LAS VEGAS (KSNV News3LV) — In a special “thank you” to our nation’s veterans today, the Las Vegas Wedding Chamber of Commerce sponsored free ceremonies for military couples.
The day-long event is called “Las Vegas Marries the Military” and many of the couples are renewing their vows, including one couple at the Ace of Hearts Chapel. They’re celebrating a nearly 50-year commitment.
Courage, sacrifice, bravery, are not only words to the men and women serving in the military and our veterans who have served; they are a way of life.
Las Vegas’ legacy as the marriage capital of the world began in 1931 when it passed a law allowing couples to be married on the spot with no wait times and no blood tests. That began a storied course of beginnings for celebrities and millions of families. Now that legacy is being extended to active military and veterans.
By Michael Scott Davidson Las Vegas Review-Journal
Clark County Clerk Lynn Goya has seen futures threatened by a single piece of missing paper.
The document is a marriage certificate. In the U.S. it could be vital to collecting a bevy of benefits, including those tied to health insurance, taxes and Social Security.
But for any of the tens of thousands of couples who tie the knot in Las Vegas each year, those benefits could be off the table if the officiant never files the proper paperwork with Goya.
By Bailey Schulz Las Vegas Review-Journal
Matthew and Christi Zenner started planning their wedding in their home state of Washington, but it didn’t take long for them to call it quits. All of the necessary arrangements — from the venue to the guest list — soon became too overwhelming, Christi Zenner said.
Her husband, Matthew Zenner, said they switched plans and booked a Las Vegas wedding instead for a quick, easy destination wedding.
“When you’re thinking about a low-maintenance, stress-free wedding, Vegas is what comes to mind,” he said.
CARSON CITY — It may be easier for someone who gets hitched in Nevada to get a name change.
Assembly Bill 204 would require that the new name a bride or groom plans to use after marrying be listed on the marriage license and certificate.
The bill allows a newly married person to change middle and or last names. For example, someone could change a middle name to his or her former last name and take on a spouse’s last name.
Couples hoping to marry on Valentine’s Day can streamline their plans by preapplying for marriage licenses.
The days just before and after Valentine’s Day are the busiest days of the year at Clark County’s Marriage License Bureau, and lines are expected to be long, the county clerk’s office said.
With Valentine’s Day on Tuesday, our wedding chapels will shift into overdrive for romantic couples wanting to tie the knot or renew their vows. The economic impact from wedding tourism here is $2 billion. That was the 2015 figure computed for me by county clerk Lynn Goya.
Lynn also told me that of the annual 40 million-plus visitors, 4 percent are here to get married or renew vows. In 2015, 350,000 couples traveled here to get married, and 80 percent of them were younger than 40. “Yes, Millennials are getting married,” said Lynn. “And one-quarter of all the duos from Britain fly here just to get married.”
Jennifer Dickerson’s divorce from her husband of seven years was finalized on Thursday. The next morning, Dickerson’s ex-husband drove her and fiancée Amanda Falzone, 34, to the airport.
The women flew from Colorado Springs to Las Vegas, where they became the 10,000th same-sex couple to obtain a marriage license in Clark County.
“Being in love is awesome,” Dickerson gushed to gathered media on Friday afternoon. “And being able to share it with everybody, and now, all of Las Vegas, is awesome!”
The “wedding capital of the world” is on the cusp of issuing its 10,000th marriage license to a same-sex couple, and local businesses want to make sure the ceremony to come will be a lavish celebration.
The Clark County Clerk’s Marriage License Bureau has received an abundance of gifts for the couple including a two-night stay at Mandalay Bay, free wedding photography from Frick Photo and offers for free ceremonies from a handful of local resorts and wedding chapels.
In all, more than 25 businesses have donated gifts. Most are members of the Las Vegas Wedding Chamber of Commerce.
“We thought it was a great opportunity to say ‘thank you for getting married with us’ and celebrate the ‘same love, same rights’ (movement),” chamber president Kristen LaBuda said. “Marriage equality is just an important value to us here.”
Las Vegas Review-Journal
November 29, 2016 – 8:00 pm
Public access to government documents is vital to the health of any free society. Barring some extraordinary circumstances — national security, for instance — accountability demands that such records be open and available to those who seek to review them.
Unfortunately, too many government agencies and bureaucrats reflexively take the opposite approach, withholding information until specifically ordered to provide it. That’s why Clark County Clerk Lynn Goya deserves a ton of credit for seeking to digitalize all of her office’s records to make it easier for members of the public to find them online.Read More.