Las Vegas has a reputation as the wedding capital of the world, and it’s well-earned. More than 70,000 couples tie the knot here each year, and in 2018, Nevada’s wedding rate was nearly four times that of the rest of the U.S.

Of course, Las Vegas is famous for fast, cheap, Elvis-themed affairs, for 15-minute ceremonies and $50 drive-thrus, but that just scratches the surface. Read on to learn about the art of the Vegas wedding, from planning to fees.

What to bring

• You won’t need bloodwork, but you must present identification with a recent photo. The Clark County Marriage License Bureau—open 365 days a year from 8 a.m. to midnight—accepts passports, driver’s licenses and permits, U.S. citizen certificates, permanent resident cards and state, military, foreign and voter IDs. Don’t have any of those? Show ’em your birth certificate with a Social Security card, sheriff’s card, debit card or employee badge.

• One must be at least 18 to get married in Nevada. (In rare cases, a judge might permit a 16-year-old to marry due to pregnancy or for reasons related to child emancipation.)

• One can be denied a marriage license here if they’re a) too drunk or b) still legally married to someone else.

Paper Trail

• Marriage licenses cost $77 in Clark County and are valid for a year—so you can get married immediately or schedule something for later. (In some states, licenses only take effect days later and/or expire soon after.)

• You’ll get three documents from the Marriage License Bureau: license, certificate and keepsake paper. You give the certificate and license to the officiant, who keeps the license and files the certificate with the county within 10 days of the wedding. You save the keepsake paper as a record, in case the officiant fails to file the certificate.

• You’ll need one witness signature on the marriage certificate.

• You can order a copy of your official marriage certificate by mail or at mlic.vegas, or pick it up at the Marriage License Bureau. Copies cost $20.

• Getting married in some public places, like parks, can require a permit and fee.

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD

A Nevada wedding must be performed by someone certified to officiate marriages in this state—and they’re not hard to find. There are roughly 4,600 licensed wedding officiants in Clark County alone.

Most ministers at chapels are certified, and you can confirm it on the Secretary of State’s website (nvsos.gov/sos/licensing/marriage-officiants). You can also pick an officiant (or choose a chapel) through the Las Vegas Wedding Chamber of Commerce website (weddingchamber.vegas).

LOVE WINS, REPEATEDLY

Same-sex marriage has been legal in Nevada since October 9, 2014, when Nevadans voted overwhelmingly to overturn a ban on such marriages in the state constitution. Same-sex couples were able to marry in Nevada some eight months before a landmark Supreme Court ruling made it possible nationwide. And should the Court’s conservative majority chip away at that ruling, Nevada will continue to conduct same-sex weddings, having locked protections for them into the state constitution last year—again by popular vote.

DARE TO DREAM

When it comes to Vegas weddings, if you can dream it, you can probably get it done. You can get married 800 feet high at the Strat’s Chapel in the Clouds, or in the Mob Museum’s historic courtroom, where organized crime justice was doled out in the 1950s. The Silverton even offers underwater weddings in its aquarium, for couples (and guests) in scuba gear.

Themes abound at Las Vegas’ 100-plus chapels, from disco to hippie, western to winter wonderland. You can have your wedding performed by Dracula, Cher or the priest from The Princess Bride, in Mandarin, Hebrew or most any other language on the planet. And Elvis? He’s out there, in all shapes and sizes. (Zombie Elvis, anyone?)

CELEBRITY ROMANCE

Life imitates art, with stars frequently hitched in Vegas on- and offscreen.

In the 1964 musical Viva Las Vegas, Elvis Presley’s character Lucky got married at Little Church of the West, Vegas’ oldest chapel … then in 1967, Presley himself married Priscilla Beaulieu at Aladdin Hotel. And in 2019, an Elvis impersonator presided over the wedding of pop star Joe Jonas and Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner at A Little White Chapel. Full circle.

Among the many other celebs who’ve tied the knot in Las Vegas are: Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow; Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina Jolie; Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward; Bruce Willis and Demi Moore; Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford; Dennis Rodman and Carmen Electra; Betty White; Michael Jordan; Britney Spears; Jon Bon Jovi; Judy Garland; Kirk Douglas; Noel Gallagher; Kelly Ripa; Corey Feldman; Mary Tyler Moore; Rita Hayworth; and Billy Ray Cyrus.