Three days before their wedding, I get a call from this cute sounding gal with a southern accent. She tells me that she and her fiance, Nick, are flying into Vegas in a couple of days, and was I available to photograph their elopement? Not only that, but they are wanting to take some photos out at Valley of Fire, wanting to walk around the strip after the ceremony, and “oh yah, we want to get married on a helicopter, do you have a problem with that?” All I could do was laugh! I am thinking to myself: I’ve had such a fun year with great weddings in Michigan, Chicago, Florida, California, Boston and Las Vegas, a wedding in a helicopter over the Strip is one heck of a way to end 2009!!!!

My only criteria to the couple was that they better know how to have fun! Well, that was the last requirement I needed to make with Lori and Nick! Talk about fun? They must have invented the word!!! This couple, who flew in from Mobile, Alabama, were soooo much fun, that my job was as easy as it gets! I started with them at their suite on the 57th floor of Trump Towers where I photographed them getting ready. From there, we jumped in an Expedition Limo and headed out to Valley of Fire for some cool portraits just as the sun was hitting the horizon! We literally had about 20 minutes to climb up the rocks before heading back to Vegas to catch the helicopter. The nuptials took place somewhere between the Stratosphere and Bellagio, and the couple – who met sky diving (go figure) – were hitched! We circled back over Mandalay Bay and headed for the landing pad. After a few more photos in front of the helicopter, we drove over to the new City Center to see what we could find for some fun post-ceremony photos. We found a few backdrops in the City Center mall and caught the tram to capture a final portrait in front of the fountains at Bellagio.

Enjoy the photos below! This was a first for me! I hope its not the last, I was in photo Heaven!