The Honeymoon’s Over?

Kimberley McGee

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2001 | 10:34 a.m.

Surrounded by close friends and family, Laurie LeDonne and Dewey Dorough joined their lives together earlier this month in a small wedding ceremony at the Chapels at the Rio.

When they walked down the aisle they wanted their loved ones to be a part of the big event.

But the honeymoon was all about the newly married couple together, alone.

"We wanted a ceremony with our family, to make it official," LeDonne said. "And we wanted a special room for the honeymoon for us to have a little romantic time with each other."

The words "honeymoon suite" often elicit an image of the best room in a hotel, equipped with a big, lush bed, mirrors on the ceiling and champagne on ice.

For LeDonne, nothing less would do.

The Las Vegas couple called a dozen Strip hotels in search of a honeymoon suite that also featured a separate room in which to host a wedding reception so they didn't have to feel they were welcoming well-wishers into their bedroom.

"I didn't want just a regular room," LeDonne said. "I wanted something more personal, more intimate."

They were offered elegant suites, villas and penthouses with marble floors and Jacuzzi tubs to reserve something any executive or vacationing tourist might rent.

What had happened to the rooms that were meant for romance and intimacy -- a honeymoon -- they wondered?

A call to the Rio brought them closer to their idea of nuptial nesting.

The hotel-casino's Hollywood Suite is draped in muted black and shimmering gold tones, with frosted glass accents and a round bed beneath a mirrored ceiling.

"It's more romantic, more honeymoon-like, more special than just a hotel room," Laurie Dorough said. "It's close to the (hotel's wedding) chapel and there's room for the reception. We can start our honeymoon right away!"

The couple are part of a dwindling group of newlyweds who prefer a lavish honeymoon suite to a standard room.

The big day

Valentine's Day is one of the busiest days of the year for the Clark County Marriage License Bureau.

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, almost 1,300 couples purchased wedding licenses at the downtown Las Vegas office. On average, the bureau issues a little more than 300 licenses per day.

With all those couples getting married here -- count on a good number of them to tie the knot today -- where will they be spending their first nights as husband and wife if there are no traditional honeymoon suites available?

Anywhere, it would seem, as a growing number of newlyweds couldn't care less about the suite, but more about the action happening beyond the walls of their hotel room.

Susan Schnider, travel editor for Modern Bride magazine, said that what modern honeymooners are typically looking for are elegant accommodations and a buffet of activities.

"The adventure-honeymoon is more appealing now," Schnider said. "What is of increasing importance is that couples are looking for more things to do on their honeymoon."

The Modern Bride 2000 survey found that Las Vegas rates as the second-most economical locale and the 10th overall most popular vacation destination for newlyweds.

Meanwhile the American Society of Travel Agents named Las Vegas the sixth-best honeymoon spot in the country for 2000, trailing Hawaii, San Francisco, Orlando, Fla.; Disney resorts in California and Florida.

"We show people like to go to a destination resort, not just a hotel," Michelle Davis, marketing director for ASTA, said.

Long-distance romance

Which is just what Chieko and Kazuyuki Yamajo were pining for when they flew to Las Vegas from Yokohama, Japan, earlier this month to marry.

The city held the attraction, while the room was the icing on the cake, they said.

"For me, I saw it was luxury and it's so beautiful, very special to be here," Chieko Yamajo said. "Las Vegas is above what you find (elsewhere)."

Flowers, champagne and other romantic asides can be delivered, they said, to their standard room at the Bellagio, which they booked for their four-day honeymoon.

"It's so elegant and it's just a standard (room), but it's big," she said. "There's flowers and a big mirror and (a nice) view."

The couple planned to exhaust themselves with as much shopping, shows and sumptuous suppers as they could fit into their honeymoon.

The proud groom, beaming alongside his new bride, said anything better may have been too much.

"It's very exciting here, you don't need more," Kazuyuki Yamajo said.

As owner of the historic Little Chapel of the West on the Strip for 17 years, Greg Smith is a veteran of the worlds of weddings and newlyweds.

Smith has recommended hotels to brides and grooms over the years, and has seen the landscape of the Strip and the needs of the newlyweds change greatly.

"The town has so much to offer now, it's totally changed," he said. "There are so many rooms, so many amenities and so many different venues. They all don't have honeymoon suites, per se, but they have beautiful rooms."

In 1982 Smith and his first wife spent their honeymoon at Caesars Palace, known then, he said, for its decadent honeymoon suites.

"It wasn't a large room," Smith said. "But it had a round bed and a Jacuzzi about 10 feet from the bed, and mirrors on the ceiling and, of course, a view of the Strip."

What was unique then is standard now, he said.

"Almost every room in the hotels are better than what the honeymoon suites were," Smith said.

Jenn Michaels, assistant vice president of public relations at the Bellagio, said round beds, mirrored ceilings and kitschy decor are considered passe by typical newlyweds.

"People aren't looking for that any more," she said. "The Las Vegas visitor has become a very sophisticated traveler with sophisticated tastes."

Generally most newlyweds want a hassle-free honeymoon rather than a prepackaged getaway, she said.

They'd rather choose the shows they wish to see, the activities they'll participate in and the restaurants they will dine at and have the hotel cater to their needs as they occur.

Traditional digs

The Rio took a different tactic to appease the needs of honeymooners -- overindulge them.

Far from other hotel rooms, so that guests can feel somewhat secluded from the rest of the world, are two 1,600-square-foot themed honeymoon suites.

A floor-to-ceiling glass wall wraps around a two-person Jacuzzi tub. Couples can gaze upon the Strip while they toast over champagne and soak.

The Hollywood room is decorated in a '40s style, when Tinseltown was in its Golden age. Overstuffed chairs and large stars in the marble floor complete the black-and-gold decor.

Rock walls and lush plants decorate the Rainforest room, which also has a king-sized round bed, mirrored ceiling and a waterfall to calm nervous newlyweds.

The Rio may be one of the only hotels to offer honeymoon suites labeled as such, but it seems to be drawing newlyweds, said Salli Dutton, manager of the Chapels at the Rio.

"We've found that they don't want something run of the mill," Dutton said. "It's very glitzy, very fun and romantic."

The suites are built around the needs of a newlywed couple, she said, with a reception area, a dining-and-bar nook and, of course, a large, private bedroom decorated with romance in mind.

The bridal suites are placed close to the chapel so newlyweds can have an intimate reception without the hassle of transportation for them or their guests.

"As long as we have business from them, there's no reason to change it," Dutton said. "They still come for anniversaries, other occasions. It's romantic, beautiful, as a honeymoon suite should be."

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