Neon Nuptials: The Complete Guide to Las Vegas Weddings (Paperback)

Joyce Hollister, Nevada Magazine
Any bride heading to Glitter City will find whatever she needs in this book.

Book Description
The Marriage Capitol of the World!
Las Vegas attracts couples in love as San Juan Capistrano draws swallows. More than 120,000 couples annually flock to sin City to tie the knot, most at one of the nearly 60 wedding chapels of popular imagination and lore.

NEON NUPTIALS: THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO LAS VEGAS WEDDINGS is the first of its kind: a no-holds-barred, independent, critical, and fun look at how and where to get married in Las Vegas. It visits each and every chapel—with a few stops at other less typical venues—and tells anticipatory brides (and at least a few grooms) exactly what's in store. If the proprietor is rude, you'll know. If the Web site pictures are a sham, it's noted. If couples roll through like cars on an assembly line, it says so right here in the book. You'll know everything there is to know about the beautiful, the bad, the kitschy, and even the touching in chapeldom. You'll even learn about some of the best places to stay, eat, and play.

It's your wedding, your day. NEON NUPTIALS helps ensure it will be as joyous and memorable as it should be ... even if Elvis doesn't preside.

Review: Wedding guide, vegas style
I was really impressed by the information contained in this book, you definitely feel confident about planning a wedding from a far. i enjoyed the little snippets of historical significance and i truely believe this book will make our journey to the states and the alter one to remember!

Review: Romance in Vegas
After reading about a local couple renewing their vows in Las Vegas with an Elvis impersonator performing the ceremony, it doesn't surprise me that there's a whole book devoted to Las Vegas weddings.
This book covers the pricing, description of the facility, hours, types of ceremonies and even languages spoken. It also factors in how clean they are, how romantic, friendly and even how oddball the place might be.
If you're thinking of taking the plunge into matrimony, this book will help you plan the ultimate Las Vegas wedding.

Review: Fun and Informative
This is a great guide to getting spliced in Lost Wages. Van Vechten has a nice style - He's very informative, but keeps things light and humorous. Even if you're not planning on getting married anytime soon, it's a fun read and a good addition to your Vegas library.

Review: Going to the Chapel
Ken Van Vechten has written a book that tells us everything we would want to know about how to get arried in Las Vegasand what kind of experience it would be. The book is thoroughly up to date and even has the new 1 billion dollars WYNN Hotel erected by Steve Wynn. The author says this is his first book but his writing style is so slick and stylish that immediately it clicks, makes you want to go there and share in the fun and who knows, propose? He goes to every wedding chapel on the strip and beyond, and rates them for their various amenities, including if there is a dressing room available for the bride (and//or the groom)-something that will come in extremely useful. Along the way he tells funny stories, some scandalous, about the different celebrity weddings held in these chapels over the years. Remember when Britney Spears got married the first time-to a "friend"? You'll hear the inside scoop here.

But it's not just about weddings. Through the magic of Van Vechten's prose you'll feel like you're driving in an open convertible right through the heart of the world's most improbable real estate. He even suggests free things you might like to do if you're there on a budget. He tells you the best ways to book rooms at the hotels, and he discusses why the square foot rate of the average Vegas hotel room is so different than the general rate prevalent in all of America. (It's bizarre!) The little sidebars along are worth the price of this book. And there's more about weddings themselves than most people know: did you realize that every flower in the bride's bouquet has some arcane significance? Ken Van Vechten does and he provides a list to help you deconstruct the arrangement!




Las Vegas Weddings: A Brief History, Celebrity Gossip, Everything Elvis, and the Complete Chapel Guide [BARGAIN PRICE] (Paperback)

From Publishers Weekly
Although Las Vegas is in a county that boasts less than .5% of America's population, it's host to about 5% of the country's weddings. With everyone from Britney to the couple next door getting hitched there, the city's matrimony industry is indeed fascinating and rife with quirky detail. First-time author Marg captures some of the phenomenon, but the book's lack of a cohesive organization often makes it feel as rushed as a quickie wedding. After giving a history of the city and its wedding establishments, Marg presents lengthy stories of celebrities who've married there, complete with observations on their relationships. This kind of chatty commentary wears thin quickly; it's followed by an extensive section on Elvis that seems far too detailed, even for the king of Vegas. Another shift occurs when Marg writes about Ron DeCar, who owns one local chapel. Although DeCar is charming, Marg's abrupt change in writing style from essayistic prose to article format is jarring. Marg does excel in describing the city's wedding history, juxtaposing Vegas's rise as gambling capital with its pursuit of bridal traffic, and the result is compelling. In general, though, readers looking to tie the knot in Sin City will gain more by cruising down the Strip in person.

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Book Description
Fast, fun, and incredibly well researched, Las Vegas Weddings is the ultimate guide to getting hitched, Elvis style. Covering everything from the rise of the town to legendary star marriages and an entire section devoted to "The King," it even has a chapel guide to help budding young couples plan their own Vegas wedding getaway. Filled with rare photographs and never-before-heard stories, it also includes:

Colorful descriptions of the town's funky stand-alone chapels and the Strip's swankiest resorts
A unique look at Elvis impersonators
More than fifty celebrity weddings, from Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thorton to Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward
Theme weddings, like Star Trek, Camelot, or Elvis's Blue Hawaii
And much, much more

Review: VERY CONVINCING
My fiancée is a huge Vegas fan. He tries to go there once a year with the guys. He gave me this book as a joke, hoping that I might consider Vegas for our nuptials. Well, guess what? I'm thinking about it. Like most people, I think, I have always considered Las Vegas weddings a bit cheesy, but that's all in the past. As the author points out, Vegas stands for fun with glitz and glamour thrown in. Well, I probably won't get married in Vegas (although I now know where to turn for chapel-shopping), but I can certainly see why so many people visit Las
Vegas again and again.

Review: GREAT POP CULTURE BOOK
Last March my wife and I had a renewal of vows ceremony at a Las Vegas wedding chapel with an Elvis impersonator. This book perfectly captures the fun and excitement of our experience. This book makes a perfect souvenir of the occasion. We are giving copies to all our guests who had joined us. For all pop culture buffs this is a perfect book for their personal libraries.



Fodor's Las Vegas 2005 (Fodor's Gold Guides) (Paperback)

Book Description
Stroll beneath the world's most dazzling neon, discover which buffet lines are worth the wait, learn the lingo before you join the game or snag tickets for the most liquid stage —Fodor's Las Vegas 2005 offers all these experiences and more! Our local writers have traveled the Strip and beyond to find the best hotels, restaurants, attractions and activities to prepare you for a trip of stunning variety. Before you leave for Sin City be sure to pack your Fodor's guide to ensure you don't miss a thing.

The San Francisco Chronicle sums it up best —"Fodor's guides are saturated with information."

-New compact trim size make these guides even more portable
-Two-color interior design makes it easier to find the information you need
-Fodor's Choice Ratings flag must-see sights and hidden treasures
-Hotel and restaurant reviews cover all budgets
-Plus multi-day itineraries to help you build the right trip for you and/or your family



Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guide to Las Vegas (Eyewitness Travel Top 10) (Paperback)

Book Description
With a new design and unbeatable price, DK raises the bar on travel guides with its new Top 10 Travel Guide series.

Whether on business or vacation, take the work out of planning any trip with DK's Top 10 Travel Guides. Building on the success of the Eyewitness Travel Guides, DK has created a new series that makes finding the best every destination has to offer even easier than before. Whether searching for the finest cuisine or cheapest places to eat, the most luxurious hotels or best deals on places to stay, the coolest family destination or hottest nightspot, the Top 10 format allows travelers to use the insights of experts to make the most of their vacation. Accompanied by a companion website, readers can share their experiences and vote for their own personal Top 10s.

The Vegas Strip on Less Than a Hundred a Day..., November 3, 2002

Planning a little trip to the Glitter Gulch? Budget impaired like myself? Let Eyewitness help you plan your trip. Essentially it will be all you need to purchase for 'the what to do in and how to survive Vegas' for the first time Vegas goers. It's what I used for my recent trip and I found it to be invaluable.
I'd like to, of course, add my two cents in.

*Take some comfortable, comfortable shoes as well as a lot of shorts and shortsleeve shirts/blouses, like Eyewitness suggests. Fergoshsakes, Vegas is still the desert. And plus all the things that you are going to want to see and do may take some walking and standing. The MGM Grand Lion Habitat had a lot of on lookers when we went--it's a free exhibition--but it was also near midnight and even then we had to manuever to see something.

*There's a strip trolley that costs like a buck and some change that hits all the places as far north as the Stratosphere.(You can take the city bus which rides til 1-2 in the AM to go downtown to the Fremont Experience and Glitter Gulch.) The only problem with this is that these trolleys go the service routes and in these routes are those speed bumps that end up jostling the passengers. Not too cool. But its one of the best bargains going. By the by, if you are needing a lift from the airport to any of the strip hotels, there are plenty of limos--some are specific for the hotel--and shuttles (the one I got was $4.50 one way). Save yourself a buck or two and take the time to find out.

*If you really like your slot buck to go a long way, play penny slots. I know that there are some at the Stardust and Circus Circus and I'm sure there are plenty elsewhere, so if you are convinced that your luck is going south but still wanna play something, try 'em out. Other than that, like Eyewitness suggests, ask the cabbie or the croupier where they usually go to play. Most of the time it's a casino where all the locals go to get more milage out of their $.

*Cabbies and folks wanting you to do a quick two minute questionnare--usually about a time share--well, they give out free shows and dinners! Some shows are free with the purchase of a beverage of some sort. They are a god send. Like Eyewitness says, though, be careful of the xxx shows.

*Eyewitness tells you which exhibition, which museum, which show is going to cost a lil dough and which is free. Expect to pay something for one of thse roller coaster rides that f'rinstance shoot in and out of New York New York. In fact, the entire Eyewitness section of 'Streetsmart' should be required along side the Gideon's for every hotel room in Vegas and I don't lie...gaming risks, tips, ways to stay safe and healthy during your stay. These things are priceless tidbits of information.

*The cheapest thrill is to see any or all of the Strip at night.
It will make you want to come again, but with more $$ to spend.
And the Eyewitness Top 10 will again be a valued resource....

Review: Eyewitness does it again!
We used this guide in March and found it most helpful in determining which places we'd like to see and what to do in the three days there. The Around the Region section is perfect for those of you who plan to be in Vegas 4-5 days or longer. From festivals, spas, outdoor activities, buffets to the grandest resorts...everything is covered with great photos for visually-based decisions. I would recommend this for all first time Vegas visitors.

Review: Very useful
I am planning to go to Las Vegas and so I bought this book. This is really useful. I especially like the photos and they make me more looking forward to my trip. Of course, since this is a pocket book, you cannot expect too much detail from it. However, this is more than enough for me who is going for a 5- to 6-day trip.

Review: Travel Guide to Las Vagas
Appears to be a good guide of Las Vagas.Small enough to put in your purse.

Review: Compact, stylish and a joy to use
This Top 10 Las Vegas book is simple to use, but provides all the information you need to enjoy a short stay in Las Vegas. It will keep you occupied with things to do between 1-2 weeks. For longer-term stays, try using a more comprehensive guide. The Eyewitness Guide to Southwest USA & Las Vegas is a letdown, though. Ironically, it covers less of Las Vegas than the Top 10 guide does.

Review: too thin
This book is thinner and shorter than the original Eyewitness series. While I liked all the pictures and the top 10 shows, I felt like everything was covered in only 5 sentences. Plus I had to wonder if the book was paid by certain companies to feature them. For instance, why is there a 2 page spread on the Aladdin hotel when I can think of better theme hotels to be featured. They list 10 tour companies but only the ones that offer the most expensive trips like helicopter rides. I feel like this a good starter book to get a quick idea of everything that's available, but you really need an additional in-depth guide.