On this episode of Wedding Secrets Unveiled!, Sara chats with Elmer Turcios-Arriaza from The Little Vegas Wedding Chapel. With extensive experience as the Lead Photographer at the chapel, Elmer shares his insights, tips, and entertaining wedding stories. Whether you are planning a Vegas wedding or not, tune in for a dose of inspiration as he takes you through a variety of weddings, ranging from Elvis-themed to Star Wars, legal marriages to vow renewals, and just-for-fun ceremonies. It’s a journey into the diverse world of weddings – grab some popcorn and enjoy the matrimonial mayhem!
Meet Elmer.
I’m the Lead Photographer here at the Little Vegas Chapel. We are the only full service wedding chapel in Las Vegas to my knowledge. We perform about 10% of the weddings that take place in Las Vegas every single day. I love it!
So, how long have you been doing this for?
Let’s see, I’ve been doing this for about five years now. I’m coming up on 8,000 weddings now.
I am assuming that you’ve seen a lot then!
There’s nothing I haven’t seen. It’s easier to list off what I haven’t, honestly!
Tell us a little bit about the Little Vegas Chapel.
The Little Vegas Chapel opened 10 years ago. About a month ago, we actually celebrated the 10 year anniversary. It is probably the most successful chapel in Las Vegas. Like I said, we perform about 10% of the weddings that take place in Las Vegas every day. We do all types of different weddings. We can go for the traditional route or we can do an Elvis wedding, if you want. In fact, we actually have other impersonators – like Marilyn Monroe that can make an appearance at your wedding, or even Dracula, a monster, or dinosaur.
Tell me why you think that the Little Vegas Chapel has evolved into the number one Vegas chapel.
It is all about the team here. It’s all about the family. We all love weddings and we all love what we do. Plus, we all love each other and that sort of family environment really translates to our business. We are probably the most customer service based chapel in Las Vegas.
How many chapels are over there in Las Vegas?
I don’t know. Roughly on the street that we are, we have about 50 chapels there. And then there’s also those that are just little independent chapels. We also have the ones that are inside every casino. Every hotel has one. and golf courses all have at least one wedding chapel. Some of them have up to five that I know. Pretty much any place in Vegas can be used as a chapel.
Why do you think Vegas is the wedding capital of the world?
It’s just easy. You can come in and get your marriage license and get permission to get married in about one hour. All you really need is a form of identification – so a passport or a driver’s license. Once you have that marriage license, you can get married pretty much anywhere in Las Vegas. But the real reason is it’s in everybody’s hearts. We are just the biggest, happiest Party City ever. And if you’re coming to have a good time, you may as well celebrate your love, too.
So logistically, is it different to get married in Nevada than it is anywhere else in the country?
In Nevada, it’s a lot quicker to get married. You can get your marriage license and get married within the next hour. Everywhere else, there’s a genuine waiting period – not for us.
So really, people can just go to Vegas, and then just decide to get married. And then two hours later, they’re married.
Yeah, if they qualify for it. So if you’re married elsewhere, obviously, that can’t happen. Or if there’s some sort of legal reason you cannot get married, then they’re not gonna give you the marriage license. But if there’s no reason like that, then then you can get married pretty much anytime, anywhere. The marriage license bureau is open from 8am to midnight, every single day as well. And it’s legally binding everywhere in the United States and the world.
Tell me about some of the packages that couples can choose when they get married at the Little Vegas Chapel.
So the way I always tell everybody is that this is probably the most run of the mill chapel you’ll ever see, in terms of the familiarity of it all. It’s like a family gathering. It’s a quaint little chapel – a jewel in Las Vegas. When it comes to our packages, we can do something really simple for like $75. That’s a 5 minute experience – sign the paperwork and go home. Or we can do a full wedding where you have your bridesmaids, groomsmen, and you walking down the aisle, which costs less than $500. If you want limousine transportation, there’s just a little bit more for that. We’ll drive you guys from the hotel to the chapel and back to your hotel at the end of the ceremony.
If you are interested in more, we have our arts district tour and strip tour packages, which include a half hour with one of our very talented photographers touring with you guys, across the strip or across the arts district. We have a lot of little murals and locations in Las Vegas that serve as really great photo ops. We like to take advantage of them!
It looks like you have some great packages on your website including the traditional Elvis package, your LGBTQ friendly packages and even vow renewals. Now let’s talk about “pretend” weddings.
So a pretend wedding would be a whole ceremony without the legality of it all. It’s basically a full-service wedding for fun. We had a guy who brought his phone to “marry it” since he was addicted. Some idea was one guy with a car.
That’s hilarious. I’m sure you’ve got some great stories about that. It’s crazy to remember that you do this every single day! How many weddings are you doing a day?
So on an average day, we do about 10 to 12. On weekends, it goes up 20-30 and on holidays or specialty dates, it goes up even more. For example, last year on February 22, we did 122 weddings in a day. We were doing one every 15 minutes.
That’s incredible! How many guests can you have in your chapel?
It actually depends on the chapel – we have three chapels that can run simultaneously here. Sometimes couples won’t even see each other. In one of our chapels, we can accommodate up to 18 people, maybe a little bit more if they’re willing to stand. Then in another chapel, we can accommodate up to 30. And again, maybe a little bit more they’re willing to stand. We have our smaller chapel as well, it can fit up to six people. That one is for the quicker ceremonies, anybody that just wants to come in, sign everything and get on with their lives.
So now speaking about only the Little Vegas Chapel, and setting yourself apart from other Vegas chapels: tell us why couples should choose you over any other chapel in Vegas.
When it comes to the variety of weddings, we’ll do it. If somebody comes in and tells us they want a duck to be present at their wedding, we’ll find you one. We’re gonna try to accommodate everything that our couples want. We’ll find a way to make it happen.
That’s pretty unique – because I bet every other chapel doesn’t do that.
If it’s doable, we’ll give it a shot. If it fits within our range of ability, we’ll do it.
So there’s obviously a variety of themes and wedding packages that you have. Tell me a little bit about those different themes. Do you have any types of special holidays that you guys do, too?
Absolutely. So, every month there is a holiday and we try to fit a package or wedding package to fit that theme. For example, for the 4th of July, we had a fireworks theme wedding. During Christmas, we had a “Riding through the Snow” package under $500 and was officiated by Mrs. Claus, which was pretty great.
So fun! Tell me a little bit about the Star Wars theme that you had!
Oh, the Star Wars theme is my favorite. We have our Star Wars Day packages. Usually we have a sand ceremony with those. I like to joke that the sand is genuinely from Tatooine. Last year, we had a landspeeder waiting for our couples outside, along with a Jedi and Princess Leia, who were greeting all of our couples as they came in.
I love it. On the Little Vegas Chapel website, they actually share a bunch of themes and ideas for a Vegas wedding so it’s a great resource to look at.
It’s honestly one of the most fun aspects of Las Vegas – you can basically just do whatever and you can get married. If you want to celebrate your love, you don’t even have to make it legal if you don’t want to. Celebrate what you have now. Get ready for the real thing in the future.
You talked earlier about customer service at your chapel. There are so many chapels that you can go to and if you’re flying to Vegas, what is happening on the customer service and personal experience side that sets you apart?
Everybody here loves each other. I don’t know how else to describe it other than being a family. It’s like going to Thanksgiving, but it’s more pleasant. When you walk into this chapel, you see everyone you’ve been chatting to about your wedding. We’ve established a relationship with our couples – from the coordinator to the photographer. It’s a nice little family vibe.
That’s a vibe your couples are going to feel for sure.
100%. I like to say that this place holds a little bit of magic. In the event when we’re behind schedule, or maybe something happened on the strip that’s causing a big ruckus or something – so the couple comes in stressed. But the moment they see everyone here, taking care of them.. it all of that just goes away. It’s about the wedding, their love and happiness.
Can you give our listeners advice about getting married in Vegas?
Plan as much as you can. Make sure that you know exactly what hotel you’re going to be staying at, the meals you’re going to have, and the restaurants you’re going to go to. We can give you a lot of good recommendations. Just make sure you know exactly where you’re going to go on your wedding day – that way everything is good on time. Regardless of the party aspect of Las Vegas, we still run on a schedule.
Tell me about one of your favorite wedding experiences!
We had a couple come in to renew their vows after 50 years. It was an Elvis ceremony and it was really fun. The bride was about 4’2” and it was the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Anyway, I asked them about why they chose this and she said on their wedding day, her husband said if they made it to 50 years, he’d take her to Las Vegas and get married by Elvis. On the day of their 50th anniversary, he had already packed her wedding dress, and made all the plans. He woke her up, said it was time to go, and they got married again.
I love that. That is one of the most special stories I’ve heard!
I love that story. They’re probably my favorite couple. Well, I have a lot of favorite couples, we have one, we have a few that come and get married with us every single year – they renew their vows.
What about some outrageous typical Vegas stories?
Let me tell you about the bridezilla we had recently. They kept telling us they were going to be one and so they warned us – it was great. They sent us a million emails warning us about their attitude. The day that they got married, the doors open and we see two people dressed as t-rexes walking in. They literally got married as dinosaurs – as Bride-zillas.
That’s hilarious!
One time, we had a veil catch fire. A bride had a long veil and the candles were still lit. They had their kiss and the veil got excited, catching fire from the candle. The groom was able to put it out really fast and she didn’t even notice, but we definitely sent them the video afterwards!
Wrap-Up Question
What’s misconceptions about Vegas weddings?
Number one, obviously you cannot get married drunk. It’s a big no-no. Otherwise, there really aren’t too many misconceptions about weddings themselves. That’s pretty much it. Nothing else is really all that outrageous in Vegas if I’m being totally honest.
What We Discussed
Meet Elmer (2:06)
Why to choose the Little Vegas Chapel (6:31)
What sets the Little Vegas Chapel apart (10:44)
Different packages and options for weddings (13:41)
Tips for Eloping in Vegas (19:27)
Typical Vegas Weddings (21:15)
Wrap Up Question (24:55)
Links Mentioned in the Episode
Find Little Vegas Chapel at Website | Instagram | Facebook
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