Custom Made Drink Koozies for our Wedding...

 I work at a sign shop so I availed myself of some of the equipment and made these custom dye sublimation printed drink Koozies for our wedding in Vegas. I love how they turned out, although they are a little more Aqua and less turquoise than I wanted but they were last minute and turned out pretty cute. 

Also I thought I would share these designs, feel free to use them for your Vegas Wedding

(you are NOT allowed to use these images for resale, I check regularly, they are for personal use ONLY)

Welcome to Vegas!

So I finally got our vow renewal figured out.

We decided on a sunrise ceremony at the Welcom to Las Vegas sign.

Because it's on July 28th we don't want to completely melt and sunrise is the coolest time of day.

Temps should be in the low to mid 80's that early and that will be good for us. Plus we should miss out on some of the traffic too. 

Then we are going to go have a nice breakfast and enjoy our day carefree and winging it. 

:)

Bridesmaid gifts...on a budget...

So the time is really flying by and I'm gathering items to put in my Bridesmaid's gift. 

I found some really cute zipper makeup bags at Hobby Lobby during their 50% off wedding event. 

Since then I've been looking for items to put inside. Samples, and small trinkets. 

I came upon a big yard sale run by a lady who had been selling Avon for years and there were boxes and boxes full of Avon stuff and samples. I got some really cute items there including some Diamond ring shaped key chains (goes perfect for a wedding, right? plus they are just adorable) 50cents each.

Lip balm, travel finger nail files, and a few other things that I'm stashing away till Christmas. 

I found the Lancom makeup remover sample bottles at a thrift store. New never opened. That's good stuff, again 50 cents SCORE! 

The rhinestone bracelets and the Sunscreen I got as freebies through a group I'm with on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ExtremeCoupon/

Ashley Hart does an amazing job of finding us all the "GOOD" freebies on the web. she weeds out the bad ones, the spammers, the scammers and we get TONS of awesome items through her site every year. 

The following is a freebie that is good NOW!

http://www.heavenlysteals.com/2015/06/free-profilepro-personalized-shampoo.html

I ordered these FREE sample bottles of PERSONALIZED shampoo and conditioner for my bridesmaids as well. An awesome deal. Yay! Just click the link above to go get yours. 

 Cute! Right?!

Time is just ticking away. I'm going to be a Vendor at the Junk Ranch in Prairie Grove AR this week to make some extra money for our trip. Wish me luck!

Vegas.com super deals with Visa Checkout...

So, while playing MyVegas Slots on FB yesterday (to earn points that I can trade in on food, tickets, hotels, etc.) I went to the MyVegas Friends FB page to get free tokens to play with and while there I found out about a sweet deal going on right now through vegas.com. Visa Checkout system is offering $50 off your purchase of $100 or more through vegas.com if you use their checkout system and enter the promo code "Visa Checkout" when you check out. SWEET!

I got ticket to the Titanic Exhibition, the Mob Museum, and Absinthe.

All of wich you are lucky to find very small discounts for anywhere and I got them all almost 50% off!.

You can use the promo code as many times as you want you just fill your cart with $100 worth of stuff, check out via the Visa Checkout system and then do it all over again. I just saved $200!

Yay!

Hurry I think the promotion ends today March 31st!

The Venetian Las Vegas...Yay!...Cheap? No Way!... Yes Way!

 When my husband and I decided to renew our vows in Vegas I went looking for hotels. I fell in love with the Venetian Suites and really wanted to stay there. One look at their room rates had me looking for other options, but everything just seemed to pale in comparison.

I just really like the two level rooms with a sitting area and bed. Lots of room to move around and the bathrooms are just beautiful, even for the cheapest rooms.

See below the expected "cheapest room" prices during the month we will be going.

 Our week of course is one of the most expensive (with fares over $200 a night!)

soooo...

I started looking into getting a room there via Priceline or Hotwire. Priceline just seamed a little complicated and needing more time and attention than I was willing to put forth for a room. And at first I was skeptical of Hotwire, thinking that surely I could find a room via the hotel website for the same or better price. But after looking and looking there was no better deal to be found. 

The "Catch"...

When buying a room through Hotwire you don't get the name of the hotel you are staying at until after you pay for it. That's because they offer rates much lower than anywhere on the web and the hotels don't want their room rates advertised for that amount. Or so the Hotwire website states.

So I did a little research on how to use Hotwire and apparently you can get an idea of what hotel you will stay at by reading the amenities list on the room listing and the area of the strip it sits on. All information given to you by Hotwire before you buy. 

The following is an example of the listing I saw before I bought...

On the North Strip with a 5 star rating a hotel with a Casino can only be one of three hotels, The Wynn, the Palazzo, or the Venetian. 

After visiting the hotel websites for all three of those I figured I couldn't go wrong with any of them at that price. So I did a little gambling and I WON!

My hubby and I will be staying at the Venetian for only $109 a night.

(I also did a lot of research on other rooms you can get on the strip for $109 a night and there is just no comparing what you get, the Venetian is SOOOO much better!)

I'm so excited I can't stand it. 

Really looking forward to visiting this nice hotel.

I will be reviewing this hotel when we get back from our stay there. 

Also I'm going to be asking if there are any complimentary upgrades when we get to the check-in desk. I'm hoping for a better room than the most basic, but I won't be disappointed if I can't get one, because I'm quite happy to be in even a basic room.

But hey it would be cool if we were upgraded to something amazing for our 20th!
;-)

Finding a Vegas Wedding Venue...Vegas does know it's 2015...Right?

Trying to find a wedding venue in Vegas is harder than I thought it would be. 

I'm looking for something fresh but at the same time cheap. 

They say you get what you pay for, but I think there can be cheap options that are still "with the times"...case in point...

I found an old ad for the Pop-Up Wedding Chapel in the Cosmopolitan Hotel and thought how amazing! It's perfect. Updated, very live, and fresh and modern. Open.

It was the PERFECT spot for a quick wedding and CHEAP! Great atmosphere, fun, humorous with it's canned champagne and rubber rings.

And sadly, CLOSED! WHAT?! Nooooooooo!

 (This WAS perfect! $89 for a vow renewal, and it had everything, even a Welcome To Vegas Sign only in air conditioning)

Most of the Chapels in Vegas are so DATED. with cheesy fake flowers, no natural light, no or very few windows, and wood paneling that belongs in the 1970's, or ugly drapes down one wall. Dark and claustrophobic, and just...plastic.  Most chapels bill this as "vintage style" or "retro" but they really are just old buildings in need of a fresh look and feel. upholstered mauve pews, funky carpet, dated fixtures, and ugggghhh the list goes on. Plain Jane goes to Vegas, or a reject set from an early 90's soap opera. 

:-( Sadface

They look like one of those hand made, hot glued, too much stiff lace around the edges, wedding albums from the 1980's. YIKES!

(and this one isn't even the worst one)

So NOT what I had in mind.

 I mean, seriously! It's VEGAS! It's 2015! Where are the options?

It's kinda sad because with just a little creative thought and elbow grease those dated places could be AMAZING! But hey what do I know, I'm just a bride in 2015 looking for a great venue on a budget.  

So I've been looking into a wedding on the strip, possibly by the Welcome to Las Vegas Sign.

It would be cool to have a pink caddy/Elvis wedding maybe, but to get both it's out of our price range.

This is going to require a LOT more thought. 

Hopefully something will "Pop-Up"

Arm Excersizes for Brides...

My arms need a lot of work, and I want to look my best in my wedding dress which is sleeveless, so I'm looking at toning my arms and hoping they aren't super flabby for my wedding photos, lol. 

So here are some videos I'm checking out and am loving the workout they provide...

And this one really works all the tiny muscles in your arms and shoulders...