Being as unique as it is, Las Vegas has espoused quite a few sayings about itself, such as 'What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas' and 'Anything goes in Vegas'. Another saying that is more appropriate when referring to the 24-hour wedding chapels in the city would be 'Only in America'. However, some of the madness that was Vegas has been curtailed with the cancellation of the 24-hour marriage license service that the city previously offered. This will be celebrated by those who have respect for the sanctity of marriage, but for one famous all-night marriage chapel owner this change in the law will have serious financial implications. So if you were thinking of saving on your wedding by eloping to Vegas, think again!!
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Vegas Shuts Down the Roulette Wheel of Midnight Matrimony
It is no longer quite true that anything goes in Las Vegas. As of next Wednesday it will not be possible to get married in the early hours after a night out on the town. The city is axing its famed 24-hour marriage licence service.
The news comes too late to help Britney Spears and her childhood friend Jason Alexander, who married on a whim after a night's clubbing in 2004 and sheepishly divorced two days later. But it will no doubt save countless others from marrying while drunk.
Charlotte Richards, however, is not pleased. She runs the Little White Wedding Chapel where Spears and other celebrated ex-couples, like Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, entered matrimony under cover of darkness.
"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," Ms Richards told National Public Radio.
The joyless bureaucrats claim that only 4% of marriages took place on the weekend nights when the city registry stayed open around the clock, but cutting the graveyard shifts would save $200,000.
That is little comfort for Ms Richards. "Even if it is 4%, that 4% is what I can live on," she complained, rejecting suggestions that people who wed at quickie ceremonies might be more prone to divorce.
"You know, I don't think about divorce," she said. That was not her department. Her job was "to make sure when they leave here they really know that they're married".
© Guardian News & Media 2008
Published: 8/24/2006
http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/8-24-2006-106546.asp
