A Jewel-Toned, Retro Las Vegas Elopement at Little White Chapel
Having fun and doing what’s true to them have always been paramount for Alanda Hilborn (32, a nanny) and Kayla Grattan (30, a surface water technician). Unknowingly, this shared mindset would one day make them soulmates. Alanda and Kayla met in 2021 on Bumble, where Alanda saw a picture of Kayla posing in a truck pool. It’s exactly what it sounds like: an inflatable pool in a truck bed. “She immediately caught my eye, and I messaged first asking for an invite to the truck pool party,” recalls Alanda. Soon after, the two had their first date at a bar and talked for hours. “For our third round of drinks, we ordered cocktails that came in souvenir cups. Already smitten, I thought, ‘Perfect! This will come in handy for anniversary celebrations,’ ” says Alanda.
From then on, the inseparable duo knew their bond was forever. “Kayla and I met right before the Fourth of July, so during one of our first dates, I jokingly broke into ‘Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue’ by Toby Keith. When Kayla immediately joined in, I knew I wanted to marry her. Her willingness to lean into my jokes is still one of my favorite things about her,” says Alanda.
After being together for two years, both Alanda and Kayla felt it was the right time to propose. Last January, they took a weekend getaway to Olympic National Park in Port Angeles, Washington—a place they love almost a three-hour drive from their Seattle home. “I nervously proposed to Kayla on a cold but sunny afternoon on the beach, and Kayla proposed to me the following day on a dock on the Puget Sound,” Alanda says.
Once the engagement celebrations were over, they started thinking about their wedding destination. “After months of brainstorming how we wanted to get married, I jokingly suggested eloping in Vegas, and the joke stuck. As a couple who lives and dies by a good bit, Las Vegas felt like a perfect fit for us. It drew us in by being classic, sentimental, lighthearted and campy. The Little White Chapel’s Drive-thru Tunnel of Love ceremony—officiated by Elvis—was too fun to pass up,” says Kayla. The location played a big part in their theme of “retro Vegas kitsch or eclectic-romantic,” which they incorporated in their florals, wedding attire and photography style. Alanda and Kayla leaned into classic elements already at the Little White Chapel, like red hearts, glitter, cherries and cherubs against a playful monochromatic palette of dark reds, vibrant pinks and deep rusts. “We ended up feeling the inspiration of those things without it being on the nose or costume-like,” says Alanda.
Their wedding location wasn’t the only unconventional aspect of their union. On June 20, 2024, instead of sticking to tradition, they spent every second before the ceremony together. “The thought process was, ‘She’s about to be my wife, so I want to hang out with her all the time, especially today,’ ” says Alanda. In the morning, the future spouses sat poolside in bikinis and read their vows to one another before the official ceremony. “One theme in each speech was something we like to call ‘heart work.’ Everyone knows that marriage takes effort, but it’s not like a 9-to-5; it’s work like a masterpiece,” says Kayla. Now remember those souvenir cups Alanda and Kayla got on their first date? They drank champagne from them before heading to the chapel.
Ready to make their elopement official, Alanda and Kayla stood before their Elvis- impersonator officiant while wearing heirlooms from Alanda’s family, Alanda in her great-grandmother’s starburst pendant and Kayla in a bolo tie belonging to Alanda’s great-grandfather. Since they had privately exchanged vows earlier, they chose quirky Elvis-themed oaths for their ceremony at the chapel. From vowing to never step on each other’s blue suede shoes to promising never to leave one another at the Heartbreak Hotel, they couldn’t stop laughing throughout.
After saying “I do,” Alanda and Kayla sat in a pink convertible as Elvis sang “Viva Las Vegas.” But that wasn’t the most memorable part of their wedding day. Instead, it was the magical feeling of the city celebrating with them. Walking around downtown Las Vegas, they found a massive praying mantis art installation big enough for a person to sit inside, play music and shoot flames out of the bug’s antennae. “When the praying mantis worker saw us, he played the ‘Wedding March’ and a crowd formed a circle around us and cheered as we danced. It felt like a scene from a movie,” reminisces Alanda. After receiving high fives, being treated to their meal at In-N-Out Burger and someone asking to take a photo with them, the couple were in marital bliss. “It was a ‘reception’ I’ll never forget,” Kayla says. “We live in a pretty wild and divisive world, but feeling all the love on the Las Vegas streets was a dose of humanity and collective joy I didn’t see coming.”