Our Honeymoon: A Venetian Vegas Vacation

When Jeff and I started talking about honeymoon destinations, there was really only one option that stood out: Vegas! We've been there together four times: once in 2014 for our first-ever vacation together, and three times in 2015. We even got engaged in Vegas on the day we left LA to move to Chicago. After we left Vegas in August 2015, Jeff would sometimes lament the fact that we wouldn't be driving to Vegas anymore, since it's not quite the easy drive from Chicago that it is from LA. So when the time came to plan our honeymoon, we knew Vegas was the perfect place for us!

Since Jeff is still on the academic-calendar schedule, we figured we'd go over winter break. (Bonus: the weather was so comfortable! After three summertime Vegas trips together, I wasn't entirely sure if Vegas even existed when the temperature dipped below the triple digits.) After a few wonderful days in Southern California, during which we met his newborn nephew and even newer-born niece, we hopped in the crappiest little rental car I'd ever seen and set out for a familiar drive through the Mojave. After our drive to Vegas in June 2015, when I fell asleep right after we got on the freeway and took a 3 hour nap straight through to Baker, I was determined to stay awake and enjoy the trip. To that end, I sang for probably 75% of the drive. (Hey, it works!)

I'd always had it in my head that the only time I'd ever get to stay at the Venetian was on a honeymoon trip, since it's too fancy (read: expensive) for a run-of-the-mill vacation, and by golly, stay at the Venetian we did! We'd walked through it on our previous trips, and even gone on a gondola ride, and every time I'd marveled at how beautiful it was, so I was beyond excited when we booked our room.

This part of the hotel has the most glorious blue sky fresco on the ceilings.

Like all of the hotels we walked through, the Venetian was fully decked out for Christmas, which gave me endless things to exclaim over/insist Jeff look at. By a happy not-so-coincidence, I was wearing a super festive outfit when we arrived, so I made Jeff take a zillion photos of me grinning in front of things.

All you need is love! (Or at least, half an L and a giant O.)

We were both quite impressed by everything about our stay at the Venetian. Even though we got there two and a half hours before check-in, they were able to get us into a room immediately and didn't make us pay any early check-in fees, which wasn't our experience at other Vegas hotels. Our room was the size of a small Chicago apartment, or a spacious New York one, and I fear that all future hotel rooms will pale in comparison to its sheer spaciousness and opulence. We had a perfect view of the Strip from our room, so I was able to verify that the lights really do stay on all night!

There is nothing better than a king bed, especially for a bed-hog like me!

Our suite had a living room with its own TV, which meant that we had two enormous TVs less than 20 feet apart. LUXURY.

Standing by the window, looking in: living room, sleeping area, and hallway.

The view from our window. Hello, Mirage!

What really floored me about this room, though, was the bathroom, which was enormous and very marble-heavy. It had both a lovely shower with that rainfall-style shower head, and a deep tub, as well as a zillion mirrors, a vanity table, and two sinks. I must say, it was quite a change of pace to be able to see my entire outfit in the mirror before going out each day!

Bath and shower.

Vanity/makeup table.

Sinks and one of many enormous mirrors.

If you ever get the chance to stay at Venetian, I highly recommend it, particularly in the cooler weather. In the past, we've stayed at Paris because it's located pretty centrally and when it's at least 105 degrees in the shade, you don't want to have to walk too far. But if it's in the high 50s, as it was for us all trip, walking from one end of the Strip to the other is actually a lot of fun!

On our first day in Vegas this time, we kept it pretty simple and walked through a few hotels between checking in and dinner. The highlight for me was seeing Bellagio's garden display, which had really gone all-in on Christmas cheer! They had an enormous tree with thousands of ornaments, tons of exotic varieties of poinsettia, model trains, giant nutcrackers, and many sparkly things, so I was basically in festive heaven!

After seeing Vegas at Christmastime and staying at Venetian, I'm even more certain that we made the right choice for our honeymoon, and I can't wait to share more about the shows and places we saw, the arcades we visited (because we are Serious Adults, ok?), and all the incredible food we ate!

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