Experience a customized Nelson Ghost town wedding
For those of you who want to explore alternatives to the traditional wedding setting that is offered within urban areas, Eldorado Canyon represents a unique and unforgettable experience. An abandoned town, located near a former gold mine, this popular location offers a secluded and private venue for your wedding ceremony.
The setting itself is sufficient to enrich the ceremony, featuring a number of abandoned buildings, antiques, vintage vehicles, and the unmatched desert landscape. For those of you who enjoy vintage ceremonies, Nelson is a great chance to experience one in its natural setting. The style is that of the late 1800’s, so expect your wedding to be nontraditional and unique.
Here is a scene from the past. Fun stuff.
This unique desert location goes by many names such as Eldorado Canyon, Nelson’s Landing, or Eldorado ghost town event center at Searchlight, NV. This abandoned community looks like a real-life movie set. It is located fairly close to Las Vegas at it also proves practical for wedding ceremonies and celebration events. This has become a very popular place to have an Eldorado mine ghost town adventure.
Nelson Landing Weddings
Aside from the experience of Nelson Ghost town weddings, people often visit Nelson town for photo shoots, filming commercials and themed parties. Many of these are organized independently, but that requires a lot of work.
Now — that is a unique old vehicle !
A DIY wedding, for example, requires herculean effort. Partially because the town is at a 45 minute driving distance from Las Vegas, but also because it lacks certain facilities. Organizing everything will take dozens of trips back and forth, and will cost a lot of time and money.
Independent transportation can also be expensive, and you’d have to spend some time logistically planning the transport, which when scaled at 50 or so guests adds up to frustration.
Location choices for Eldorado Canyon Weddings
For those of you who love the vintage Las Vegas wedding style, Nelsons landing offers several venue options. The three most popular ones however, are the main barn, the cactus barn, and the cactus garden.
This wedding video below shows clients of mine, Henk and Iris, who traveled all the way from the Netherlands to have their wedding at Nelson Ghost Town. Iris is a professional photographer herself and wanted to take photos of the old cars and unique relics. They immersed their selves in to the fun it all thoroughly as you can tell from the fun video. They really had the time of their lives and made some fantastic memories. Watch this video as it showcases the various props and fun paraphernalia to enjoy at this old unique ghost town in the Nevada desert.
Some couples having a destination wedding in Las Vegas have decided this as well. It does save money not to spend a lot of the limousine ride there and back. It takes 1 hour each way to travel to Nelson Ghost Town which is sometimes a bit difficult to find.
The Main barn is probably the perfect setting for those who’d prefer the vintage desert style, but still what to be partially protected from the elements. It is a very intimate setting, for a lofty and unforgettable ceremony.
Looking out from the two story barn hayloft. A romantic place.
The property also offers countless areas for exploration and unique nelson ghost town photography. So make sure to schedule according to your number of guests. The main barn is likely the best option for a unique themed Las Vegas wedding ceremony.
Here is some tips to make your Nelson Ghost Town wedding ceremony more comfortable
- The desert landscape and vintage setting will do most of the job for creating a wonderful vintage atmosphere. But make sure to communicate with your partner and important guests, in order to organize a cohesive appearance. This will further immerse guests into the Las Vegas vintage style, and make your photographs elegant and unforgettable.
- Do note that there is no electricity around, so plan upfront, and book an acoustic band if you are planning to bring the music along. Some musicians are prepared, and know how to find a way around this hurdle, but you have to communicate this upfront.
- Considering the small number of important guests attending the ceremony, you should send them a number of useful tips, so safety is guaranteed and nothing stands a chance of ruining the wedding experience. Adequate footwear is a must, because you will be exposed to the desert, where there are nails, cactus and glass abound. Another important precaution you have to make is to ensure people are constantly hydrated. So either plan upfront and bring refreshments, or write to your guests to factor dehydration as well. If sensitive to certain temperature extremes, make sure to follow the weather forecast and book appropriately.
- While there is no electricity around, you don’t have to worry about restroom facilities.
- If you still haven’t decided upon a date for your wedding ceremony, have in mind that fall and spring have the ideal desert temperature. As far as time of day goes, you can enrich the romantic setting by having the ceremony at sunset.
- Exploration will add another element to the whole wedding experience, so allow your guests to wander around by booking and organizing your ceremony appropriately. There is hardly a better opportunity to enjoy the Old West.
You may also want to visit this helpful article to prepare for the weather
NAME: Nelson COUNTY: Clark ROADS: 2WD GRID: 8. CLIMATE: Mild Winter,
warm summer. BEST TIME TO VISIT: Anytime. COMMENTS: Just South of
Still considering doing a DIY Nelson Ghost Town wedding?
Whether you are eloping with a small wedding for two or adding in extra guests, you will need to know some of the organizational requirements first.
A romantic photo in Eldorado Canyon desert cactus field.
If you are a do-it-yourselfer you need to know it is required you purchase a wedding permit to elope at Nelson Ghost Town. You will also need to hire a minister, photographer and figure out transport, which requires a lot of DIY homework, not to mention effort.
It is quite an organizational hurdle, so it’s better sit back, and let someone who plans weddings for a living help you. Many brides-to-be are overestimating themselves trying to organize a perfect DIY wedding, only to find out an insurmountable challenge ahead.
And this is perfectly understandable, because professionals pour in lots of hours organizing a single ceremony, and have moving parts already figured out. The wedding ceremony is an once-in-a-lifetime experience, so it’s incredibly satisfying to be a guest at your own.
The informative article tells the modern story about Nelson mining town. Nelson sits on a site that is actually an old mine. In fact they conduct mine tours to this day.
For those who want to travel there on their own here is a map and directions to assist in your journey there.
Click this photo to visit written directions to Nelson Landing
Consider Nelson ghost town wedding packages
Leaving the organization to someone else and focusing on the actual wedding will make an unforgettable experience. You can open up a dozen of Pinterest boards, focus on your dress and hairstyle and make sure the most important guests know your idea for the themed ceremony.
The former gold mining town at Eldorado Canyon at Nelson will take care of everything else, by combining desert landscape with several rustic and vintage buildings, coupled with whimsical props – such as a crashed airplane and a number of antique trucks scattered around.
Here is an informational link giving top tips to prepare for your experience:
Eldorado Canyon Ghost Town (NV): Read These Tips Before You Go – TripAdvisor
This is an ideal place for those who seek and enjoy the retro vintage style. You will have a wedding to remember, and your guests will tell their friends about the reception and lovely ceremony. Combined with a Las Vegas party afterwards, this will be a day to remember.
For more help or options and information on elopement in Vegas read our venue guide for eloping in Las Vegas.
Let us know how we can be of service to you and making your wedding day special.
Thank you for visiting!
I saw your Nelson Ghost Town videos on YouTube and found this article on your site. I really love this venue! It seems like so much fun to get married in a Ghost town. How much does it typically cost to elope to Nelson and get married?
Hello Andrea, Thank you for your comment and questions. The photo opportunities for a wedding at Nelson Ghost Town are incredible. They have so many old cars, signs, barns, buildings and oddities there. The starting price for our Nelson Ghost elopement wedding packages at Nelson are $749.00.
We are thinking about having a Nelson Ghost Town wedding reception. We have 20 guests. What kind of a budget would we need to have if we want to have photos, a bus, ceremony with flowers and a barbecue reception?
Hi there, I found this article very informative. My fiance and I are thinking about having a Nelson Ghost town wedding next year. We find the vintage weddings very appealing and the photos are phenomenal. We don’t have very many people coming but will need some customization’s to the packages you have on your site. Is it very expensive to add in chairs for our guests and some decorations?
Hello Kay, Thank you for visiting and reading my article. My team of photographers and I love to visit and do weddings at Nelson Ghost Town. It’s one of our favorite spots. To answer your question, it’s not expensive to add chairs for your guests if you want to use the chairs the Nelson owners supply it’s free to use them and the tables there. The permit allows two hours at the site. For decorations it just depends on what you choose. I have two different floral vendors I use. Let me me know what the date of your wedding is by visiting this Nelson ghost town wedding page link and filling out the event form. Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
What a novel idea! I was thinking about having a Vintage wedding in Las Vegas. I love the barns and photo possibilities there. It would be so much fun to have the family experience this with us. We were thinking about getting married in August of this year though and we have 20 guests. Is it possible to have so many guests there? What is a good time to get married during the summer at Nelson Ghost Town?
Hi Alana, Thank you for visiting my blog and commenting. Having a Nelson Ghost Town wedding is a very unique way to not only have an adventure wedding that has a Vintage theme but also make it enjoyable for your guests. You can have up to 75 guests at Nelson actually. We would customize your experience in this case and get a limo bus in your case. Summer is definitely hot and August carries not only heat but also some humidity from the summer monsoon season. I think earlier in the day is advisable but I would love to correspond with you and answer your questions personally. Contact me here and I will be happy to answer your questions and help you. Thanks again. Julie
I love the idea of having a Ghost town wedding. The props and opportunities look fantastic. When you use this location, are you able to have photos taken everywhere and with all the props there too?
Hello Allie, Thanks for the feedback on this post. Yes, when you choose to have a Nelson Ghost Town Wedding and use their area, we plan your permit for you and you and the photographer are allowed to go anywhere at the site and take some really fun and unique photos. Let me know more about your wedding and how I can help you.
Hi, I wanted to comment that this wedding option looks like it would be so much fun! I love all things vintage and found your article while I was browsing about weddings. Is it a long drive to get to this location from Vegas?
Hi Myra, Thanks for the compliment on the article! I do love this location for photos and as a unique vintage wedding spot. It takes a good hour to travel to this location from the Las Vegas strip. If you want to schedule a limousine for one of the packages it will require 3 hours total if you use my services but most limo companies have a minimum of 4 hours at this location. I am happy to help you plan your event and make it special for you if you want to contact me.
My fiance and I have been looking for an idea like this one. It seems like it would be very simple and yet fun. I love the props and photo ops. Do they allow people to do the ceremony there too?
Hi Kensee, Yes, they do allow the ceremony to take place there. In fact, it’s a very popular site to elope or to have a large group of guests and a reception. Let’s get in touch and talk about ideas within your budget. Thanks for connecting!
Wow! I came across your article and have to say this looks like a very unique and fun looking idea. I am not a traditional bride and love the idea of having a desert wedding that gives the opportunity to have fun props and photos of our experience. Would you contact me, please? I want to chat with you about having the ceremony next year. Thanks.
Hello Anita, Thank you. That is why I wrote the post. I don’t believe many brides know about this location but it is becoming an increasingly popular place to have a fun and unique wedding in Las Vegas for sure. I will contact you today so we can chat about your detail for next year. Thanks for writing me!
I have to admit, I would never have thought of this sort of setting and backdrop for a wedding. While it might not be my cup of tea, I can see the appeal it would have to couples that want a vintage wedding and something unique. I think it could make for a very nice non-traditional wedding ceremony!
Hello Marquiet, Yes, it’s won’t appeal to everyone, for sure. However, it is a great location for couples who want something unique and want to showcase their wedding experience with fun and memorable photos. Many guests who attend the weddings out there at Nelson Ghost town are quite entertained and have a really fun time.