Newlyweds Nathan and Kara Henry of Nashville, look at photos on a digital camera after getting married in Las Vegas, Nevada, on August 7, 2006. Las Vegas bills itself as 'the wedding capital of the world', but late-night revellers who decide they want to tie the knot now must wait until morning.
Las Vegas bills itself as "the wedding capital of the world," but late-night revelers who decide they want to tie the knot now must wait until morning.
The county's marriage-license office, as of last Wednesday, will be closed between midnight and 8 a.m., when much of Las Vegas is still very much alive.
"It's one of the things Vegas is known for -- you can gamble, get drunk and get married all in the middle of the night," said Jay DeLeon, manager of the Graceland Wedding Chapel.
Probably the best known late-night marriage seeker was pop star Britney Spears, who shocked the world in 2004 when she married a childhood friend just before sunrise in Las Vegas. That union was quickly annulled.
People can still get married around the clock at one of the city's few all-night wedding chapels; it will just take a bit more planning to obtain the $55 license, said Cheryl Vernon, who supervises the marriage-services office.
Vernon said the new office hours were not the result of a push to curb irresponsible life decisions, but simply because too few early-morning customers ---15 to 30 people, came in to justify a late-night shift. About 300 to 500 people seek licenses on a normal shift, she said.
Last year the office issued 122,259 marriage licenses.
Vernon said most late-night license seekers have been jet-lagged travelers lugging suitcases and trying to avoid daytime lines, rather than spontaneous celebrants. Still, there were notable exceptions.
"Yes, we did have our few -- like Britney (Spears). She came in at five in the morning," Vernon said.
拉斯维加斯素有“世界结婚之城”的雅称，但如今想在夜里结婚的午夜狂欢者们恐怕得等到第二天早上了。
从上周三开始，拉斯维加斯的结婚登记处从午夜到第二天早上8点之间不办公，而这段时间的拉斯维加斯仍然还很热闹。
Graceland婚礼小教堂的负责人杰·德勒恩说：“在夜里赌博、喝酒、结婚是拉斯维加斯的几大特色。”
最著名的“深夜新人”可能要数流行歌后“小甜甜”布兰妮了，2004年她在拉斯维加斯的一个日出之前和儿时伙伴登记结婚，让世人大为震惊。之后，布兰妮又很快宣布婚姻无效。
拉斯维加斯婚姻登记处处长谢丽尔·弗农说，现在如果有人想在夜里结婚，可以选择去拉斯维加斯的几个昼夜婚礼教堂；而且，现在想花55美元办个结婚证可能得稍微麻烦点。
弗农说，确立新的办公时间并不是为了约束人们草率做决定，只是因为大清早来登记处领证的人很少，只有15至30人，而白天领证的人有300至500人左右，所以夜班就没什么必要了。
去年，该婚姻登记处共办理了122259张结婚证。
弗农说，夜间领证的人大多是拖着很多行李箱、为了避开白天长队的国外旅行者，心血来潮的人较少。当然，也有个别人例外。
弗农说：“是的，也有一些例外。比如，布兰妮，她在凌晨5点钟来这里登记领证。”
