In Hollywood, lovers run off to Vegas to get married spontaneously. You won’t find a comparable place in Europe. Is it really easy to get married in Las Vegas?
Be it the difficult decision of where to draw the line when inviting friends or family, or simply a financial one. There are many reasons for a wedding far from home. If uncomplicatedness is also on the wish list, the city of happiness, Las Vegas, quickly moves up the shortlist.
In tradition-conscious Austria, it is unusual to get married without any family or friends. But if you ask around among your friends, almost everyone has a personal threshold for the number of wedding guests. In the end, there are often more than planned. So why not completely remove this limit by limiting the number of guests to the two most important people?
Wedding Chapels
Las Vegas has built up a business for this over decades. People from all over the world come to Nevada’s largest city to get married and not take it all too seriously. Because with a wedding budget of just a few hundred dollars, saying “I do” is possible. Of course, the budget horizon in the gambling city is wide open. Getting married in a helicopter, hot air balloon or on the edge of the Grand Canyon. In principle, you can get married anywhere in the city. Most people opt for a small wedding chapel – there are over 50 such wedding chapels around Las Vegas Boulevard.
In Las Vegas, you can easily be dissuaded from the idea of standing out in a white dress or wedding suit. This is a common sight here – a wedding dress is not going to lure anyone out of their comfort zone. In the spacious hotel lobbies, you will often come across newlyweds who are all dressed up and about to tie the knot.
Get married in 24 hours?
The myth of eloping, which is shaped by the US film scene, is a good story, but it is not 100% possible in the real world, especially for non-US citizens. It fails primarily because the wedding chapels are fully booked. They are often already reserved at the most popular times, between late morning and early afternoon. However, it is certainly possible to squeeze in a last-minute wedding in Las Vegas. But do you want that kind of stress at your own wedding?
If you want to go a bit crazier, you can get married in the middle of the night. The wedding authority, which you visit as a couple before the wedding, is open at least until midnight. There you swear with a raised hand that you have been informed about the laws and that you have understood the validity of this agreement. The wedding chapels are also flexible in terms of business hours for an additional charge. This would even make sense if the wedding was broadcast live from the chapel. Those staying at home could comfortably experience the wedding in the morning, given the time difference.
What the authorities do, however, strictly monitor is the state of those looking to get married. Drunk people are politely turned away by security at the entrance.
Britney and J.Lo
How did Britney Spears deal with the authorities back in 2004? Her marriage to her childhood sweetheart Jason Alexander lasted a full 55 hours. This only brought even more attention to the Little White Wedding Chapel. Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck also got married there. Along with the Graceland Chapel, it is one of the most popular wedding chapels. The white of the Little White has now faded somewhat. Nevertheless, it is fully booked, including for so-called drive-through weddings. In other words, getting married while driving past, like at the drive-in at a fast food restaurant. The Graceland Chapel is nicer. Named after Elvis’ Graceland estate in Memphis. Here the registrar can optionally be booked in Elvis costume (has been the case for almost 50 years). The state-certified registrar can also conduct the wedding in the chapel in German if requested.
Paperwork
Then there is the paperwork. In Austria, a certification of the marriage certificate by the US authorities is sufficient for a legally valid marriage. This allows the marriage to be registered at the registry office. Another reason why a Vegas wedding is not really possible ad hoc is that the issuing of this document takes several weeks after the wedding. Some wedding planners in Vegas offer to collect this certificate and send it to Europe.
This service can also be booked as a complete package, including a photographer and chapel reservation. A bureaucratic plus point: Before the wedding in the US state of Nevada, you do not have to collect a certificate from the Austrian registry office, as is the case for a foreign wedding in some European countries. If you can do without the rings and the long-planned wedding clothes, you will still find what you need there. Leaving these things to chance is probably an option for even fewer people. It is usually not quite so spontaneous after all.
Saying yes
The city lives up to its name as The Marriage Capital of the World. Over 100,000 couples get married in Las Vegas every year.
The ceremony in the chapel usually lasts five to ten minutes; a registrar receives about $75.
Your own photos are often not allowed in wedding chapels. Photos and videos are their main source of income.
Las Vegas has 150,000 hotel rooms (Vienna has around 37,000 hotel rooms).
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