Las Vegas 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, then, 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, Nev., 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 also issued its five 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 London Daily Herald 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 1 Grand Prix track, along with the Sphere, a performance venue covered in 1.2 million LED screens and 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: Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow in 1966 and Elvis Presley and Priscilla Beaulieu in 1967.
According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the total spending in the tourism industry of Las Vegas hit almost $80 billion in 2022; the weddings industry was responsible for $2.5 billion of that, said the Clark County Clerk’s office. The office also said there are about 100 chapels and about 18,000 people who work in the weddings industry. The city became popular for quick and easy weddings beginning in 1931, during Prohibition, when Clark County eliminated blood tests and waiting periods that were required of couples who were trying to get married. Las Vegas also marketed itself as a short ride away from Los Angeles — a four-hour drive and 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,” Ms. 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 Ms. 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.
In 1991, the iconic wedding drive-through window was born at the Little White Wedding Chapel. The chapel’s founder, Charolette Richards, noticed that disabled guests struggled to get out of their cars to attend ceremonies. Also in the ’90s, themed weddings started becoming popular. Commonly requested themes include gothic, Elvis and Star Trek weddings.
The city is also home to grand and elaborate weddings, hosted at casinos and venues on the strip. (Custom wedding packages at the Bellagio start at $35,000.) “We’ve had people ride in on elephants, if that’s what you want,” Ms. Goya said. “You can hire Cirque du Soleil or Bruno Mars to sing at your wedding, if that’s what you want — it’s happened.”
She added that the Clark County Marriage License Bureau, which distributes about 219 licenses a day to couples, is open from 8 a.m. to midnight, 365 days a year. Many chapels are also open until midnight, with no appointment required, making it easy for couples to grab their license at the marriage license bureau, make a quick stop at a chapel and then celebrate on the Strip.
The Scene Downtown
The Office of Civil Marriages is a short drive from the Strip, along Interstate 15. 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 just getting married. So-called courthouse weddings take place at the office every 15 minutes.
It was Ms. Lin’s first time in Las Vegas, and their parents, who traveled from Guangzhou, China, had joined them. Ms. Lin said she and Mr. Gjia got married in Las Vegas because “it’s romantic.”
When asked what their plans were that night, she shouted, “Strip club!”
The Office of Civil Marriages is just one of many options for speedy weddings. Along Las Vegas Boulevard, there are dozens of chapels, including Chapel of the Flowers and A Little White Wedding Chapel, which calls itself “the most famous wedding chapel in the world.” Ms. Lopez and Mr. Affleck got married there. 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 I.T. product manager, stood at the altar waiting for her, teary-eyed. They had been in a relationship for 10 years, after reconnecting on Facebook 23 years after they first met as teenagers at an ice-skating rink in Yorkshire, England, where they now 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,” Mr. Moran said. “We wanted it to be for us.”
After the wedding, the couple headed back to their room at New York-New York Hotel and Casino to drop off their marriage certificate. They then went to the Skyfall Lounge in their wedding clothes.
“Part of me wants to get this off because I’m not somebody to be looked at,” Mr. Moran said, pointing at his suit. But Ms. Hudson was excited to wander around the Strip in her Converse sneakers and wedding dress.
“We’re not really party people,” he said.
She added, with a whisper: “But tonight, we’re going to party.”
The Elvis Wedding
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 seats, holding hands and smiling.
Mr. 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.
Mr. DeCar estimated he does about 150 to 200 Elvis weddings a month. “He’s part of the Las Vegas identity,” Mr. DeCar said.
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 percent 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, Mr. Mills was exhausted after a long day. He had started at 10 a.m. and was officiating his 16th wedding that day. He had one of his Elvis costumes on, which included 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 Mr. 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 later said in an interview with The New York Times.
The following morning, he packed a duffel bag with his speaker and officiated a vows renewal in front of the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign. Onlookers, who were standing in a long line to take their pictures in front of the sign, recorded the scene: an Elvis impersonator singing “Can’t Help Falling in Love” in front of a slow-dancing couple.
Among those waiting was another couple who renewed their vows earlier that day at Graceland Wedding Chapel for their 23rd anniversary, with an Elvis officiant. Lynn Haygood, a 60-year-old interior designer, and David Haygood, a 58-year-old computer…