Vegas wedding

I've been to over 40 weddings in my life, but until last weekend, I had yet to attend a Vegas wedding.

The phrase "Vegas wedding" tends to conjure up images of Elvis impersonators and drive-thru wedding chapels, but this one was actually very classy; no surprise really, since it was at the Bellagio.

Most of the guests arrived on Friday, but D and I flew in on Thursday, and took the bride and groom (D's cousin) to Nobu for dinner:


My favorite dishes were the tuna on fried lotus root (the tuna was well-marinated), the lobster tacos (lots of lobster meat), and the rock shrimp tempura (chopped into smaller pieces, for high batter-to-shrimp ratio).

On Friday, there was a rehearsal of sorts, followed by a group dinner at the Bellagio buffet. I had been disappointed by the Wynn buffet when we went in April (for lunch), because they hadn't any cocktail shrimp, crab, lobster, or interesting meats. Luckily, I was able to eat seafood and meat to my heart's content at the Bellagio; they had both snow crab and king crab, plus ostrich and elk, as well as the usual prime rib, etc. The desserts were so-so, but I managed to find a pretty good chocolate ganache cake, so I was happy.

After dinner, the guys and girls went their separate ways for some pre-wedding fun. There was much drinking and other merriment, but (unfortunately?) all of the good photos have been censored. We did manage to get the bride home around 4 in the morning. Luckily the wedding was scheduled for 6pm, so she didn't have to get up for hair and makeup until after noon.

The ceremony itself was on the "Terraza", in front of the famous Bellagio fountains:


After the ceremony, the house photographer (came with the wedding package) spent about an hour photographing the bride and groom, as well as the guests, all over the Bellagio. We even took some photos at the (empty) craps tables, which turned out nicely.

Here's one that I took in front of the Conservatory:


The reception was at the Prime Steakhouse, conveniently located inside the Bellagio. The decor was subtle and opulent, and the food was delicious. I enjoyed the truffled mashed potatoes and rack of lamb very much. I think the ribeye at Michael Mina's StripSteak might have been slightly better, though. (We also went there in April.)

I was in charge of wedding favors, so of course I bought chocolate from Vosges. I had some trouble with the pickup on Friday morning (will explain later) but in the end I had lots of fun picking all the flavors. I even came in under budget, with 4 truffles per box:


After dinner, we retired to the gorgeous Bellagio suite that the bride and groom were staying in, to have some wedding cake. D had ordered the cake from a local bakery and they had delivered it earlier in the evening. The top tier was chocolate and the bottom tier was white. That was slightly unfortunate because it turned out we liked the chocolate flavor much better, but it ended up not mattering much because there were tons of leftovers anyway:


We sat around for awhile working off the food coma, and then the bride and groom decided it was gambling time. They headed downstairs, along with part of the group, while those of us who remained repurposed the ceremony flowers, using them to decorate the bedroom:


I thought this was particularly inspired:


I'm not sure what time everyone ended up going to bed, but the bride and groom did get up in time for their 11am appointment with the photographer. The studio was amazingly fast; they provided the prints (as well as a DVD) on the spot. I guess a photo studio in Vegas must be used to clients who need to fly out the next day.