LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — A thrifted gown, a mobster love story, and a message about being true to yourself are now greeting travelers at Harry Reid International Airport.
Clark County officials and wedding industry leaders unveiled the 2025 “Vegas Wedding Dress of the Year” Monday afternoon at the Howard W. Cannon Aviation Museum, perched above Terminal 1. The winning gown belongs to bride Stephanie Bashall of Burbank, California, who married husband Britt Chandler Johnson at The Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas on Oct. 26, 2025.
The dress – a 1920s-inspired, beaded Reem Acra gown – beat out dozens of entries from couples who wed in Clark County last year. To enter, brides posted a photo and short narrative on social media, sharing the story behind their wedding look and their Las Vegas ceremony. A panel that included the Clark County Clerk’s Office, the Vegas Wedding Chamber and members of the local fashion community reviewed the submissions.
“This was the one that was selected as the epitome of the 2025 Las Vegas wedding dress of the year,” Clark County Clerk Lynn Marie Goya said. “It has a story. It has a personality. It has a gorgeous dress. It has a great location. So, it really was a special dress.”
Bashall’s gown also reflects a growing trend toward second-hand and upcycled wedding fashion. She discovered the designer dress at Glamour Closet, a Beverly Hills shop that sells sample and second-hand gowns. It was only the second dress she tried on.
“I did not expect to walk out that day with the perfect dress,” she said.
The gown’s vintage lines and intricate beading were a natural fit for the couple’s speakeasy- and mob-themed wedding, inspired by how they met. Years before, the two were background actors on the HBO series “Boardwalk Empire,” set in the Prohibition era. They first crossed paths on a shuttle bus to set in New York City.
“With millions of people living in that city, if we sat at a different table, if we were on a different bus, we might never have met,” Bashall said. “We talked for years about having a speakeasy wedding because it’s part of how we became a couple.”
When the pair later visited Las Vegas with family and stopped by The Mob Museum, they spotted one of the show’s costumes prominently displayed inside. That moment cemented their decision to marry in downtown Las Vegas.
At Monday’s unveiling, Bashall’s gown was revealed in a glass case, paired with the rhinestone-encrusted, blue-soled Betsey Johnson heels she wore down the aisle. Goya noted that the scuffs and “little bit of mud” on the soles reflect something uniquely Vegas.
“You experience the wedding, you keep going on, and everybody is happy for you,” she said.
Bashall used the moment to share a message aimed at anyone planning a wedding, especially brides who don’t see themselves reflected in typical bridal marketing.
“For me, this dress really represents just being true to myself and wearing something that I love, but also not having it take over for who I am,” she said. “I’m an older bride, so to have something like this highlighted for someone that isn’t just, like, a young bride … you can make the choices you want to make. You can pick what you want to pick and get married where you want to get married.”
“They don’t have to fit in the dress,” she added. “The dress fits them.”
Goya said showcasing the winning gown at the airport, where many couples’ wedding journeys begin, underscores how central the industry is to Las Vegas’ identity.
“Weddings and people in their wedding dresses walking up and down the Strip are such a part of the personality of Las Vegas,” she said, calling Harry Reid International “the gateway to all of Las Vegas.” Displaying the dress there, she added, shows that “weddings really are part of our heart and soul.”
The display will remain in place throughout 2026 at the Howard W. Cannon Aviation Museum on the second level of Terminal 1, greeting visitors as they arrive in the Wedding Capital of the World.
The “Vegas Wedding Dress of the Year” contest is now in its second year, and Goya said the response has been strong enough that organizers are already moving ahead with the 2026 competition. Brides who wed in Clark County at any point in 2026 will be eligible.
“If you think that your wedding dress is the most gorgeous or the most typical for Las Vegas, we’d love to see it,” Goya said.
Details on how to enter the 2026 contest, including how to submit photos and dress stories, are available at Weddings.Vegas.
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