What Happens in Vegas...

...stays in Vegas. Is that true?
Well, yes and no! If a wedding ring suddenly is being worn after the trip, people are bound to have some clue about what happened!! :-)

Yes, Brian and I recently returned from the destination wedding of our daughter! Of course it was a wonderful time and a beautiful wedding. She did excellent planning and it all seemed to go off without a hitch. She only got nervous those last few minutes before walking down the aisle. During the ceremony, the smallest of "missteps" was when Brian's cell phone went off! Oops! To give him a break, he was out of the room with the Bride when we were all reminded to turn phones off.
On a side, personal note, I wondered about the potential awkwardness with Brian's ex-in-laws attending. Of course they would be there, that's a given. But this would be the first time I'd have any significant interaction with them. I had no reason to be concerned. I didn't feel any tension; they were easy to talk to and all seemed fine. I think everyone appreciated that (me, not the least of them!).

I had never been to Vegas before. We arrived 5 days prior to the wedding and stayed 2 days after. Wow! I'm glad we got there early, not only so we could spend a couple of days hanging out with the bridal couple,

but also to get over culture shock! I was not ignorant of the stereotypes of Vegas. Some were well deserved, others not so much. For me, two things stood out and required some adjusting. The sheer number of people was the first! Our trip did occur during spring break season so that accounts for a significant population increase. The great number of options to do, so many buildings and their expansive interiors helped. Because of this, I only felt like a cow being herded when on the streets or exterior walkways. At the end of the day, after so much walking, I felt my irritation rise when someone would just stop in the middle of the sidewalk to check a text or something. With that many people moving en masse it's hard to avoid a crash! More than likely, I was also on the way to my hotel and didn't want my way impeded!! 
Secondly, the Disneyland feel on an even larger scale was surprising - very cool! Each hotel/casino had a different theme and architecture which was modeled after various international destinations. I have to say I was impressed with the money and attention to detail each one put into their buildings.

As a former architect I expected to feel like it was cheesy or just too fakey, but the opposite was true. Maybe I just miss Europe so the reminders were fun, although I liked New York, New York as well.

Anyway, the trip was fun albeit exhausting! I'm glad to have had the experience of Las Vegas and of course I wouldn't have missed the wedding for anything!