Getting Hitched in Vegas? Pick Up the License at the Airport

In addition to Elvis Presley impersonators and omnipresent slot machines, Las Vegas is known as a wedding destination.

Especially around Valentine’s Day.

That’s why Las Vegas officials annually offer the opportunity for soon-to-be wed couples to obtain a marriage license at a pop-up location at Harry Reid International Airport.

“Las Vegas is the wedding capital of the world and (we) will be especially busy as couples enjoy Valentine’s Day weddings,” Clark County Clerk of Courts Lynne Marie Goya said. “Couples love the convenience of the pop-up marriage license bureau.”

This is the fifth year Goya’s office has provided the marriage license service in the airport’s baggage claim area. The pop-up closes shortly after Valentine’s Day.

Obtaining the license is easy. All couples need are government-issued IDs, such as passports or driver’s licenses. The marriage license fee is $102, which must be paid with a debit or credit card.

The Las Vegas marriage license process is different from that in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh International Airport’s home.

Here, couples need to apply for a marriage license online or at the county Clerk of Courts Office in the City-County Building on Grant Street in downtown Pittsburgh. The county advises doing so at least two to three weeks before nuptials are planned.

Unlike Las Vegas, there is a three-day waiting period. However, the cost is less expensive: $80.

According to the Clark County website, the county clerk’s office annually issues the most marriage licenses in the world—about 80,000. More than 1,500 licenses are issued in the days immediately before and including Valentine’s Day. That’s about twice the number of licenses issued during a non-holiday period.

So this time of year is vitally important to the Las Vegas tourism industry, which generates more than $2.5 billion annually in marriage-related hotel stays, dining, entertainment and other activities without a single play of a slots machine.

The airport marriage license bureau seems to be a win for both couples intending to wed and the Las Vegas economy.

With or without an Elvis impersonator.