A Vegas Wedding - The Final Chapter

Caravan: a procession traveling together in single file. Makes sense if one is traveling in a covered wagon, or in a funeral procession, but try to get a caravan of 12 vehicles to stay together in single file in Las Vegas on a Saturday afternoon - I speak from experience when I tell you that it is nearly impossible. Oh did I mention yet that this trek also involved getting out of the strip, maneuvering 2 freeways and then the long, winding road into the mountains.

One would think that following a gigantic motorhome would not be that difficult, but in a vacation mecca like Las Vegas you never really realized just how many gigantic motorhomes there really are. From our exit from the parking lot of the hotel, the caravan was broken immediately. Being the resourceful wedding guests that we were, we began a caravan chain, from the motorhome car, by car trying to relay direction, traffic hazards, turnoffs, etc. At one point in our car we had three cell phones going at one time relaying directions back and forth. It would have made our poineer covered wagon ancestors proud, no matter the difficulty, we kept the caravan alive and intact.......well more or less. There were a few stragglers, but we eventually got them rejoined with the rest of the herd.

We thought it would be a relatively short drive, but actually took almost 40 minutes to get all of us out into the wilderness and into the natural preserve land that housed the red rock canyon. The Bride and Groom were still very tight lipped as to what awaited us, and only later would we find out that was because they had no idea either...the company and the site were chosen off of the Internet because their site looked good.

Finally we turned off the road and passed into the natural preserve. Almost immediately we made another turn in to the visitors parking area....we presumed that was to allow anyone not with the group to have time to rejoin us, but we were surprised to find the motorhome parking. Slowly, we all exited our vehicles...men in their shirts and ties, women in their cocktail dresses, to be greeted by cold gusts of wind that blew all over this parking area. On the edge of the parking strip off in the distance was the Red Rock Canyon, a beautiful site. We were not alone in the parking area either, there were a group of bikers, some tourists, and before we left, another wedding party.

After milling around a bit, it was confirmed that yes indeed we were at the wedding site. Additionally, we had to get a move on, because we were losing light. So there among the onlookers in the parking area we had the wedding. The ceremony was lovely, and I was truly honored to be invited to share in a couples public commitment to each other. Yes, it was very cold, the women shivered and the men pretended not to, but the beauty of the Canyon in the background was undeniable. After the ceremony and pictures we found out the reception was to be held here as well, under a metal awning at the other end of the parking area. In the fading light and increasing chill we ate cold sandwiches and warm soda until it was so dark, we couldn’t make out the happy couple anymore without the assistance of the headlights of one of our vehicles. We packed everything up, and found our way in the dark to our vehicles, the heat, and slowly made our way out of the nature preserve and back into civilization.

We all ended up at the Red Rock Casino and the wedding party and guests splintered off to drink, gamble, and stay warm. Arriving back at my hotel late that night, it was the end of a long day, not at all what I pictured for my first Vegas Wedding, but none-the-less an occasion I will remember always!