Besides it being so very easy to get married in Vegas, one of the reasons we chose it is that neither of us has ever been there. So, we really could use advice on what to see, where to eat, things to not miss. Suggestions we’ve gathered so far: take the bus trip to see the Hoover Dam, go see the shark tanks at Mandalay Bag, fountains of the Bellagio, gondola ride at the Venitian. I’ve only scratched the surface of information about Vegas with restaurants with a view and the Las Vegas Advisor. We’re planning on seeing Penn and Teller, and one of the Cirque du Soleil shows.
So, if you have recommendation I’d very much appreciate it. I mean, I doubt we’ll run out of things to wander around and see but it’s always nice to have a destination in mind.
Titanic Artifacts, if you’re at all into the Titanic.
If you want to see a Cirque show - I highly recommend “O”. It is really a good show - but splurge for the wet seats (or any more towards the center - otherwise it is hard to see!) : )
One of my favorite things to do in Vegas has nothing to do with Vegas. I don’t know if you & Scott are the outdoor types but, instead of just taking the bus trip to Hoover Dam, Boulder City Outfitters offers guided and self-guided kayak and canoe tours of the Colorado River, which begin at the base of the Hoover Dam and go 11 miles downriver to Willow Beach, AZ. My family and I have done several versions of this trip, both guided and not, and sometimes we’ve camped, other times done the entire trip in a day. It’s not too taxing, physically (really—I am not at ALL athletic), and is really a beautiful trip. E-mail me if you want more info, I’m happy to share!!
Don’t forgot the lions at the MGM!
You’ve definitely got to check out Chihuly’s glass work inside the Bellagio. It’s stunning!
2 recommendations:
1) If you are into buffets and want to each cheaper, try changing up your meal times a bit. Eat lunch around 3, just before the lunch prices end and you won’t need more than a snack for dinner. Probably not the best tip for a honeymoon, but thought I’d throw it out there.
2) If you’re into beautiful scenery enough to rent a car, I highly recommend taking a day to visit Bryce Canyon and/or Zion. Both are stunning.
I’m not hiding my real email address from you, but I am hiding from the world (haha). Secret: my husband and I eloped to Vegas & got married by Elvis a year before our actual wedding because I needed health insurance, and we didn’t tell anyone.
While we were there, we saw Cirque Du Soliel’s “Love,” which I would highly, highly recommend. Most of the Cirque shows are amazing, actually. Definitely try to stay on the strip, because it’s a lot more fun that way. Also, if you feel like spending some money, we really liked the Buffet at Wynn.
How fun! Found your site through your other one.
I got married 5 years ago in Vegas, and we’re going back in May to renew. Can’t wait!
Things to do:
Take the tour of the Hoover Dam
Walk around all of the casinos–they are huge and fascinating
Go to Downtown Las Vegas at night
Tao in the Venetian is a great Asian fusion restaurant
Social House in the TI is great too
Buffets: Paris & Planet Hollywood
Breakfast and coffee: Tintoretto Bakery at the Venetian, The Coffee Shop at TI
Roller Coaster at NYNY is fun if you are into that kinda thing
When we were there, we also bought tickets for a comedy show at the Tropicana–it was only $10 and it was fun–there were 2 comedians I’d never heard of, but it was funny.
Go to Red Rock! I got married in Vegas too at the Paris hotel. Best decision ever!
I was there a couple of weeks ago. “LOVE” is absolutely amazing. We also had great meals at Mon Ami Gabi, Bouchon, and the Buger Bar.
Thank you for all of these suggestions!
If you have a car, Valley of Fire State Park is amazing.
We went camping at, uh, Valley of Fire or something? It was pretty cool and desert-y and not far from Vegas. It was also relatively conveniently located near Lake Mead, if memory serves.
Also, if you want to go shopping, Unica Home is in Vegas: http://www.unicahome.com/catalog/index.asp?cid=106
And congrats!
The best cirque show is supposed to be O. It’s the only cirque show that you can never find discounted tickets for…that’s how good it is! I heard you will only like Love if you’re REALLY into beatles songs.
There’s only 2 things that are must do’s for me when I go to vegas….buffet eating (best all around: Rio, best sunday brunch: Paris, best splurge: wynn or bellagio)
The other thing is shop…there’s a few outlets out there that are pretty good!
congrats on your engagement…i’m getting married too! in aug
Get race driver’s lessons at the Mario Andretti Racing School at the Las Vegas Speed Way (http://www.andrettigordon.com/). It is a bit expensive but is the only way you can drive 200 mph without a sponsor.
Definitely see “O”. The best. Ever. I would say “KA” is their second best there. Also highly recommend the Bellagio Sunday Brunch buffet and drinks at the Ghostbar at Palms or VooDoo Lounge at Rio, for fun views of twinkling Vegas at night. If you want to eat off strip & like French food, Pamplemousse is quite good! You’ll love Vegas - always so much to see & do!
THE WYNN BUFFET. Its expensive and ridiculous, but so so so delicious. I ate too many shrimps when I was there!
We had a lot of fun playing games and watching the circus acts at Circus Circus.
My husband and I were (legally) married at Cupids Wedding Chapel, the same place his parents were married!
I’ve never been to Vegas, but if they have a Blue Man Group show, put that on your must list. Oh, and don’t get the “messy seats”…. They give you a poncho, but IMHO they’re still gross.
Red Square at Mandalay is a russian bar that has a happy hour deal. Two vodka martinis and you get cavier with all the fixins for free!
There’s an art gallery at the Bellagio that always has amazing stuff and is dirt cheap compared to the show tickets. I think the last time I was there it was $15 and had a ton of pieces that were worth a good, long look. Have fun!
We eloped 12 years ago and saw Penn and Teller on our wedding night. (And one of the Cassidy brothers in FX the night before! Sigh!)
I loved going to get the marriage certificate at midnight, cuz there are some crazies downtown then.
Eat lunches at the super-expensive restaurants instead of dinner. Still great food, just less pricey. Milk the wedding thing for all it’s worth - you’ll get free stuff if you ask!
Congratulations!
All of the food in Vegas is phenomenal so check out everything!!
Also….for AMAZING pics…go to the Neon Boneyard…I wish I would have known about this place before I got married!! You can check out some pictures on beckersblog.com
Congrats and have fun planning!
I think we have to go to Vegas this year…
Congratulations Megan! I would highly recommend an old school Vegas gig with topless showgirls and all. I saw Jubilee years and years ago and it was great fun. There was also a magician, I think Lance Burton, before he got big. Jubilee may still be playing too.
I’m a Beatles fan, (putting it out there) so I highly recommend Cirque’s LOVE. It’s spectacular, with a little bit of audience participation near the end.
Plus, I’ve done just about all the buffets on the strip. I have to say that the one at the Bellagio is, by far, the tastiest.
And, for some quirky and fun things to consider doing in Vegas, check out Anthony Bourdain’s episode of NO RESERVATIONS when he visits Sin City. He listed a couple non-strip places to check out, the names of which escape me as I type. I just remember thinking, “How cool! So Vegas of yesterday!”
Finally, you HAVE to check out The Boneyard, http://www.neonmuseum.org/boneyard.html, a blast from Las Vegas’ neon past.
I recommend the Blue man Group (and second the non-messy seats. The view is fine in the back and don’t be late! They will embarrass you!)
I also think that Mon Ami Gabi is a great view. It is a chain but the food is good, solid french bistro style. Make a reservation to sit on the patio so you can see the Bellagio fountains and hear the music.
Liberace Museum:
http://www.liberace.org/liberace_museum/
I bought my favorite (most asked about) pair of socks there (Liberace’s face and a piano).
I would highly recommend getting a car if you aren’t planning on renting one. That way you can drive out to the dam yourself. Also, it’s amzazing how you will relish the coolness of a/c. all cars have a/c, even the cheap ones!
Jason and I eloped to Vegas, but we didn’t tell anyone, so we couldn’t ask for suggestions on places to go or things to do. I felt like we spent a lot of time there walking around feeling lost and not really enjoying the city. But that’s really not relevant.
After our ceremony we had our two person reception at Picasso in the Bellagio and it was incredible. Besides booking the chapel, this was the only other reservation we made and it was well worth it. When we booked I told the reservations desk that this was our first meal as a married couple and they made sure to seat us next to the window so we could see the water show during dinner.
And that’s all I’ve got for recommendations. I’m sure you will have a great time!
Been getting your blog updates on my RSS for quite some time, congratulations on your upcoming marriage.
Saw a special for tickets to the Penn and Teller show in Vegas in my email today, thought I’d pass along the link. Hope you can score some tickets at a reduced price.
http://shows.travelzoo.com/las-vegas-shows/550514?utm_source=top20_us&utm_medium=email_top20
Julie Anne - Thanks so much!
Regan - Thank you for the restaurant recommendation, I’m going to try to see if we can get a similar table. Though, with Scott and I, our intentionally important anything inevitably turns out to suck (ask me about our “yay we just got engaged” dinner) so I’m not going to get my hopes up. We picked Vegas partly because there is so much going on that if something is less than pleasant we can at least move on to the next thing.
Congrats! I live in Vegas - I actually grew up here, which is kind of rare here these days!
I would highly suggest getting off the strip and experiencing the desert. The loop at Red Rock is a beautiful drive with plenty of places to stop and hike or just look around. Valley of Fire is beautiful with lots of things to see and great hikes. Zion is only about 2 hours away and is one of our favorite places to go. And the town of Springdale, where Zion is located, it adorable and artsy.
A little known, but really great thing to do is take the Mine Tour at the Techatticup Mine. It is an actual old gold mine. The tour is full of great old west stories and history. They have a bunch of historic buildings that are fun to check out. They just started started doing horseback rides, and it’s near Lake Mojave, so they rent kayaks, too. This is their website - although it doesn’t really do them justice: http://www.eldoradocanyonminetours.com/
I have enjoyed your blog for a quite awhile and would love to help you out if you need any local info. Feel free to email me!
i thought the hoover dam was kind of lame. i wish we had skipped it.
the rest of vegas is pretty awesome though. it’s almost hard to go wrong. i totally recommend just doing one big meal per day or you will die of overeating. either lunch or dinner, but have something light for the other one. it’s going to be great!
I got married at Treasure Island 5 years ago. It was fun. We were going to renew our vows at the Star Trek experience, but they closed last summer.
We saw the Cirque show Mystere and were disappointed. I thought it was annoying. My husband saw O and thought it was amazing. We went to a burlesque show called La Femme that was fantastic. I would definately see that again. I wish we had seen one of the shows with the crazy headpieces and everything. I mean, that’s part of what Vegas is famous for, you know?
I was also really disappointed with the food, but my husband is vegan so that really limited us.
I really liked the brunch buffet at Paris and the buffet at Bellagio was amazing! If you don’t do the dinner buffet, it’s a bit cheaper.
The Cirque du Soleil show Ka was great and I highly recommend it.
The view at the Stratosphere was probably one of the best things I did in Vegas. I think it’s only $10 and you get a great view! It’s amazing at night.
Seconded: Liberace museum is a not to be missed super cheap quintessentially Las Vegas activity that only the bravest of tourists ever make. Because you have to transfer from the Deuce to the Tropicana Ave bus. AND TAKE IT PAST UNLV *GASP/OH NOES*
Srsly, the best. As a local, I would recommend nothing else
And I don’t know what people are talking about — all the food is great, I am a happily well-fed vegan. I would second the rec on the Burger Bar. The chef is famous and has pricier restaurants in the area, but where else can you get a burger with quail eggs, truffles and sweet potato fries?
If you like asian food, though, the Hamada is where the locals go. It is also east on Tropicana. Another classic off-strip spot is the Tillerman steakhouse. It has trees inside–very fairytale.
Both of those are pricier. Now that I think about it, when you go to the Liberace museum, Tivoli Gardens, once owned by Liberace, is right there and is reasonable to cheap and FANTASTIC. My sister had 2/5 wedding receptions there, and it is great tacky old school vegas. PERFECT for newlyweds.
She also got married at Little Chapel of the West once, where Elvis got married. I remember the couple before included an enormously pregnant skinhead. Ah, you just can’t buy that kind of Vegas experience <3
Married in Vegas almost four years ago… have to see a cirque show! Not only the fountains at the Bellagio, but the Conservatory & Botanical Gardens. They decorate depending on the season, its extremely immaculate. We went here directly after our ceremony and took wedding photos. We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful backdrop. Our pictures are Gorgeous! Sometimes you have to wait for someone behind you to walk away, but its great for photography. I recommend getting cake from Freed’s bakery. Its not on the strip, but they sale wedding cake and grooms cake - by the slice! Its DELICIOUS!!! Worth it! Congrats and enjoy your trip!
Regan suggested Picasso at the Bellagio, we had our first dinner at Prime in the Bellagio (its a steak place). Their entrances sort of face each other and both overlook the fountains… its gorgeous! We also made a reservation ahead of time. Good recommendation Regan. AND, we were even lucky enough to be escorted out on the patio after our meal, behind a roped off area, and a Bellagio photographer took our picture with the fountains right behind us. They came back in 15 minutes with a fancy/professional photo and a very unique view. Most folks don’t see the fountains at ground level from ‘inside’ the Bellagio.
Well, all the vegan food we ran into on the Strip ended up being pasta or vegetable sandwiches. But I don’t think Megan is vegan, so it is a moot point.
m, you know the best story i have about vegas revolves around how the catholic church behind bally’s takes casino chips in the offerings. it’s really the small, unexpected things so i’d leave a couple hours to go to places like downtown las vegas (ye olde strip) and a couple turns at the midways of excalibur or mgm grand (i used to have a collection of stuffed white tigers and leopards that i won when i was underaged for the casinos). another oldie but goodie is the fountain at the forum shops at ceasars. also, aqua at the bellagio was quite good.
i like to visit the “pinball hall of fame” while i’m in town. http://www.pinballmuseum.org/ bring a bunch of quarters and play for a few hours/minutes!
i’ve also enjoyed the elvis-a-rama museum and the atomic testing museum where you can experience a simulated atomic blast in your wedding gear.http://www.atomictestingmuseum.org/
Get really drunk and stay up all night playing the penny slots.
Also, see the tigers are the Mirage. The garden at the Bellagio are really great.
good thing i did some googling. i was about to recommend spam-a-lot at the wynn, but it’s closed.
my other recommendation involves gambling. i’ve never been big on gambling, but it’s fun to do a little bit while you are there. if you want the table experience, don’t gamble at the big casinos. the table minimums will just break your heart when you lose. go to a smaller/less extravagant casino where you’ll find cheaper tables and the dealers have more time and patience. if you want to stay on the strip, try monte carlo or excalibur. or try a casino in downtown las vegas.
i don’t think it’s possible to do this unless you had a room key, but the corner elevators at the luxor are neat as they go up the sides of the pyramid.
aureole at mandalay bay is a restaurant that focuses on wine. they have this big giant wine tower thing with a “wine angel” that flies around inside it to fetch your bottle. neat to poke your head into to look at, even if you don’t eat there.
i’ve never stayed at mandalay bay, but it’s on our list. i just want to use their pool which looks amazing. there’s a “beach” area and a wave pool. and a lazy river, where you just sit in an innertube and float around and around.
and last.. my vote for brunch or lunch is at flamingo buffet. not too expensive, great food and you can sit next to the big windows and watch the pink flamingos.
congratulations to you guys!
When I went to Vegas, I purchased a Rough Guide to Las Vegas– a small guidebook just on the city. It was great and suited us well– it was slightly sarcastic and bitchy, and covered both “traditional” tourist activities and some that were more off the beaten path. We really enjoyed doing both, and also thought that its food recommendations were spot on. Besides simply wandering around, some of the best things we did were free or low cost– the afternoon shows at casinos, the Elvis Museum, and the Liberace Museum. The volunteers at the Liberace Museum were especially helpful and friendly.
Admit I didn’t read ALL the many suggestions, so may be repeated. Some advice - Vegas is in the desert, so buy a case of bottled water first thing. The tap water is gross. Also, bring comfortable shoes. Blocks in Las Vegas are 1 mile by 1 mile.
Tournament of Kings show at the Excalibur is a lot of fun, even though it’s kinda cheesy and meant for families.
Check out all the free shows - in the Forum Shops as Caesars and the Pirate Battle at Treasure Island.
If you get married at the Venetian on a gondola, the ride is free. (That’s what we did!) Though, it’s a very public ceremony.
It’s hard not to find a good meal in Vegas, but we really enjoyed the Burger Bar at Mandalay Bay shops, crepes at Paris, Chinois at Caesar’s.
Your post got me thinking…and that I forgot to mention that the Blue Man Group show is a lot of fun. We saw it twice (once at old location Luxor, once at current location, Venetian). It’s indescribable!