A couple walks toward the altar to get married at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada, in this May 15, 2005, file photo. Elvis isn’t doing as many weddings in Las Vegas as he once did. The US desert oasis is known throughout the world as a destination for gambling and excess, and kitschy weddings. But fewer and fewer people are taking advantage of the city’s flexible laws. PHOTO
LAS VEGAS
At the Graceland
Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, an Elvis impersonator in a black jumpsuit
croons as a couple walks down the aisle. Pastor Jean-Claude Chevalme
pronounces them man and wife. All in 10 minutes flat.
Viva Las Vegas.
But the wedding business isn't what it used to be in Sin City.
The
US desert oasis known for all-night gambling, extravagant shows and
no-hold-barred boozing has for decades also been a magnet for couples
from around the world who are looking to tie the knot quickly and
cheaply.
The kitschier the ceremony, the better.
The
marriage license office in Nevada's Clark County is open until midnight
every day, even on holidays. Weddings usually cost just a few hundred
dollars.
But fewer people are taking
advantage of the southwestern city's flexible laws — 37 percent fewer
over the past decade, in fact, as the number of Vegas weddings dropped
from 128,000 in 2004 to 81,000 last year.
"The
wedding business here in Las Vegas has fallen off since 2004. We
haven't had ups and downs, and ups and downs — it's just been a
consistent drop every year," Chevalme said.
"You know, people don't have as much money anymore because the economy here isn't that good."
IMPULSIVE MARRIGES
A couple walks out of the Little White Chapel
after getting married in Las Vegas, Nevada, in this May 15, 2005, file
photo. Elvis isn’t doing as many weddings in Las Vegas as he once did.
The US desert oasis is known throughout the world as a destination for
gambling and excess, and kitschy weddings. But fewer and fewer people
are taking advantage of the city’s flexible laws. PHOTO | AFP
The downturn could also be due to a decline in the appeal of a style of wedding that emerged more than a half-century ago.
"Paul
Newman and Joanne Woodward got hitched here — two big Hollywood stars
of the 1950s," said Clark County clerk Lynn Marie Goya.
They
weren't the only ones. Mia Farrow and Frank Sinatra exchanged vows in
Sin City in 1966. Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, Angelina Jolie and Billy
Bob Thornton, and Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford all tied the knot
here.
The lustre from those celebrity
weddings has worn off over time as a Vegas marriage has come to mean
something less glamorous: an impulsive, and usually ill-fated, marriage.
Stars
like Carmen Electra and Dennis Rodman got married there before
annulling their vows nine days later. Britney Spears and Jason Alexander
tied the knot — and then promptly untied it 55 hours later. What
happened in Vegas really did stay in Vegas.
Films like "The Hangover" haven't helped the city's image.
"One
of the misconceptions over the past few years is that people only come
here when they are drunk and they get married last-minute, and that's
just not true. That makes great movies but that's just not true," says
Goya.
Even with the downturn, Las
Vegas remains the top destination for weddings in the United States, and
newly legalized gay marriage could provide a new source of revenue.
But
Las Vegas estimates the nearly 40 percent decline in weddings has cost
the city $1 billion a year, so it is starting to fight back.
It
has kicked off a publicity campaign to restore the allure of the Vegas
wedding and to attract a new generation of lovebirds to the city,
especially from overseas.
"It's all
about the fun and the craziness. Everything is large, big, so different
from what we have back in Norway," says one new bride.
Rob Johnston, a newlywed from Britain, says he and wife Claire loved their Elvis-themed wedding.
"We
really enjoyed it — it was a fantastic experience. We've had many great
days and now we're off for dinner in the Eiffel Tower. What more could
you want?"
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