Las Vegas Wedding!

As you all probably know, Mike and I got married in Las Vegas.

The first thing we had to do when we got there was to go get a marriage license.

Tons of people get married each year. Besides the casinos it is a big part of their tourism industry.

The Marriage License Bureau is open from 8AM to Midnight, every day of the year. You are in and out in about 5 or 10 minutes. Not that is my kind of government office!
Here I am filling out my form. There must have been at least 10 tellers and everyone is taking pictures and having a great time.

There are even couples who come right in their tuxes and dresses.

I was worried about getting a cab back to the casino, but this is another hub for taxis even though the little office is about 20 minutest from the strip.



Here we are with our marriage license.

So we brought this to the chapel with us and after the wedding we now have a State of Nevada marriage license. Very cool!


Here we are getting picked up from the Luxor by the chapel's Limo.

Our package was about $300 US which is the same CAD now, ha, ha and it included the Limo to and from the chapel, the use of the venue, the minister, some professional shots which I need to get developed, my bouquet, Mike's boutoniere and a garter for me.

Great deal! The guys thought it was fantastic. They got to see a real Vegas wedding, got a limo ride to a casino afterwards and we got our cameramen :)
Here we are walking down the isle. No rehearsals here people, you just get one shot. I think my expression is a little odd in this shot because I was getting a bad case of the giggles.

I was finding it really hard to keep a straight face.

Here we are putting our rings on.

I picked the little gazbo because I thought it was so pretty and because it was outside.

I'm not a big fan of the chapels. The remind me of funeral parlors and are just too formal for our tastes.






The kiss! That's a fairly decent kiss shot.

We'll see how the professional ones turned out.

She was taking them so fast though, I can't imagine that we look anything but stunned, but we'll see. Here we are having a little toast














The old garter tradition. The guys were so busy looking at the camera, I don't think any of them caught it.

Here we are in the limo on the way back.











Here are our friends who came with us.

The guy in the middle Dom, is one of the witnesses on our marriage certificate. Ryan on the left and Alex on the right, thanks for coming to our wedding! You took some great pictures for us.

Our good friend Chris on the left is also a witness on our certificate and he gave us our rings. So two Aussies have signed our Nevada State marriage license.
After our wedding, we dropped the guys off on the strip, I got changed and we had a really fantastic steak dinner in a really posh steak house in the Luxor. Then we went to a show and that was it. I think it was perfect for us. Just big enough for a celebration, but low key and informal enough for our tastes.

Please know that we weren't trying to hurt anyone by not inviting people, we just are very private people and big weddings with lots of scheduling, guests, pictures and expense just isn't our style.

Love you all! Andrea and Michael

Las Vegas

Last weekend Mike and I went to Las Vegas. We had planned on going somewhere in September, because we haven't had a real vacation in a while.
Some friends of Mike's were going to Vegas and it sounded like a good time. We also decided that we would probably finally tie the knot when we got there. We've been engaged for almost 3 years and both of us just wanted to finally go ahead and do it. I'm going to do a separate blog for our wedding in Vegas though.

We stayed at the Luxor casino. It is shaped like a huge pyramid and has a big spynx in front of it that is actually the car port and entrance to the tram station which goes by a number of the other casinos.
This was my first time inside a big casino like this. It is surreal. The whole place is filled with beeping, flashing slot machines. There are cars and motorcycles rotating above circles of slots, waitresses serving free drinks, everyone is smoking and the whole place is a maze.

There are restaurants, a pool, a spa, gift shops, beauty salons, you name it.

I wouldn't recommend the Luxor however. Due to the fact that it is a pyramid, all the elevators are in corners. This means you have to walk forever to get to one from your room and they are always out of service and having mechanical problems due to the fact that they have to go on an incline rather than straight up. Also rather than the normal drop downwards you feel in an elevator, at the Luxor, you are jolted to the side.
The pool at the Casino was really nice. There are several pools, hot tubs, plenty of reclining lawn chairs and towels.

You can order drinks and food and they have music playing the whole time.

However, it is extremely hot in Las Vegas. You can definitely tell it is the middle of the desert. Wear tons of sunscreen and even still, I wouldn't stay out for too long.

When you step out of the air conditioning, you are hit by the heat as if you stepped into a furnace. It's kind of a weird dry heat though so you don't sweat or really notice it's effect on you.

Someone said to me before leaving that Las Vegas is like Disney Land for adults. It is true!
Each casino has a different theme and look to it.

This is the Excalibor that the Luxor is linked to by pedway and tram. The theme is medieval. The place is decorated by stained glass, suits of armor and the waitresses are dressed like bar maidens.
This one is New York New York. It has a roller coaster going through it (which is in the picture) and inside there are taxi cabs, pretzel stands and everything New York.

Here is Mike in front of the MGM grand. It was really nice and side and I would recommend it. It is also the home of a few of the Cirque de Soleil shows.

Each casino has some running acts. Ours had Carrot Top that awful redheaded comedian and Fantasy which is a burlesque show that is quite good which Mike and I went to see.

The MGM Grand actually has a couple of lions in captivity right in the middle of the casino and you can go in and watch them.

There are a surprising number of people who bring small children into casinos. I personally don't think it is a place for kids. I just don't think month-old lungs and heavy cigarette smoke really mix, but that's my opinion.

Here is Mike picking up his winnings. Las Vegas is definitely more fun when you win!

So here, he had just won $450 at a craps table and we were standing there enjoying free drinks as he played.

He also had a big win at a roulette table and we both played poker. Over all we won $650, but it would have been more if we had of stayed away from the stupid slot machines. Stay away from the slot machines. Their siren call is attractive, but you'll never win!

Here I am enjoying a yard of margarita. No I'm not exaggerating, it is actually a yard long. I couldn't finish the thing, but I could not resist buying one of these massive drinks.

You see people walking around with drinks the size of half a basketball.

The funniest thing is that, you can purchase a drink, walk out of the casino, down the strip and into another casino and no one bothers you.

I remember a guy asking a security guard if he could bring his drink into a restaurant and the guard responded. "Yes, this is Vegas, you can drink anything you want, any time, any place and no one will stop you".
Very liberating! Anyway, that is good for this post, the next one will be our actual wedding.

Emmy

Here is a picture of me and Emmy. Her and George stayed with us on Monday evening while passing through on their way home from Whistler.

We had some drinks and went out for dinner at the Yaletown Brew Company.

It was great to see them, but next time they'll have to stay longer.

Heather is actually going to come see me next weekend. I'm sure we'll find tons of things to do.

Mom & Dad Visit

So, a few weeks ago, Mom and Dad visited me here in Vancouver.

Mom was here herself for a weekend and we walked all over the place.

We went to Stanley Park, Granville Market, Gastown, the Japanese festival, the fire works, Yaletown, Chinatown and the Dr Sun Yat Sen Chinese Garden, shopped, the works.

Then Dad came and we did even more things. Here we all are in the morning having some breakfast at the Granville Island Market.

Here's Mom in front of a flower bed at Prospect Point in StanleyPark.

We walked all over the park and finally took the free tour trolley to the top of Prospect Point.

Then we had some lunch at the restaurant there.

We had great weather while Mom and Dad were here so there was a good view from prospect point.



Here's Mom in front of one of the giant Redwoods in Stanley Park.

The windstorm didn't get them all!

I know there were a ton more pictures of the things we did. We went on a boat cruise, went to the observatory tower, etc. but Mom and Dad are extremely slow at sending me photos so I couldn't wait. I'll just have to update the blog when I get more of them.

I know how it must be, being elderly and technically challenged.
Here we all are at Osaka. It is a Japanese grill restaurant which I love.

You pick your meat and the chef cooks everything on the grill in front of you.

You think you won't be full because it is just strips of meat and vegetables, but I'm always stuffed when I leave this place.

I was impressed with Mom & Dad's maneuverability with chopsticks. I was certain they would have to ask for forks.

One of the activities we did was to go to Domaine de Chaberton. It is a vineyard that is near us.

Most of the vineyards are in the interior in the Okanagan, but this one is about an hour away from Vancouver.

There is a great restaurant and a free tour and tasting.

Here are the grapes up close. They only grow white wine grapes here because since it is not in the interior, there isn't the same warm client.

The red grapes require a warmer climate. They do make red wine here, but they have the grapes brought in from the wineries in the valley.

Here are the barrels where the wine is stored.

It smelled very nice in here of cedar.

Here is a picture of some boats at English Bay Beach. This is where we went when we went to the fireworks competition with Mom.