For many it’s seen as the marriage capital of the world, catering for couples who want anything from a classic white wedding to drive-thru nuptials, with an Elvis impersonator doing the honours of course. But the allure of getting hitched in Las Vegas seems to be waning, with the city increasingly struggling to persuade lovebirds to pick Sin City as the place to tie the knot.
In the past 10 years, Vegas has had a 37% decline in the number of people getting married there, falling from 128,000 in 2004 to 81,000 last year, resulting in an estimated loss of $1 billion a year. Many chapels have been forced to close.
Clerk Lynn Goya, who took over the Marriage License Bureau for Clark County (which covers Las Vegas) earlier this year, is keen to reverse this trend and rebrand Las Vegas as a “hip” place to get hitched.
The decline in weddings is not, she says, simply due to the recession that hit in 2008. “Since then, the tourists have returned to Las Vegas,” Goya told the LA Times. “The weddings haven’t followed.”
Hit films such as The Hangover (which depicts a group of friends on a calamitous rampage of Vegas) have been a mixed blessing for the city. On one hand it perpetuates the notoriety that appeals to many visitors – indeed, it is without a hint of irony that Madame Tussauds Las Vegas unveiled a reconstruction of the chapel from The Hangover this month, which “daring couples” can get married in – from $1,500. But the same brash image is a turn-off for many others.
“Hollywood has had a substantial influence on matrimonial tourism and tourism in general in Las Vegas,” says Ann Parsons, marketing director at Vegas Weddings. “While The Hangover was a phenomenally positive influence for LasVegas in general, it was a negative for our wedding industry as it perpetuated the myth of the quick wedding for drunken tourists.”
Celebrity shotgun weddings have a similar effect: Mickey Rooney, Pamela Anderson and, most recently, Britney Spears, have all had weddings in Vegas with varying levels of longevity.
“Even though Britney Spears’ wedding didn’t last and isn’t a good example, we think her getting married here spiked the highest number of weddings in any one year.” says Parsons. “Either way, it’s still not the message we want to promote.”
It is hoped that the recent legalisation of same-sex marriage in Nevada will help boost the number of weddings, and increase the number of LGBT visitors to Las Vegas.
“The gay wedding market will be important to Las Vegas,” says Brandon Reed, general manager of Graceland Wedding Chapel. “Same-sex ceremonies were legalised here in Nevada last October, long before the Supreme Court legalised gay unions across the nation. I think Nevada was thinking proactively on this.”
However, for Reed the city has still “dropped the ball” when it comes to actively marketing itself as a wedding destination.
“There are many other states and countries that are engaged (no pun intended) in active marketing campaigns extolling the many and diverse beautiful locations in which to marry,” he says. “Places such as the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and Europe [sic] all jumped on the wedding bandwagon years ago. A natural result of this would be diverted business.”
One person who is surprised to hear about the decline of weddings in Vegas is writer Jamie Lafferty, who got married there last year, choosing the city over a “grey day at a grey county building” in the UK.
“The idea that people get married because they won or lost a bet, or because they were blackout drunk, or high, definitely puts some people off Las Vegas,” he says. “But in the end, Vegas gives you incredible flexibility and minimal hassle: you can get married in a helicopter, underwater, by Darth Vader … and it can all be done within a couple of ours of landing at the airport.”
He adds: “There’s absolutely no kidding in that what you’re doing is unique, but if you want speed, a bit of fun and a fraction of the expense of a wedding at home, then go to Vegas. Plus, you’re virtually guaranteed sunshine.”
