The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The undying appeal of the Las Vegas wedding
‘Wedding Capitol of the World’ attracts thousands of couples for fun and eccentric nuptials.
This city has long been a stage where reality dissolves into fantasy. In the heart of the desert — a place where the Eiffel Tower, Egyptian pyramids and medieval castles all beam on one glamorous strip — the entertainment is virtually unlimited. It’s no wonder that a city built on the promise of pleasure and escape has remained a popular destination for weddings.
According to the clerk of Clark County, Nevada, about 80,000 couples exchanged wedding vows in Las Vegas in 2022, including some celebrities: Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker, and Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck. Clark County issued its 5 millionth marriage license in 2022.
On Sept. 23, Las Vegas celebrated its 70th anniversary as the “wedding capital of the world.” It was first recognized as such in The Daily Herald of London in 1953, the same year that Frank Sinatra began performing at the Sands Hotel and Casino, which bolstered the city’s popularity as a tourist destination.
And the city is undergoing a lot of change. There is a new 3.8-mile Formula One Grand Prix track, along with the Sphere, a performance venue covered in 1.2 million LED screens that is the home to U2′s 25-show residency.
Las Vegas weddings have been immortalized in movies like “Viva Las Vegas” and “The Hangover.” Earlier boldfaced names were also married there: Sinatra and Mia Farrow in 1966 and Elvis Presley and Priscilla Beaulieu in 1967.
According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, total spending in the region’s tourism industry hit almost $80 billion in 2022; the wedding industry was responsible for $2.5 billion of that, said the Clark County clerk’s office. There are about 100 chapels and about 18,000 people who work in the weddings industry, the office said.
The city became popular for quick and easy weddings in 1931, when Clark County eliminated blood tests and waiting periods that had been required of couples trying to get married. Las Vegas also marketed itself as a short hop away from Los Angeles — a fourhour drive or a 45-minute plane ride — which helped its draw as a celebrity hot spot, said Lynn Goya, the Clark County clerk.
“The focus is really on the couple rather than on a big-production wedding that frankly makes people crazy,” Goya said.
Elopements have become increasingly popular in recent years, with many couples opting for more intimate wedding experiences.
Most Vegas weddings are elopements, according to Goya, because of the prevalence of the casual, no-frills, 15-minute ceremonies offered by chapels — the bread and butter of the industry. A marriage license costs $102, and chapel packages are as low as $99.
A dress and sneakers
The Office of Civil Marriages is a short drive from the Strip. There, on a Thursday afternoon in September, a couple from Los Angeles — Pei Lin, a 24-year-old student, and Min Gjia, a 28-year-old taxi driver — were holding hands after getting married.
It was Lin’s first time in Las Vegas, and the couple’s parents, who had traveled from Guangzhou, China, had joined them. Lin said she and Gjia got married in Las Vegas because “it’s romantic.”
When asked what their plans were that night, she shouted, “Strip club!”
The office is just one option for a speedy wedding. Along Las Vegas Boulevard, chapels include Chapel of the Flowers and A Little White Wedding Chapel, where Lopez and Affleck got married.
Later that day, at Chapel of the Flowers, Wendy Louise Hudson, a 48-year-old administrative assistant, walked down the aisle in a backless white gown and Converse Chucks while Steve John Moran, a 50-year-old information technology product manager, waited at the altar, teary-eyed. They had been in a relationship for 10 years, after reconnecting on Facebook 23 years after they met as teenagers at an ice-skating rink in Yorkshire, England, where they live.
“If we got married back home, we probably would have spent 10 times as much money, and you spend the rest of the time pleasing the guests,” Moran said. “We wanted it to be for us.”
Elvis as officiant
On a Friday afternoon in September, Ron DeCar, dressed as Elvis, burst through the doors of Viva Las Vegas Weddings, a chapel on Las Vegas Boulevard, in a pink Cadillac, shrouded by a billow of smoke, singing “That’s All Right.” A couple sat in the back seat, holding hands and smiling.
DeCar has been an entertainer in Las Vegas since 1981. When he started doing Elvis weddings in the mid-’90s, he said, he knew only one other Elvis impersonator who officiated weddings.
DeCar estimated he does about 150 to 200 Elvis weddings a month: “He’s part of the Las Vegas identity.”
Brian Mills, the president of Las Vegas Wedding Chamber of Commerce and the lead minister at Little Church of the West, said that about 15% of the 2,500 weddings he officiates each year are Elvis weddings. He said he has worn his hair slicked back, like Elvis, every day since 2006.
When asked if he ever gets sick of Elvis weddings, he said, “Absolutely not. My voice and my hair bought me my house.”
On a Friday night in September, Mills was exhausted. He was officiating his 16th wedding that day. He had on an Elvis costume with a glittering gold jacket.
Cristina Chitel, who renewed her vows with David Chitel in front of their two sons, walked out of the chapel after the ceremony. Before stepping into her limo, she turned to Mills and said, “Thank you so much, Elvis. What’s your real name, Elvis?”
“Brian,” he said, and they shook hands.
“We don’t always have the time for the best customer service, but when we do, it’s great,” he said later in an interview.
Pit stop ceremony
While the quick, cheap and intimate chapel wedding is still flourishing in Las Vegas, there are other options available, including nontraditional venues, elegant venues and sports-themed weddings.
The Neon Museum, which tells the history of Las Vegas through old building signage, hosts 200 weddings a year.
Pamela Jarrin, a 37-year-old blogger, and Stan Cichy, a 43-yearold construction company owner, married at the museum in front of a sign that reads “Lady Luck.” The sign had advertised a hotel that closed down in 2006, and at the center there is a big red heart. Forty guests traveled from Ecuador, where Jarrin’s family is from, and Milford, Connecticut, where the couple live.
Jarrin said that while searching for venues in Las Vegas, they mostly saw chapels and casinos. “We knew that was not us,” she said.
“I feel like I’m the edgy one; I wanted to make it different,” she said, pointing at the pink streaks in her hair.
Part of the reason they came to Vegas to get married is because of Cichy’s love of gambling. But they also wanted their family to make a kid-free vacation out of it.
Not all Las Vegas weddings are quirky and kitschy. Kathryn Scrivener, a 27-year-old firefighter, and KaLeigh Horelica, a 30-year-old photographer, wanted a “classy wedding,” Horelica said. They wanted “Vegas glam.”
The couple wed at the Bellagio in front of 100 guests on a Saturday evening in September. The ceremony was held at a courtyard, tucked away from the hotel’s grand casino, adorned with pink, red and white floral arrangements. A string quartet played “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran.
The couple, from Abilene, Texas, said they had a difficult time finding a venue in Texas welcoming to LGBTQ couples. But when talking to vendors in Las Vegas, that wasn’t an issue. They also wanted a destination wedding, and Las Vegas was the most accessible and affordable option.
Tori Lindsay, a 28-year-old customer experience manager, and Nick Brendel, a 27-year-old shipment manager, got married at the pit stop of one of their favorite drivers, Kevin Harvick, during a NASCAR race. They wore fire suits — hers had a skirt attachment — and got married in nine seconds. Their parents and his brother cheered them on in the stands.
They played some blackjack, saw a hockey game, walked up and down the Strip, and soaked in the action as newlyweds.
“I love that city,” Brendel said. “It’s like an adult theme park dropped in the middle of the desert.”