Alfred Angelo Original designed by Edythe Vincent Wedding Dress

 A little more on my two buck thrift store wedding dress.

I bought it two years ago from the Salvation Army but not because I was planning on wearing it to get married in.  I bought it because it was only two bucks and a vintage dress (early 70's ?) that happened to fit me.  I had plans to "Pretty in Pink" it by cutting/embellishing it up into a new styled dress.  Maybe frankenstein-ing another dress with it.  I thought it would be fun to transform a wedding dress into something to be worn on a casual basis. 

 Time went by and I never got around to doing anything with it.  However, the more I looked at the dress, I realized that it had some real potential to be awesome as a wedding dress still. So out came the scissors....

I took these pictures as an after thought and I pinned the sleeves back in for the photo.  So imagine the puffy horrid sleeves much longer and puffier at the shoulders and ignore the little black flower details.

 I liked the edges of the removed sleeves looking a bit rough so I did not hem them.

I picked off all of the yellowed glued-on fake pearls and stitched down little black flowers in their place.

Along the back of the dress was a row of decorative buttons covered in white wedding dress material which I promptly painted with black fabric paint. 

The black velvet belt-sash-deal was from a dress that was handmade for my grandmother when she was in her early 20's.  One thing I didn't like about my dress was that it made my hips look wider than they are, so the sash kinda cinched it in a bit.  

I then added some additional black details to finish it out: fishnet stockings, fishnet finger-less gloves and black beaded necklace. 

Here is a good shot of the dress along with ELVIS walking me down the aisle!!!

Also as a side note, I discovered that the dress was made by the the infamous wedding dress designers Alfred Angelo and his wife Edythe Vincent.  I wish I could locate an old ad with an image of my dress! 

I am planning on shortening the dress and wearing it out on our anniversaries....kinda using it the same way I had originally bought it for, but now with a sentimental twist.

Hunka Hunka Burnin' Love!

The only way I discovered to experience a true Elvis sighting in Vegas is to just get him to hitch you up sooooo....

that's what we did!!

PB enjoyed being part of the entertainment!

In true Elvis style!

I made the boutonnieres in "Up" style with bottle caps.
We used bottle caps from a couple of the Pop Shoppe sodas we were so into a couple years ago.

Needed comfortable shoes to parade the streets of Vegas in.

For our "Wedding Cake", we piled up some yummy donuts/cronuts from Vegas renown Al's Donuts.

I made our topper from Happy Meal toys: Hotel Transylvania zombie hands, which I customized a bit.  It seemed like an obvious choice since they are left hands and I happened to find both of the hands, together, in the "Free Stuff" toy box at the Thrift.

Made my veil too...from parts of a vintage hat I got, yet again, from the "Free Stuff" box at a Thrift.
And my dress.... Two Bucks... Thrift store, fools... I just altered it a bit.

Here we are on location!

Love big pink painted concrete critters!

In the Neon Boneyard.
Aladdin's lamp from the casino of same name in the background.  Make 3 wishes!

Pinballin' it up!

At the Pinball Hall of Fame was this vintage souvenir coin maker...

Squee!

JUST MARRIED!

I embroidered "Just Married" banners on pieces of vintage flowery pillow case material for us to wear about town.
It was either that or tie cans to our ankles!

Vegas Hitching Posts

 Tons of places to get hitched in Vegas!

Wee Kirk o' the Heather, a classic.

Drive thru style in the Tunnel of Love!

Or just walk up...

Elvis! He could do it for you also!

at Graceland no less!

complete with the front grates of Graceland as a backdrop!

Elvis himself got hitched in Vegas at the Aladdin Hotel May 1, 1967. 

Pinball Hall of Fame

Our next stop.... The Pinball Hall of Fame Museum! 

206 functioning pinball and arcade games from the 1950 to 1980's.
The pinball machine art work alone is worth visiting this place but add in that you can play all of the games for a mere couple of quarters....I hear angels singing.

There aren't just pinball machines here ....There are a bunch of super awesome midway deals/activities/horror attractions to experience after your fingers are all pinballed out.

RELAX-A-LATOR

circa late 1950's

Step up to the Relax-A-Lator!  Sooth your tired feet and legs after a long bout of standing at the pinball machines.

THE GOLDEN ARM

Arm wrassle a mechanical arm!

PEPPY THE MUSICAL CLOWN

circa 1956

The tables are turned now!  No more will a scary creepy clown control you!  You control him!  Make him dance now!  Put in a quarter and push the four buttons in front of him that control his arms and legs while you make him hop around to the Jetson's theme song!  We really enjoyed this one.

Super fun, still looking out for an Elvis sighting though!

PB taking on the vintage 1960's Stock Car pinball machine.

The Neon Boneyard Park

And speaking of vintage neon signs, we had to take a tour of The Neon Boneyard Museum while in Las Vegas!  The Neon Boneyard is where all awesome neon signs go to retire.  Many vintage classic casino and motel signs from old Vegas!

 The Neon Boneyard visitor's center is housed in the La Concha Motel lobby (circa 1961) which was saved from demolition in 2005 and moved to it's current location.  Off to the right is the restored Silver Slipper from the Silver Slipper Gambling and Burlesque Hall circa 1950. The Neon Boneyard has restored several full sized vintage signs that line the highway leading up to the museum.

 YESCO!  The company that made so many Vintage (and modern) Vegas signs.

Original La Concha Lobby sign that still resides in the present museum lobby.

 The great thing about the tour is it's not just looking around at a bunch of old awesome signs,  The tour guide tells a detailed history about neon signs, styles and the places and people they represented as the tour moves around the outside museum. 

(Original Stardust, late 1950's)

The Boneyard has a lot of neat events throughout the year.  There is a night tour with special spotlighting and  lit up functioning neon signs, lectures about vintage neon, movie nights, special christmas holiday lighting of the signs....I also saw several free events that they do for kids, for example:

Saturday, May 24, 2 to 4 p.m. – Drawing History in 3D. Children will learn how to draw their own 3D/anaglyph sign based on historic signs in the Neon Museum’s collection and make their own 3D-viewing glasses. This event is recommended for kindergartners through sixth graders.

Wha...What!? That sounds like so much fun! 

Well, on to the next stop...

Where to next on this Vegas Vacation?