Real Weddings/Chic Weddings

An Ode To Elvis & Priscilla; Vintage Vegas Wedding At The Neon Museum

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If bursts of color, vintage fashion and wild good fun fit your fancy, this real Vegas wedding – an ode to Elvis & Priscilla – is going to knock your socks off.

The Aladdin Hotel may have been torn down years ago (the site of the famous Presley wedding) but that didn’t stop Tiffinie & Wayne from throwing a retro, rock and roll affair that would absolutely delight the celebrity duo. Taking place at the vibrant & cool Neon Museum, these nuptials are fit for a star couple.

While the signs may have been proper vintage the fashion twisted retro styles into trendy modern pieces. Tiffanie wore a super fun short wedding dress, with a blush pink feathered jacket (that we’re dying for!) and radical heart sunglasses. It’s easy to say, today’s real bride has serious style.

The whole day, shot by Kristen Kay Photography, looked like a riot, reawakening our interest in flashy vintage Vegas.

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Our Love Story

Wayne and I met through a mutual friend in February 2017 while I was on vacation. At the time, I was living in Lawrence, Kansas, where Wayne had gone to University. He was living in Nashville, Tennessee, where he had moved to after graduating four years previously. The first night of our Nashville trip, Wayne picked my friend and I up at our Airbnb and drove us to an in-store show at Grimey’s. We spent the next several nights hanging out and getting to know each other. The day after I got back home to Kansas, Wayne reached out via instagram and gave me his phone number, in case I wanted to stay in touch. Within a couple of days of phone calls and text messages, he had booked a flight home (Kansas) to visit and we impatiently counted down the 30 days until we could talk again, face to face.

I picked Wayne up at the airport in Kansas City just over a month after our initial meeting. It was Monday, March 27th, 2017. Five days later on April 1st, we both decided that the only thing that made sense was for him to move back to Lawrence, move in with me, get married and live happily ever after. I joked that we were going to “Dharma & Greg”-it, and the fact that he knew exactly what I was talking about sealed the deal. We, unlike Dharma & Greg, were going to wait for a year to actually get married however, and maybe wait to tell too many people. He gave me my engagement ring for my birthday at the end of November and that’s when it all became public knowledge.

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The Dress & Attire

I pulled inspiration from late 60s Rock ‘n Roll weddings, like Elvis and Priscilla and George Harrison and Pattie Boyd. I wondered, if Priscilla or Pattie were getting married in 2018, what would they wear? The first article of clothing or accessory that I bought for the wedding were my baby blue “Jadore” heart sunnies from Takesh Eyewear and I built the rest of my look around them. I decided to wear a little white dress a la Pattie but I had to add a feather shrug (Rosemary Shrug from BHLDN) as a nod to Vegas. Wayne found a slim fitting suit and some Beatle boots from ASOS.

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The Wedding Style & Venue

Essentially, I was on a quest to recreate Elvis and Priscilla Presley’s Vegas nuptials with plenty of vintage Vegas touches. We wanted to loosely imitate their perfect itinerary of a quick morning ceremony with brunch and mimosas to follow, allowing our guests the freedom of an open afternoon and evening.

As the Aladdin Hotel was torn down in 1998 and I couldn’t fully copy the Presley’s wedding, I figured going to The Neon Museum was the next best thing! They house old signage from vintage Vegas including Aladdin’s lamp, though we got married in the other gallery at the museum. After the ceremony we did brunch at The Golden Nugget buffet in all its Vegas glory.

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Favorite Moments

There were so many highlights to the day. For one, having my friends Katy and Sydney do hair and makeup at the crack of dawn. A resident kitty of The Neon Museum played with the roses our “Flower Girl” dropped during the ceremony. I was too busy trying not to weep in front of my friends to see this but the story is one of my favorite parts of the day.

Having everyone stay in the suite and watch The Kansas University versus Texas Tech basketball game following brunch was great. Because everyone stayed in The Real World Suite, my friend Sydney made a video for us in The Confessional Room and gave it to us after everyone went home the next day. It was so sweet to have a memento like that to capture the spirit of the day forever. Having our friends join us from every corner of the US to celebrate was just a dream come true.

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The Budget

We wanted to keep everything fun and simple as to insure everyone could really get the most out of their trip to Las Vegas. I wanted to keep the cost down as much as possible for our friends and we also wanted to make it easy for everyone to hang out together throughout the trip.

My aunt is the best and put our friends up in The Real World Suite the night before and the night of the wedding. This gave us space to not only celebrate privately, but also sleep and get ready with ease in a communal space. I so appreciate that we had that space and our friends had one less expense for the weekend.

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The Heirlooms & Details

In preparation and planning of the wedding, a good luck horseshoe became the official symbol of our marriage. We were married under the Horseshoe Casino sign in the Neon Museum. My aunt gave me a horseshoe ring and earrings that I wore. My friend Mary embroidered a handkerchief for me with a “W,” a “T,” and a horseshoe. We had a vintage wedding cake topper with a couple surrounded by a horseshoe. My friend Katy gave us good luck pennies with horseshoes and a vintage “Horseshoe Club, Reno” decanter.

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Advice to Other Couples

Have fun. The actual wedding day is over in the blink of an eye so don’t stress the small stuff.

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