Don’t Wait Till Midnight for Your Vegas Marriage

...is shuttering its marriage bureau between midnight and 8 a.m. on Thursdays through Sundays.

The shift will save the city $200,000, but could cost the Las Vegas the title of marriage capital of the world. The city’s official reason for the closure is that it’s a cost cutting measure since less than four percent of the county’s 122,259 marriage certificates issued last year were in the wee hours.

Charlotte Richards, who owns the Little White Wedding Chapel where couples such as Bruce Willis and Demi Moore tied the knot, told National Public Radio she is upset by the city’s move to eliminate midnight marriages.

"You know, this is Las Vegas; Las Vegas is known as a 24-hour city. And Las Vegas is also known as the marriage capital of the world, and I think that a lot of people choose to come here to be married because of that," she said on the radio outlet. On a typical weekend she bestows 10 to 20 couples.

The chapel is one of a few in Las Vegas still open 24 hours daily. For those who don't want a big church affair and don't want to send out dozens of wedding invitations, the chapel offers packages ranging from a $40 "Drive-Thru" knot-tying affair to a $275 "Elvis and Pink Cadillac" deal.

The chapel also offers a free limousine ride to the downtown marriage bureau, which Spears and her hubby used when they showed up in the early morning hours of Jan. 3, 2004, without a license.

County officials made it clear people could still get married any time they wanted to, they would just have to make appropriate arrangements ahead of time.

"They just can't run down to the bureau at 3:05 and be married by 3:10. They have to give just a little thought to the process," said county Clerk Shirley Parraguirre.

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However, Richards counters that these early or late weddings -- depending on how you look at life in this 24-hour town -- are very popular for military folks, southern California couples and celebrities. 

"All the stars come out at night," said Richards. “People that are high profile, when they come down to Las Vegas to get married, they don’t want to come in the middle of the day when people are around. They like the privacy."

As for that Brittany marriage to her child hood friend Jason Alexander, it lasted all of 55 hours.


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