Well over a hundred thousand marriages are performed in
Las Vegas each year. Having a Vegas wedding has become a byword for
tongue-in-cheek chic, and there are indeed drive-thru chapels where
bride and groom do no more than roll down their car windows before
being serenaded on their way by Elvis himself.
What's more surprising, however, is that most marriages in the
city seem to be deeply formal affairs . Both the casinos and
a horde of independent wedding chapels compete to offer elaborate
and expensive ceremonies with all the traditional trimmings, from
white gowns and black limousines, to garters and boutonniers. The
happy couples are more likely to have saved and planned long in
advance than to have succumbed to a spur-of-the-moment impulse.
You don't have to be a local resident or take a blood test to
get wed in Las Vegas. Assuming you're both at least eighteen years
old and carrying picture ID, and neither of you is already married
- US citizens are expected to know their Social Security Numbers -
simply turn up at the Clark County Marriage License Bureau ,
downtown at 200 S Third St (Mon-Thurs 8am-midnight, and
continuously from 8am on Fri to midnight on Sun; tel 455-4415, ),
and buy a marriage license for $50 cash.
To get a divorce in Las Vegas, you have to have been a Nevada
resident for at least six weeks.
With no waiting period required, the cheapest option is then to
walk one block to the office of the Commissioner of Civil
Marriages, 309 S Third St (same hours; same phone number), and pay
another $50 cash to have a civil wedding performed.
Wedding chapels claim to charge as little as $50 for their most
basic ceremonies, but at that sort of rate even the minister is
regarded as an "extra" costing an additional $40. Reckon on paying
at least $100 for the bare minimum, which is liable to be as
romantic a process as checking in at a hotel, and to take about as
long. The full deluxe service ranges up to around $600.
Photography in particular can be expensive; many chapels
won't let you bring a still camera, let alone make a video. When
you pay for the services of their own photographers, you're not
usually buying the right to keep the negatives, and may have to pay
exorbitant rates for each individual print.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau provide full
listings of wedding chapels on their website ( ), as well as
details of operators such as Las Vegas Weddings and Rooms
(tel 1-800/488-6283) that offer all-inclusive wedding packages. The
busiest days in the calendar are New Year's Eve, which gives
American couples the right to file a joint tax return for the
entire preceding year, and Valentine's Day.
Many chapels, both independent and in the casinos, also offer
gay or lesbian "weddings ," which lack any legal force.