Vegas Wedding
My wife Cheryl and I were married at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas. Elvis was the officiant, Darth Vader was my best man, and Amy Winehouse was Cheryl’s maid of honor.
As a wedding photographer, I’ve photographed 350+ weddings. I’ve photographed weddings with 500+ guests, weddings with 46 people in the wedding party, weddings with only five people present, and weddings with $500,000+ budgets.
When it came to my wedding, I wanted something different from other weddings I’ve photographed and witnessed.
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Cheryl and I met on Match.com and had our first date on September 10, 2019. Since I hate driving distances, we met at a Growler USA brewery near the corner of FM1463 and Spring Green Blvd in Katy, Texas—less than a mile from my home. Over that three-hour date, we carefully nursed one beer. I’m unsure why I chose that location, as I dislike beer except after working outside on a scorching summer day.
Cheryl’s favorite memory of our first date was when I suggested she text several of her best friends and ask them to share three adjectives that describe her.
My favorite memory is when Cheryl said it was amazing that he had photographed a photojournalist birth essay for National Geographic—a sarcastic comment on my website that Cheryl took literally. Cheryl claims that I’m misremembering.
Cheryl denied me when I tried to end the date with a full-frontal hug; I was instead rewarded with a reluctant side hug. Luckily, Cheryl gave me better hugs later.
I proposed on August 6, 2024. Cheryl was surprised; she was expecting my proposal later the following month during a previously planned Vegas trip.
As a professional photographer who has photographed 350+ weddings, I wanted a simple wedding; we preferred a courthouse ceremony. But since we were traveling to Vegas and my dear friends, Jerry and Melissa Ghionis, lived there—Jerry is a photographer, and Melissa is an officiant—we decided that waiting longer to tie the knot didn’t make sense.
One of Cheryl’s favorite musicians was Amy Winehouse. Her favorite Winehouse song is her Body and Soul duet with Tony Bennett. With that in mind, we hired Tierney Allen as a Winehouse impersonator and honorary maid of honor. One of my good friends is an excellent Darth Vader Cosplayer, so I chose him as my best man. We chose Elvis as our officiant.
We had the ceremony at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Notable celebrities who also married there include Judy Garland, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, Britney Spears, Michael Jordan, Sinead O’Connor, and many more.
Some of our activities that week included Titanic, The Artifact Exhibition at the Luxor, and The Mob Museum, along with these shows: Absinth (Good), Carrot Top (Great), Jeff Dunham: Still Not Canceled (Poor), and Bruno Mars (Great).
These photos were captured by Jerry Ghionis. Retouching and story design by me.
Event guests included:
The August 29, 2024 wedding day schedule was:
11:00 AM — Left Park MGM for Little White Wedding Chapel. Transportation was by large party bus to accommodate Darth Vader standing during the drive.
12:00 PM — Got Married @ Little White Wedding Chapel at 1301 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89104.
12:30 PM — Left Little White Wedding Chapel for portraits at Jerry Ghionis’ home.
1:00 PM — Guest and group portrait photography began. Fancy charcuterie boards were provided. Water, wine, champagne, and Diet Coke were also available.
3:00 PM — All done!