it feels fantastic to be legally married... even though we have felt married since July 31st :) Legal, schmegal (except when tax time comes around, of course).
AND we have a whole set of professional images shot by the incomparable Nick Radford to share with you all... he shot us in the limo on the way to the chapel, the entire ceremony, and then we took some artsy shots in The Cosmopolitan. A blog post on The Broke-Ass Bride Blog will feature them along with my tips for throwing an impromptu, FUN, cheap Vegas wedding. I will let you guys know when to expect that post. Stay tuned!
