Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

At wedding chapel, seeds of love find fertile new ground

Plaza Royale Wedding Chapel

Steve Marcus

Greg and Marina Welch in Plaza Royale Wedding Chapel on Sunday, May 8, 2016, at the Plaza in downtown Las Vegas. Owners of the former Riviera wedding chapel, the couple relocated the business to the Plaza after the Riviera shut down last year.

Plaza Royale Wedding Chapel

A view of a piano and decorative entryway at Plaza Royale Wedding Chapel on Sunday, May 8, 2016, in the Plaza in downtown Las Vegas. Owners Greg and Marina Welch relocated to the Plaza after many years of running a chapel in the Riviera. Launch slideshow »

One year after the Riviera closed its doors on the north end of the Strip, a small part of it is living a strong second life downtown.

Greg and Marina Welch, who for years owned the Riviera’s wedding chapel, are at the helm of the Plaza’s chapel now. They moved last June, the month after the Riviera closed, bringing benches and other furnishings with them.

That’s why the Plaza’s chapel, located up an escalator next to Oscar’s Las Vegas Steakhouse, looks essentially identical to how the Riviera’s chapel appeared when the hotel closed in May 2015. The name of the Welches’ business, Plaza Royale Wedding Chapel and Florist, changed to reflect the new location, but it’s largely similar otherwise.

“It’s pretty much the same chapel; it’s just a little smaller,” Greg Welch said in a recent interview.

The Plaza attracts a somewhat different crowd than the Riviera did — the Welches described it as more of an “everyday” type of customer. But the chapel owners have been getting about the same amount of business they did at the Riviera, according to Marina Welch.

Even after almost a full year at the Plaza, Marina Welch said she still hadn’t completely adjusted to life after the Riviera. She and her husband remain a little sentimental about the historic hotel, and they keep up with their old colleagues via a Facebook page for Riviera “refugees.”

“We had a good life there,” Greg Welch said. “But time marches on.”

The Riviera’s closure was difficult for the Welches because they had grown attached to the hotel and viewed the others who worked there as family members. Plus, there was no guarantee they’d be able to find another chapel to operate.

But Marina Welch said she was grateful to find that the Plaza’s management was receptive immediately. And while the Riviera may be in their past, that’s not necessarily the case with the couple’s customers. Many couples who were married at the Riviera have called or sent messages of support over the past year, she said.

“It’s just really nice that people that we married are still connecting with us,” Marina Welch said. “It is that feeling that we’re still close with them.”

The Riviera’s hotel towers are scheduled to be demolished in two implosions — one in June and the other in August — as the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority prepares to use the site for outdoor exhibit space. Greg Welch said he planned to be on hand for the implosions, shooting video for the chapel’s website — and getting a final look along the way.

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