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Love recession hits Las Vegas wedding chapels
Source: Agencies |
February 16, 2011, Wednesday
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ERIESS Davis didn't want a traditional wedding: No conservative music and rows of unfamiliar guests. She wanted A Little White Chapel, in glitzy Las Vegas.
Wearing a mini-dress, Davis marched with her boyfriend, clad in black jeans, through a set of gold elevator doors, and into a waiting room where they could buy garters, memory books and bride and groom baseball caps.
For her, Valentine's Day 2011 was the perfect date.
"It's the day of love," said Davis, 23, as she and Matthew Jacobs, 23, waited for a minister.
It may be. But there's not much of it going around these days for wedding chapels in a city known for quickie marriages. There's a love recession in Las Vegas.
Fewer than 92,000 couples married in or around Sin City in 2010. The last time the city married fewer people, it was 1993.
Nevada wedding professionals and officials insist the decline is not a reflection of Las Vegas' waning popularity. Instead, they blame the foul economy and the ebbing interest in marriage.
"The volume is down," said Joni Moss, a Las Vegas wedding planner and founder of the Nevada Wedding Association, a business group. "The number speaks for itself. And people are just spending less."
In good years, weddings pump US$643 million into the local economy, said Alicia Malone, a spokeswoman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. About 1 million people visit each year to attend a wedding.
To make up for the wedding downturn, chapels are encouraging long-time couples to renew their vows and promoting commitment ceremonies for gay grooms and brides. Gay marriage is prohibited in Nevada.
The lure of a Las Vegas wedding has long been tied to the state's streamlined wedding laws. Neither blood tests nor waiting periods are required in the city and marriage licenses can be had between 8 am and midnight.
Wearing a mini-dress, Davis marched with her boyfriend, clad in black jeans, through a set of gold elevator doors, and into a waiting room where they could buy garters, memory books and bride and groom baseball caps.
For her, Valentine's Day 2011 was the perfect date.
"It's the day of love," said Davis, 23, as she and Matthew Jacobs, 23, waited for a minister.
It may be. But there's not much of it going around these days for wedding chapels in a city known for quickie marriages. There's a love recession in Las Vegas.
Fewer than 92,000 couples married in or around Sin City in 2010. The last time the city married fewer people, it was 1993.
Nevada wedding professionals and officials insist the decline is not a reflection of Las Vegas' waning popularity. Instead, they blame the foul economy and the ebbing interest in marriage.
"The volume is down," said Joni Moss, a Las Vegas wedding planner and founder of the Nevada Wedding Association, a business group. "The number speaks for itself. And people are just spending less."
In good years, weddings pump US$643 million into the local economy, said Alicia Malone, a spokeswoman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. About 1 million people visit each year to attend a wedding.
To make up for the wedding downturn, chapels are encouraging long-time couples to renew their vows and promoting commitment ceremonies for gay grooms and brides. Gay marriage is prohibited in Nevada.
The lure of a Las Vegas wedding has long been tied to the state's streamlined wedding laws. Neither blood tests nor waiting periods are required in the city and marriage licenses can be had between 8 am and midnight.
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