They met a decade ago while Lacey was bartending on a slow night. She was reading The Encyclopaedia of Serial Killers and Austen struck up a conversation about it while ordering a beer. When returned to his friends, she noticed he’s left his number on a napkin and although this has happened to her before, he was the first one she ever wanted to follow up with! They became friends first, bonding of their mutual love of horror and anything spooky. They’d get together regularly to watch scary movies, but only as friends. Then, a few years later, on a road trip to Vegas it became more than that… And the rest, as the old cliché goes, is history.

They decided to return to Vegas to marry on their own terms, and that meant completely alone. “We just wanted to spend some time together”, began Lacey. “I work 70 hours or more a week with maybe two or three days off a month and Austen works different hours than I do, so we don’t get much time together. All we really wanted was a small simple ceremony with plenty of time left to relax and hang out together. Austen is charismatic enough to be a cult leader, and we both love spooky stuff so we tried to dress like cult members! Our only focus for the entire thing was us. We decided that we wanted our wedding to be all about us and not making other people happy or obligated to be there.”

They had their ceremony at A Little White Wedding Chapel and picked the Michael Jordan package so they could livestream it to their friends and family back home. “From the minute we walked through the door the staff treated us as if we were the only wedding happening there that day”, she continued. “They were all so nice and seemed genuinely happy for us. They asked us a few questions about our preferences and took us in to the chapel. We chose a non-religious ceremony and walked arm in arm down the aisle. Minister Johnny performed a short, lovely ceremony and we were finally married!”

After the ceremony they head headed to Fremont Street for a photo shoot with their photographer, Deidra. “We had so many complete strangers stop to congratulate us. At one point a whole restaurant patio full of people cheered for us and a police officer drove by and said ‘Congratulations!’ over his loud speaker. It was so much fun! After we wrapped up the photos, we wandered around Fremont Street together before heading to dinner.”

They ended the night by seeing one of their favourite bands, Killing Joke, at Punk Rock Bowling dressed in their full wedding attire! “It was perfect. Finally being married and finally being able to see one of our favourite bands live was wonderful.”

Their total cost for the wedding was under $4000 “Nothing was particularly expensive, especially compared to traditional weddings. We feel that our two biggest expenses were actually our two biggest values. The chapel and hiring a photographer cost almost exactly the same. The chapel organised everything. We didn’t have to worry about the officiant, music, ceremony video or the beautiful flowers. They really allowed us to relax and just enjoy the experience without worrying about the details. Hiring a photographer on top of our chapel photographer was technically a bigger expense, however the packages that Deidra offered made it affordable for us to do so and we received hundreds of beautiful photos with a variety of backgrounds. We wanted some specific shots and she knew exactly where they were and how to shoot them. Also, we would not have had any candid photos at all without her. Deidra was just a huge bang for your buck.”

The couple hosted a casual BBQ in Lacey’s mum’s back garden when they returned home, but the thing they most enjoyed about their wedding was that they did it all for them, and them alone. “We loved every minute of the whole experience”, the bride concluded. “Get married how you want to. Don’t let anybody else decide things for you. It’s your big day!”