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"Elvis" performed a mock wedding at Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel.

We tour the wedding facilities at Bellagio including a spectacular terrace location overlooking the lake, Strip, and Paris Las Vegas's Eiffel Tower.

Rick Steves spoke at the keynote breakfast and at a professional development session.

More from Our Vegas Trip

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On Monday afternoon, we went to The Secret Garden at The Mirage, which houses Siegfried and Roy's tigers and lions. The garden was a quiet getaway from the frantic pace of the Strip and a nice break before we headed out to explore more hotels.

Monday night was the big gala night for SATW, with an awards banquet at the Rio hotel. We all bused from Mirage to the Rio, met as we got off the buses by the Chippendales who perform at the Rio. (Research, research, research...) Bachelorette parties are a big part of the Rio's business and a growing trend in Vegas, we learned.

After dinner and a look back at SATW's 50 year history, we headed up to Voodoo Lounge, located on the 51st floor of the Rio. The lounge has both an indoor and outdoor section, the perfect place to watch the lights of the Strip on that warm evening. Thunderstorms were crackling far in the distance, a warning of the storms that would come rolling in the next day.

Tuesday...Goin' to the Chapel(s)

Tuesday was filled with a full day of touring, Vegas style. We signed up for a look at more of Las Vegas's wedding chapels, a tour led by Susan Marg, author of Las Vegas Weddings. (Stay tuned for next month's contest and the chance to win one of two autographed copies!) Our group of seven writers and photographers toured in a limo! We started at Viva Las Vegas with a great "Elvis" mock wedding and a tour of the chapel and the adjacent motel filled with themed rooms. (More on all this soon!)

From Viva Las Vegas, we walked to Little White Chapel for a tour of the chapel which has witnessed many celebrity weddings. After a tour of this chapel, one of the city's most famous, we headed off for tours of the city's most lavish wedding venues, the chapels at the casino hotels. We toured Excalibur's elaborate chapels, with a mock wedding with a "groom" from Thunder from Down Under, another party popular with bachelorette parties, then headed on to wedding venues at Bellagio and Treasure Island. We'll be covering these incredible venues in detail soon.

With just a little down time, we returned to The Mirage and prepared for a full evening program: dinner at Hard Rock Cafe's Pink Taco followed by one of the best shows we've ever seen in our lives: KA. This new Cirque du Soleil show at MGM was a spectacular event, one of those "how'd they do that?" kind of productions.

Wednesday: Rick Steves ... and Hurricane Rita

Wednesday's big event was one we'd been looking forward to since registration: the keynote breakfast address by Rick Steves. If you watch PBS, you know Rick Steves from his excellent travel shows on Europe; he's also the author of some great guidebooks (ones we used step by step on our recent trip to Europe). Later that morning, we got to meet Rick Steves in person before his presentation on guidebook writing, a seminar with lots of good tips that filled our notebooks.

After a great session, we headed back up to our room to catch up on the hurricane news...only to find out that Hurricane Rita was barreling toward Austin. We weren't schedule to return home until Friday evening...just when the storm was predicted to hit Texas. An hour of calls later and we were rebooked on the only other available flight to Austin, a Thursday flight that connected through Albuquerque and Lubbock.

With the rest of the day remaining, we headed out to try to pack in two days' worth of research into a busy afternoon, popping from hotel to hotel to check out wedding facilities, finishing the day at Bellagio for a third show: "O," another Cirque du Soleil extravaganza centered around water.

All too soon, we were headed back home. By the time we reached Texas, Hurricane Rita had veered east, sparing not only Austin but Houston. It had been a gamble rebooking and trying to predict a hurricane's path...but what better place to take a gamble, after all. Our Las Vegas trip had been a real success, from our vow renewal to our exploration of this exciting city.