The Marriage Capital of the World

This is an easy one to guess. Where you can you go for a honeymoon and marriage spot all wrapped up in one? That's right. vegasOne of my favorite places on earth is Las Vegas, or as my baggage tag says, "LAS". Of course, that really doesn't make a lot of sense. The tag for O'Hare says, "ORD". But airlines never were known for their common sense.

Of course, I believe that the government was the original culprit in giving out the airport designations. O'Hare actually began as Orchid Field and was named after a World War II flier by the name of O'Hare. By then they couldn't change the tag. But this really doesn't have anything to do with what I was talking about in the first place.

Back to the marriage capital of the world. They have drive-up windows and also helicopters to get married in. At the Excalibur, they have a minister that looks like Merlin the magician. For a slight extra fee, the bride and groom can dress up as Robin Hood and Maid Marian. Most guys really don't look that good in tights.

It's pretty easy to get a license there. The bureau is open 24 hours and it's a lot of fun just to go there and watch people as they show up to get one. A friend of mine whom we all call Blutarski, not his real name but a striking resemblance to the Animal House character when he was in college, just got married there on Valentine's Day.

They were making their first visit to this infamous city and said they really enjoyed thier combination first visit and honeymoon. The Blutarskis were married at the Little Chapel of the West, located just next to the Hacienda Hotel and Casino. This is a nice little chapel that's been around for years and makes for a really great kodak moment.

There are over 60,000 weddings performed every year in Las Vegas. Since there is no waiting for your marriage license, almost any chapel will have their limo pick you at your hotel and whisk you away to get the license, take you back to the chapel, perform the ceremony and get you back to the hotel within 90 minutes or less so you don't miss any time in the casino.

How long you are gone really depends on the degree of complexity of your wedding. Mostly it depends on the amount of flowers, number of witnesses you want there, and whether or not you want the music to be a cassette tape or CD. they will videotape or photograph the ceremony for you or just about anything ou can think of. If you have a different way you would like to get married, someone there will do it for you the way you want it.

My friend Blutarski was so enraptured by the beauty of the moment and the ceremony, that in his ecstasy decided to enjoy the beauty of the day and the great weather and decided to walk back to his hotel. He didn't realize that he was at the far south end of the strip and it was quite a jaunt back to his hotel at Caesars Palace. His poor newlywed wife didn't realize how much her blisters hurt until they got back to the hotel. Luckily some much needed lotion and foot massage took care of these annoying little problems.

I once heard of a couple who was married by a minster who was an Elvis impersonator. After the ceremony he sang Love Me Tender. It brought a tear to your eye.

You can also get married at the Stratosphere, which looks like a space needle type of tower, 1150 feet in the air. Of course, the chapel in the sky will afford a great view or you can say that the marriage was made in heaven.

As weddings go in Las Vegas, you can have a Burger King wedding and have it your way. There is no other place like it. You have to see it for yourself.

Until later……...ciao.

Fred Cicco is part owner of John Cicco’s Menswear and ID Plus Marketing. E-mail him at fred@idplus.biz or call him at 219-769-1744