When Sunny and I got married on Halloween back in 1995, we didn't have many resources at our disposal - I was living in a dinky 1-bedroom apartment making 8 bucks an hour, and Sunny was trying to squeeze a buck out of a failing pager company. Add a couple of toddlers into the mix and your wedding options are pretty limited. We got hitched at the Phoenix Wedding Chapel for about 35 bucks (with a coupon from the PennySaver), then moved from my 1-bedroom to a 2-bedroom in the same slummy apartment complex, and then took the kids out trick-or-treating in our gang-infested neighborhood. Although we certainly enjoyed our wedding day, it was lacking a certain pizazz that such an event warranted. I promised my beautiful bride that night that I'd make it up to her somehow, someday, and give her the wedding gala and honeymoon she deserved.

It took us 10 years to pull it off. Life gets in the way, you know?

When we started thinking about what we'd like to do for our upcoming 10th anniversary, a Vegas Elvis renewal of vows came up and we both latched onto the concept like pumas on a cheesesteak. It was perfect. It was us. It had pizazz. We are doing much better financially than we were back then (but still not stinkin' rich, unfortunately) so the Elvis plan had something else that turned out to be key - it was pretty affordable, too.

All totalled, the experience cost us around 2000 clams: About $400 for airfare and 2 nights at the Circus Circus via Expedia (prices go way down when you plan things for weekdays), $200 for new duds all around to get hitched in, a little over $350 for for the ceremony with the best Elvis in Vegas singing and performing the vows (we got a bigger picture that was added to the base price), $150 for the Tournament of Kings dinner theater at the Excalibur, and the rest for gambling, souveneir shopping, meals, and general struttin' cash.

We had a blast. Sunny's aunt Lanni joined us for the trip and shared many great moments with us. We (or maybe it was just the Vegas influence) corrupted her into becoming a slot jockey and even got her to ride the High Roller, a coaster going around the top of the Stratosphere (something we were all looking forward to, but were a little hesitant to actually do).

So, Sunny and I are good for another decade. Next time for the big 20, we're headin' to New Orleans, and we're going to shoot for vow renewal at the LaLaurie House, a haunted mansion in the French Quarter... on Halloween, naturally.

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