Valentine's Day vows flood wedding chapels in Las Vegas

The first Valentine's Day of the century has been the busiest in memory for Charlotte Richards, who has been a part of the lucrative Las Vegas wedding industry for six decades.

"It's absolutely incredible -- I've done 25 weddings myself since midnight to now (8:30 a.m. today)," said Richards, who in 41 years as a Las Vegas chapel owner and minister has performed more than 40,000 weddings.

"I can't remember when we had so many weddings on Valentine's Day."

Last Valentine's Day weekend, which coincided with the holiday Presidents Day weekend, resulted in a record number of marriage licenses issued during a three-day period -- 2,483 -- by the Clark County Marriage License Bureau. That record is expected to be broken today.

Cheryl Vernon, supervisor of the Marriage License Bureau, said 1,718 licenses were issued Saturday and Sunday.

"We were a little caught off guard on Friday afternoon, because we didn't expect it would be so busy," Vernon said, noting that 658 licenses were issued, bringing the long weekend total to 2,376 licenses.

"Waits at one point were as long as two hours, but we were able to reduce that to 40 minutes. It has been a good crowd."

At 8:30 a.m. today, a line of hopeful couples wound through the Marriage License Bureau and out the door -- a sure sign that the brisk weekend business was expected to continue.

Las Vegas has long been a popular wedding destination, because historically it has had the most liberal marriage laws in the nation. A license costs $35 and no blood test or wait is required.

Local businesses, including radio stations and casinos, planned wedding promotions today.

KLUC FM-98.5 earlier today sponsored a mass wedding of 50 couples at the Rio hotel-casino. Senior couples planned to renew vows at a Valentine's Day Dance at Boulder Station this afternoon.

At the Harley-Davidson Cafe on Sunday, Shannon Beck and Kevin Clapp were married in a wedding highlighted by an Elvis impersonator and Harleys in the procession. They had won the ceremony in a promotion by radio station KMXB 94.1-FM.

The crowds in and out of Richards' flagship establishment, A Little White Chapel downtown, were the usual mix this morning -- couples dressed in everything from T-shirts and jeans to tuxedos and fancy wedding gowns.

"There was a lot of military and a lot of drive-ups and renewals of vows," Richards said. "I had two couples who were married, divorced and remarried to each other."

A number of couples requested to be married at 2:14 a.m. today -- the date is 2/14 -- and Richards said they were accommodated because her three buildings have several chapels. Another rush was expected at 2:14 p.m. today.

Richards has operated A Little White Chapel since the late 1950s, a chapel inside the Imperial Palace for 23 years and A Chapel by the Courthouse downtown for many years.

"I think this being the year 2000 had a lot to do with how busy it is," Richards said.

"Things started to get busy Friday afternoon and we've been going all day Saturday, all day Sunday and we expect today will be the busiest of all. So far, everything has run smoothly."

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