Want to get married by Elvis at the Neon Museum? Here's How!

Step One: Get Inspired by all things Vintage Vegas

If you want to get married in Vegas by Elvis at the Neon Museum (or really anywhere), then you are probably someone who LOVES the vintage Vegas vibes and some good oldies! The Neon Museum is SUCH a great place to get married, but you might also want to get some pictures downtown, so you need to really get INSPIRED for what you can do before and after your ceremony! One of my favorite ways to get inspo is going on Pinterest, and looking through different searches like "Las Vegas elopement" or "downtown Vegas wedding" to really get some more ideas on colors, outfits, activities, and ways to really make your wedding about you! If you are looking for a great place to start, our Pinterest has TONS of curated inspiration for you to begin the elopement or wedding planning process!

Step Two: Book your wedding or photo session at the Neon Museum

Once you have some inspiration, the next step is to secure the location. Traditionally, the Neon Museum books up fast, but right now they are super booked out with reschedules due to covid-19 as well as new brides and grooms planning their day. Fall is the best time in Vegas for a wedding due to the BEAUTIFUL weather, but anytime you and your partner decide will be a special day no matter what. We have shot some mid-summer over hundred degree days, and they turned out to be some our most favorite weddings and elopements! As for how to actually book the Neon Museum as your venue, they have a few different options. The best way to find out all your options and different prices is to fill out their contact form directly on their website.

Option One: Book A Photo Session

They offer photo sessions, which can range from around $300-$500 typically, and gives you about 45 minutes in the gallery all to yourself and the photographer of your choice! This is a great option for those couples looking for a cheaper option and really want to visit the museum for the pictures! That way you can do something like a quick elopement in the desert of a chapel downtown, and then still get your pictures taken at the neon museum! Unlike some of the chapels downtown that don't let you choose your own photographer, or charge excessive prices to bring the photographer you want, the Neon Museum is all about letting you provide the photographer you want!

Here is some inspiration from Devon and Erik's photo session at the North Gallery! They booked a photo session right at sunset, and it was EPIC!! We headed there after their tunnel of love ceremony at the Little White Chapel downtown, so they got the best of both worlds!

Option Two: Book A Full Wedding Ceremony

The other option is to have your actual ceremony at the Neon Museum! The prices for this range from about $1000-$10,000 depending on the day of the week, the gallery you choose (North or Main gallery), day or night time, and how many guests! So you can go with a quick weekday ceremony with no seating for a little under $1000, or have a full blown ceremony plus reception for around $10,000. My favorite part of the Neon Museum is that they really cater to their couples by offering tiny ceremonies similar to going to a chapel but also offer the option for full blown weddings for those who want a more traditional wedding for hundreds of guests.

You do have to provide your own officiant, florist, photographer, videographer, etc. And depending on the package you choose, you will have to use one of their caterers, but who doesn't want an open bar at their ceremony anyways?!

If you need some more convincing on why you should have your wedding at the Neon Museum, check out Jolee & Ryan's wedding at the Neon Museum from just a few months ago! They went with the ceremony option at the North Gallery, which is the smaller collection of the two, but isn't it absolutely amazing?!?! Who wouldn't want to get married in from of the gorgeous red and gold Lady Luck sign? I am absolutely obsessed with the north gallery because it has some of the most vintage and gorgeous signs the museum has to offer!

Step Three: Book Your Wedding Photographer & Videographer

Once you have your date at the Neon Museum scheduled, you want to make sure you book the photographer and videographer of your dreams! Depending on the month, photographers in Las Vegas like us can be booked out a year in advance, so you want to make sure they are one of the first vendors you lock in! Our biggest advice is to make sure you get someone who you really vibe with their work, and can feel the love and emotion in their photos and films! While we hope you want to book with us, there are so many great photographers in Las Vegas, it really is hard to go wrong with whatever choice you make. One of the best parts about booking Hayway Films for both wedding photography and videography is that we bundle our prices, so it is more affordable than booking a photographer and videographer separately! In our opinion, booking a videographer is just as important as a photographer. While you will have the photographs to remind you of the day and can print them for your wall, the video will help you remember the sound of each others laugh, the way he may have forgotten the rings, the speech your dad gave, and all those precious memories that you may forget one the big day is over.

Step Four: Book Elvis as your Wedding Officiant!

There is nothing more fun than getting hitched in Vegas by Elvis! Many chapels downtown offer so many different Elvis officiants, even Sure Thing Chapel has Vegas's first female Elvis! While there are so many different options, one of our favorites is Travis Allen! One of the reasons why is because he is an amazing singer, so you can have him sing your your favorite Elvis Jam while you walk down the aisle! You can book him here!

If you need some more convincing, just check out Ryan and Jolee's wedding video here! Travis sang them down the aisle, and really made their ceremony so special!

Step Five: Book Your Hotel in Downtown Vegas

While your first though about eloping in Vegas might be to book a hotel at on the strip, we totally recommend booking your hotel at an awesome hotel downtown! One, you will be closer to the action, so you can literally walk out of your hotel and take pictures downtown! Two, the prices are much cheaper than on the strip, so you can save a little money and splurge on other things like a limo or see an awesome show on the strip (once all the shows open back up that is!). We both have lived in Vegas our entire lives, and while we love the strip, Downtown Vegas is really way more hip than people give it credit for! A lot of the hotels have been remodeled, so you can get super nice new rooms like at The D, for half the price of something of the strip. Not to mention, you can even book your stay at somewhere like at Circa, which is brand new! Another great option is The Artisan, with their epic lobby, bar, and rooms, you can even book one of their awesome huge suites without breaking the bank! There are some many great options downtown, and with the downtown hotels having way cooler neon signs, fun bars, and hip restaurants, it's our favorite option!

Step Six: Book an Awesome Florist!

We LOVE florals! They make such good props for photos and video, but also are just so much fun! If you have nothing else, we definitely recommend getting an awesome bouquet! Two of our favorite florists here in Las Vegas are Lucid Juliet & Mauloa Floral Design!

Lucid Juliet has a very groovy and wild style when it comes to floral design, using elements like disco balls, rhinestones and crystals to make the most epic bouquets, floor pieces and designs. For our own personal engagement photos, Haley and Erin of Lucid Juliet designed us the most amazing bouquet, full of feathers, rhinestoned flowers, disco balls, and dripping crystals to perfectly match our esthetic! Not to mention, the gorgeous photographs taken by the amazing Light & the Love Photography!

Our other favorite is Mauloa Floral Design! Her designs are gorgeous! No matter your inspiration, she always slays each bouquet, flower crown, or arch perfectly! This bouquet for Natalie and Ben's Vintage Vegas elopement at Cactus Joe's was incredible! Not to mention the flower clip she made!

Step Seven: Get your Marriage License

Now that you have your wedding all planned, your hotel and flights booked, all you need to do is get into Vegas a few days early to pick up your Clark County marriage license! You must visit the Las Vegas marriage Bureau to grab the legal paperwork needed to make your marriage official! Luckily Vegas makes it pretty easy since we are the marriage capital of the world! It's currently $77, and they are open until midnight, 7 days a week! Make sure to check for any changes on their website for fees and hours before stopping by here!

Bonus Step: Rent a Vintage Car!

This may not be for everyone, but those who really want to go all out and have a fun time and even more epic photos, getting a vintage car is one way to really top off your vintage Vegas elopement or wedding! Especially once the sun goes down, getting some epic spots in front of the headlights is one way to make all your friends who didn't get hitched in Vegas drool over your day!

And don't forget.. most important thing about your wedding day is to HAVE FUN!

This day is about your love, and the commitment between two people! If we can give your any advice as Las Vegas elopement photographers, who attend a LOT of weddings, it's to make sure to have fun and just let go of the expectations. At the end of the day, you won't remember that the ceremony started 5 minutes late, of that the flowers weren't the right shade of pink. This day should be about you and your love, and focusing on that part is the most important. Wether you have two guests or 200, making sure to have fun is the most important part!

We hope this helps you plan the most amazing Las Vegas elopement or wedding!

XOXO,

HAYWAY

Why Death Valley National Park needs to be on your bucket list

Whether you visit in the summer or the winter, for sunrise or sunset, Death Valley National Park will blow you away. There is a reason that the (temperature) hottest place in America is so (popular) hot, and it's not because of the heat. Living in Las Vegas, we are about 2-3 hours from the park, depending on what area we want to check out, which means that day trips are the way to go, but multi-day trips will give you even more time to explore this massive park.

From the salt flats at Badwater Basin (the lowest point in elevation in North America), to the Mesquite flats sand dunes, you will never be bored with the views Death Valley has to offer. Our first day trip to Death Valley was to check out the salt flats at Bad Water, and it is still one of my favorite days ever. We got up at 2 in the morning to make it there before sunrise. This was important because we went in July, and wanted to get out of the park before 10am when the temperatures got too hot.

The crazy thing about the summer at Death Valley is that when it's 2am, it's still 95 degrees out so you don't have to bother bringing jackets, and the heat doesn't really pick up till 10am when the sun gets higher in the sky. We had an amazing morning, and had the entire park to ourselves. We only saw maybe one or two cars the entire day, and when we were at Badwater, saw absolutely no one. We had the entire salt flats to ourselves from sunrise till the time we left a few hours later. This gave us the chance to shoot pictures in any direction we could dream of and not have to worry about getting any photo-bombers in the back.

The salt flats are seriously SO FREAKING COOL! The beautiful white ground with nothing else in sight for miles, except the distant mountains makes for such a unique and breathtaking spot for pictures. The name "badwater" comes from the spring-fed pool that has undrinkable water due to the salty surrounding basin. Depending on how far from the parking lot you walk and how many tourists have been there before you, the salt crust that covers the ground can be seen in these really cool hexagonal honeycomb shapes.

After spending a few hours hanging out at the salt flats, we headed up to Dante's View, which is also one of the top places to watch the sunrise in Death Valley and overlooks the Death Valley Basin. The drive up from badwater to Dante's is actually quite a climb in elevation, going from below sea level to over 5,400 ft. It was especially cool to be able to look down over badwater basin and point to where we just were! For the purpose of taking pictures, Dante's view is much better photographed in the morning or evening when the light is much more even and soft, but in terms of catching a spectacular view, Dante's is gorgeous at any time in any light.

Another cool part of Death Valley is the long and never ending roads in the middle of nowhere that make for some pretty great pictures. We were lucky to be in the park when no one else was, so we had the view points AND the roads all to ourselves. Also, we made sure to be far away from any turns or dips in the road where someone driving wouldn't be able to see us.

After our first Death Valley trip we had been drying to get back and the next time decided to catch the sunset at the mesquite flat sand dunes. We went in early march and were blessed with absolutely amazing weather. It had been raining on most of our drive from Las Vegas, but right when we got past Beatty and headed into the park, we were clear of the rain and the sand dunes were shaded by beautiful clouds that made for the most spectacular sunset. The weather was superb, I didn't even need a light jacket until the sun had completely wet. Here are some of my favorite sunset and post-sunset pics from that evening. If these don't inspire you to check out this freaking cool park right away, I don't know what will. It's definitely worth it because it offers something for everyone. The best part is that this park is worth visiting even if you don't hike or backpack. Other national parks are way cooler for those to camp and backpack to get off the roads and into the wilderness. This park, while offering amazing hiking, still offers amazing views for those who don't stray too far from their cars while in national parks.

The sand dunes are definitely a spot you don't want to miss out on seeing if you make your way to Death Valley. I can't say what the temperature of the sand is during the mid-summer months (I've heard it gets to be scorching), but in March it was just perfect. The sunset was so pretty to see from such a cool spot, and we were definitely not the only people who had that idea. The parking lot was packed, and the dunes were buzzing with people all playing around and catching the sunset on a perfect day. The great thing about the sand dunes is that all we had to do to get some privacy was just keep walking a little farther, and were able to enjoy the dunes as if we had them to ourselves.

One of my favorite parts is that the color of this sand is absolutely perfect for pictures. The yellow tint against the blue mountains and sky is such a complementary color palate for pictures. Don't get me wrong, white dunes and pink dunes are beautiful, but nothing complements skin color the way a nice warm background does. The clouds right after the sunset were such a cool dark blue and just made for such a cool contrast against the barren looking sand of the desert. I absolutely love when it rains in the desert and hope to catch these dunes during the rain sometime!

We stayed around after sunset to try and take pictures of the stars. Death Valley is such a great place to see the stars because you are so far from civilization that the light pollution is next to nothing out there, and you can actually see the milky way with your bare eyes. The moon was at a small waning crescent that night which made for great lighting to see the stars, but clouds were a worry. You can't see or take pictures of the stars if the clouds cover all of them... But we got lucky because right where the milky way is, the clouds were not. Using a tripod and bulb mode, we were able to get some shots of the stars with minimal cloud blockage. This bad boy was taken with approximately a 30 second exposure.

I hope I inspired you to get on the road and check out this massive desert treasure, because it's something people travel from all over the world to see.

XOXO,

HAYWAY