In the USA *24% of all weddings are destination weddings.The average destination wedding budget is USD $8,800 considering the average cost for a traditional wedding excluding honeymoon is USD$31,213 you can see why it is an option many Americans pursue.
A popular city that many Australians travel to wed is Las Vegas, which is considered the wedding capital of the world with more than 120,000 weddings taking place each year.
Photo Credit: Gaby J Photography
Las Vegas has more than 80 chapels to choose from and you won’t run short of Elvis impersonators if that is your thing, as depending on the season there can be anything from 125 to 500.
For those that are looking for a more intimate setting with personality, they may want to venture outside the Vegas Strip and consider Flora Pop the first pop-up wedding company in the US.
The creator Victoria Hogan launched her first pop-up wedding on August 16, 2014 (which also happens to be death anniversary of Elvis Presley).
Photo Credit: Gaby J Photography
So what is a pop-up wedding?
An easy way to “get hitched”, with a portable ‘Teardrop Chapel’ that is taken to the location of choice whether that is somewhere in the city or the Mojave Desert or surrounding National Parks.
Victoria decorates the Teardrop Chapel with flowers, arranges wedding cake doughnuts and champagne. Just a few items of the signature items that are included, and of course she officiates the ceremony making it legal.
Photo Credit: Gaby J Photography
The Teardrop is a hand built mobile chapel modeled after a 1950’s Kentskill trailer and is complete with neon signage reading “SURE”.
If after the wedding your clients want to take things to another ‘level’ there is the Love Cloud.
On the Love Cloud guests are encouraged to make their “mile high” fantasies come true aboard a customized six-seat Cessna 421, that has been customized into a four-seat romantic getaway with pillows, mattresses, blankets and a wireless sound system.
Photo Credit: Gaby J Photography
In the daytime the flight cruises over Red Rock Canyon, Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and the Las Vegas Strip.
Nighttime consists of continuous flight over the bright lights of Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Strip. Packages range from a 30-minute to a 1-½ hour nonstop flight or for the totally unconventional they even have a wedding package.
Going to the chapel seems so traditional in comparison!
*Source The Knot Real Weddings Study & Destination Wedding Travel Group 2015 mid-year report