According to surveys, approximately 40% of couples about to tie the knot report that their choice of wedding venue should reflect their personality.
Apparently, couples haven’t been feeling particularly spontaneous lately.
A recent article in the Washington Post reports that Las Vegas weddings have seen a major plummet in the last 10 years, from 128,000 in 2004 to just 81,000 in 2014.
Las Vegas, the Nevada city famous for its gambling, its endless buffets, and its popular tagline “what happens here, stays here,” was once one of the top destinations for couples to tie the knot.
The craze can be attributed to the late great Elvis Presley. In 1967, the King of Rock and Roll wed Priscilla Beaulieu at the Aladdin Hotel. The whole affair took no longer than eight minutes; it was so low-key that the press could hardly muster four headline sentences about the slapdash celebrity wedding.
That year, the city of Las Vegas reported that 40,000 couples followed Elvis and Priscilla’s lead. Since then, starry-eyed lovers have flocked to wedding chapels; at their peak of popularity, such chapels saw an astonishing one in 40 of every American wedding.
But in recent years, the trend has seemed to fizzle out in a big way.
So what has contributed to America’s now on-the-rocks relationship with Vegas weddings? While many blame the economy, the Los Angeles Times attributed the Vegas wedding decline in the reduced marriage rates in recent years.
Additionally, the Washington Post surmises that the rise in popularity of destination weddings may also be a contributing factor.
To remedy the marriage decline, Las Vegas officials are taking action. The Marriage License Bureau plans to revitalize the city as a wedding hotspot through social media efforts.