Taking Your Vows in Vegas

What do Demi Moore, Clint Eastwood and Angelina Jolie have in common? They all got married in Las Vegas and if you're after an exciting or outrageous wedding, it might just be the place for you. Tempted? Here are ten reasons why you should tie the knot in the city that never sleeps.

1. They're Fun

Mention that you're thinking of getting married in Las Vegas and your family will probably recoil in horror at the thought of you and your fiancé exchanging vows before a pelvis shaking, Elvis impersonating celebrant in a tacky little wedding chapel. You can of course, have an Elvis-themed wedding but there are a million other ways you can be wed. Trekkie fan? Live long and prosper after being married by a Starfleet officer in Las Vegas Hilton's Star Trek: The Experience Wedding Chapel. Adrenaline junkie? Take the leap (literally) and get married whilst bungee-jumping off a tower in the middle of the Las Vegas strip.

2. They're Fast

How about a Las Vegas wedding faster than you can say Big Mac? There are many drive-through altars you can pull into to get hitched without a hassle. Even chapel weddings in Las Vegas are speedy as you are usually only allocated half an hour. Nevada law does not require couples to undergo a waiting period before getting married which makes the whole process even quicker.

3. They're Easy

You don't need a blood test to get married in Las Vegas. You don't need parental consent if you are over the age of 18. You only need one form of identification such as your passport to confirm your age and you only need one witness (which most wedding chapels provide anyway) for a Las Vegas wedding. How easy is that!

4. They're Cheap

Well, if you take the cost of the flights and accommodation out of the equation (consider those your honeymoon expenses) and if you're prepared to have a no frills ceremony, Las Vegas weddings can be extremely good value for money. The marriage license fee is only US $55.00 and there are chapels that offer wedding packages for as little as US $45.00. Las Vegas wedding packages usually include the use of the chapel, the services of a celebrant, music, the bride's bouquet and the groom's boutonniere, a set amount of wedding photographs or a wedding video and transportation from the hotel to the wedding chapel. Quite a few chapels now have web cams so that your families back home in Australia can watch the ceremony live over the Internet too.

5. They're Convenient

Once you arrive in Las Vegas, check-in to one of the larger casino hotels and you'll be able to co-ordinate, prepare for and conduct your entire wedding without having to leave the complex. The bigger hotels have dress shops, beauticians and wedding hairdressers all within the premises who will primp, pamper and fit you for a bridal gown so you'll look like a million dollars on your wedding day. They also feature a wedding chapel for the ceremony and will be able to host your wedding reception too. Most importantly, they have sumptuous honeymoon suites just waiting to be frolicked in by amorous newlyweds.

6. They're Warm

Las Vegas is mostly gorgeous and sunny all year round so your wedding won't be at the mercy of the weather. The heat can be a little stifling during the summer but most wedding chapels are air-conditioned or you can get around this by having your nuptials at night.

7. They're Multicultural

If you're from an ethnic background and English isn't your first language, or you'd just like to recite your vows in your native language for sentimental reasons, than Las Vegas is the place for you. Lots of chapels hold foreign language wedding ceremonies and you can say 'I do' in Spanish, French, Japanese or any other language you please.

8. They're Available Around The Clock

Who says you have to get married during the day? Imagine how romantic would it be to share your first kiss as man and wife at the stroke of midnight instead. In Australia, there aren't too many celebrants willing to give up their beauty sleep to conduct your ceremony at that hour but in Las Vegas, anytime is a good time to get married!

9. They Can Be Au Naturale

Want to enter the wedding chapel the same way you entered the world? As unbelievable as it may sound, you and your husband-to-be can turn up for your Las Vegas wedding as naked as a newborn baby – without getting arrested for indecent exposure.

10. They're often Followed By Las Vegas Honeymoons

The one thing that is guaranteed about a Las Vegas wedding – they're never boring - and your honeymoon won't be either if you stay in Vegas for it. Share a glass of champagne as you hover over the Grand Canyon in a hot air balloon. Ride a rollercoaster 100 stories above the ground at the Stratosphere Tower (guaranteed to be scarier than standing at the altar for even the most reluctant of grooms) or just stroll down the Las Vegas Strip and take in all the dazzling lights of the world's brightest city (over 15, 000 miles of neon tubing is used to bring the Strip and the downtown Las Vegas area to life).

With over 120,000 marriage licenses issued every year, Las Vegas is the undisputed wedding capital of the world. If Elizabeth Taylor (an expert at eight marriages) found Vegas charming enough to marry in, then a Las Vegas wedding will surely enchant you and your fiancé too.

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