Once Upon 100 Weddings

Las Vegas lived up to its reputation as "Wedding Capital of the World" when 100 couples tied the knot under the Fremont Street Experience canopy on June 9, 2005. The Centennial Committee partnered with Southwest Airlines to treat 100 couples to the wedding experience of a lifetime and commemorate the Las Vegas Centennial at the same time. Click here for details of the three-day event.

Ninety-eight couples won a wedding package that included nuptials, bachelor and bachelorette parties and a host of wedding gifts provided by local retailers. Two local couples joined the festivities, making a total of 100.

The Centennial Committee through an online contest selected the Las Vegas Valley couples. Interested couples submitted an essay describing their personal love story, telling why they are compatible, and describing their secret for a long-lasting marriage. The winners were selected by a jury comprised of a local marriage counselor, a divorce attorney, and a couple that has been married for 30 years.

Jeremy Lewis, also known at Groom #21, has launched a Web site where the 100 couples are planning a one-year anniversary trip to Las Vegas (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Once_Upon_100_Weddings/). And Missy Nieto, a bride from San Diego, sent the Centennial Web site a thank you note, which is reprinted on the Tell Your Best Vegas Story link.

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Couples started arriving for orientation and gift-packet pickup on Monday, June 6.
On Tuesday, the couples were treated to a private screening of New Line Cinema's "Wedding Crashers" at the Crown Theater-Neonopolis.
Brides-to-be came down from dancing on the bar at Coyote Ugly just long enough to pose for a photo at their Bachelorette Party.	In no time at all, couples grew accomstomed to being interviewed by local and national media.
On Wednesday, the couples joined a Dash for Cash competition. This couple attracted a cameraman who ran alongside..	Three couples picked up some spending money in the Dash for Cash competition.
On Thursday, the wedding way, a conference room at the Golden Nugget was turned into a beauty shop and makeup studio.
Toward evening, the "beauty shop" turns into a "brides' dressing room."
Centennial staff has been collecting signatures in an elaborate Centennial guest book, shown here being signed by both brides and grooms.
Grooms used their dressing room less for dressing than for knocking back a few "toasts."
The brides' escorts walked them from the Golden Nugget Hotel to Fremont Street where the grooms joined them for the processional to the Main Street Stage.
First kisses.
First toasts.
First dance

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