Marrying for money By Sherri Cruz 15 June 1998 Las Vegas Business Press Pg.

1Las Vegas, NV, US, Mountain -Before legalized gambling in 1931, Nevada, the state of no income taxes and few regulations, capitalized on other human foible and folly, encouraging people to come on out, establish six weeks' residency and get divorcedLas Vegas battled Reno for the title of "Divorce Capital of the World." Wealthy types arrived in Nevada on Western Airlines and stayed at dude ranches -- or divorce ranches -- spending money, nourishing the economy while awaiting residency. As other states liberalized their divorce laws, the divorce industry leveled in Nevada and the marriage industry grew. Las Vegas traded in its "Divorce Capital of the World" title for "Marriage Capital of the World," taking advantage of its minimal marriage regulations. "While other states were putting obstacles in the way, Nevada never did," said Frank Wright, historian and curator at the Nevada State Museum & Historical Society. California had a "Gin Marriage Law" that said people had to wait three days (in case they were intoxicated) before they married, he said. Nevada didn't; still doesn't. The business-friendly state that says no to income taxes emerged from a Nevada that historically imposed little restrictions compared to other states, Wright said. For example, it's been permissive regarding prostitution, gambling, speed limits (there were none), even the open container law was passed much later than other states. The marriage industry started evolving as a matter of

convenience for people and an industry grew, said Myram Borders, bureau chief of the Las Vegas News Bureau. Today, getting married in Las Vegas is easy and, like a $1.99 buffet, it's a bargain. A couple needs only $35 cash and one witness. Last year, 109,378 marriages were recorded by Clark County. Tourists fleeing stringent marriage regulations in their own states or countries flock to Las Vegas. Judith Vandever, Clark County Recorder, estimates approximately 75 percent of the people getting married are from out of state, and 25 percent of those are from other countries. "We get a lot of couples from Germany because it's so difficult and extremely expensive" to get married in Germany, she said. Canada is the next biggest foreign market. In addition to the ease of getting married in Clark County, Vandever suspects the industry might be so big because people are putting the honeymoon and the wedding together. Charolette Richards, local wedding guru and owner of three chapels, said she performs about 30,000 weddings per year. Richards' arranged the flowers for Elvis' wedding at the Aladdin and her husband shot the photos. A Special Memory Wedding Chapel performs 100 weddings per week and does five to six drive-up weddings per day. And though the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) hasn't measured the economic impact of weddings, people getting married feed local bakeries, disc jockeys, florists, balloon companies, photographers, bridal shops, jewelers, limousine companies, helicopter companies, beauty salons and of course, the gaming industry. Designer Rentals, a local company that rents wedding gowns and

tuxedos, rents 65 to 70 wedding gowns per month and eight times that many tuxedos. Gowns rent for $150 to $300, according to the shop's owner, Ruth Catalano. Catalano, a 29-year resident said she intended to open a shop that rented evening gowns and bridal gowns, thinking the evening gowns would be the big seller. "Only it turns out the wedding gown rental is rockin' and rollin'," she said. The wedding industry is promoted by the LVCVA and the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. LVCVA, the tourism industry's public relations and marketing arm, has an overall advertising budget of $27 million, part of which goes to its Las Vegas Open 24 Hours TV commercials, that among other things, give a glimpse of the wedding industry. The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce publishes a wedding guide promoting local wedding service companies. It also has an InfoCenter, a call-in voice service that advertises local weddingrelated companies. Ad space costs about $1,000 per year. Other marketing efforts include the recent formation of the Las Vegas Wedding Association. Husband and wife wedding DJs Jodi and Pat Harris formed the association to organize and promote the local wedding industry through a variety of ways, including the Internet and a vendor wedding video. A natural attention-getter for Las Vegas is its weird and unique weddings, a Las Vegas specialty, for instance, hot air balloon weddings where everyone piles in the basket, and weddings with Elvis (an impersonator) performing the ceremony, Red Rock cave weddings and drive-through weddings. D&R Balloons, a balloon advertising company, rents hot air

balloons for weddings too. It costs $125 per person, so a basket ride with a minister, photographer, and bride and groom will cost $500. Richards' 165 feet long "Tunnel of Love," a drive through canopied tunnel that ends in marriage at a drive up window, did 75 $30 weddings on a bad weather night when it opened this past Valentine's Day. She also performs one to two helicopter weddings per week. For a usual sort of wedding, about 50 wedding chapels, both independent and at Las Vegas hotels, marry the majority of outof- towners. The first chapel on the Strip was the Little Church of the West. It opened in 1942 at the Last Frontier property (later the Frontier and now the New Frontier), moved to the Hacienda, then south of the Hacienda when it was demolished. The chapels at Circus Circus and the Imperial Palace were the first hotel chapels. Today, chapel operators don't live at their hole-in-the-wall chapels anymore and the chapels are becoming more sophisticated as all the newly built hotels (equipped with wedding chapels) define upscale. In October, the Bellagio's chapels, with their Amethyst glass windows shipped in from Venice, Italy, will set the trend in upscale -- and price -- with wedding packages ranging from $700 to $850, not including the rooms that will rent for about $200. Richards, who owns the chapel at the Imperial Palace, said the trend is upscale and the hotels have contributed to that trend. "Now that the hotels have put in beautiful, beautiful chapels -they're not tacky at all -- it's no longer a joke," said Richards.