We get married (Sarah)

I wake up on the morning of our "wedding" to find H armed with a cork screw determinedly trying to remove the huge white security alarm tag from the sleeve of the Cowboy shirt he’s bought especially for the ceremony. Judging by the damage that he’s managed to inflict so far, he’s been at it for a while but the device shows no sign of weakening. I suggest that it may be quicker to walk the ten minutes or so back to the shop but am given to understand that this is not the point, that would be giving in….

Anyway, he has a spare shirt, so with us girls all plaited up Annie-get-your-gun style we don our hats and head off for breakfast fully Cowboy suited and booted.


Down in the lift, past the malls, through the Casino floor, Reception, Concierge, this is still one hotel but it takes a good twenty minutes to walk from one end to the other. The city types clearly think that rednecks have hit town. We must look like Bonnie and Clyde with kids….

The thing that confuses me about US directions is that they always say Route so and so South or Route so and so North…. but of what point exactly? Logically the main highway through Vegas should go - from North to South: Las Vegas Boulevard North, Las Vegas Strip, Las Vegas Boulevard South, But no, our wedding chapel is at 600 Las Vegas Boulevard South, half a mile north of the strip – you still with me? The only way I saw any cabbie find anywhere outside the strip in Vegas was to telephone the place to where he was headed to get directions. Totally bonkers.

We get married again - Hugh

A champagne breakfast with the kids, then we cab it to a wedding chapel at completely the wrong end of the strip. Cabbie is horrified, but about turns and gets us to the correct chapel and on time.

Wedding is great fun. Monty is best man, girls bridesmaids, and Elvis escorts Sarah down the aisle. I get a bit emotional, which catches on, and the whole thing is really good fun and everybody has a good time.

We eat the wedding cake on the bus on the way home, then extravagantly throw the dregs into a bin.
Stop off at Circus Circus for a few rides,
then walk back to the hotel in 110 degree heat. A few errands while Sarah goes swimming (more shopping and mail retrieval), then off to Bellagio for the Cirque du Soleil “O” show. Awesome. We watch the fountain show at 930, then cab it back to the hotel.

Notes on the wedding day - Sarah

Elvis: Our Elvis turns out to be the tallest and most Elvis like man in the world, we really do look like gnomes in comparison, please see wedding pics to follow at some point. The whole thing was very very silly and I want to do it again.




The Best man: Monty takes ages to get the ring out of its brown paper package during the service…..he is concentrating verrry hard, a top best man effort.

Re: ‘A few shopping errands’ above, please note that the wedding shirt no longer has the security device attached.

Swimming = People watching. You don’t go swimming in Vegas actually to swim. You hide behind your sunglasses and watch reality unfold, great sport.

Cirque du Solais: I have been wanting to see the ‘O’ show in Vegas since I can remember and I wasn’t disappointed. It is quite simply breathtaking and if anyone reading this gets the chance to go – jump at it.

I booked so far in advance that we had front row seats right on the rim of the huge flooded stage, so close that you could make eye contact with the performers. Sitting there you were immersed in the performance in more ways than one –splattered with water as they plunged in or played the fool. Spectacular feats of human ability and imagination unfolded before our popping out eyes. This show could not be further away in terms of wonderment from the Rain forests of Central America but every bit as beautiful. An amazing celebration of human endurance, theatrics and artistry taking place in the middle of what by rights should be an arid desert. Wow.

At the end Eliza was presented with a rubber ring used in one of the clowns’ acts, it remains a treasured possession.