Viva Las Vegas

• Planning to get married in Vegas without the big white dress, string quartet and hibiscus-draped courtyard?
• Keen to have the wedding, with all the trimmings, but without the big price tag?
• Looking for the classic Vegas experience?
• Want to get married your way?
• Already married but wanting to affirm your vows?

It is no surprise that Viva Las Vegas carry out 5000 weddings every year, with up to 50 weddings every Saturday. Could this be the busiest wedding chapel on earth?

2.5% of couples getting married at Viva Las Vegas are from Nevada, the rest are from further afield including many from the UK. One of the celebrants explained that language can be a concern with some clients; while marrying a Spanish couple he unintentionally asked the bride, in Spanish, to "put the ring on the monkey".

It is sensible to book well in advance for popular dates; they already have a booking as far ahead as 2028. However, the chapel always tries to accommodate “walk-ins” - couples turning up to get married that day - and managed to squeeze in an incredible 230 weddings over 30 hours from 10/11/11 to 11/11/11.

Same sex ceremonies are not currently legal in Nevada so the chapel offers commitment ceremonies for gay couples.

Vow renewals make up 40% of the chapel’s business, with couples re-affirming their vows in a fun and creative way.

Don't feel you even need to bring a partner, one 40 year old woman married herself in a full wedding ceremony, having vowed that if she reached 40 and was still single, that would be her solution.

There are 5 chapels to choose from, plus every month 250 weddings take place in the outdoor gazebo and 150 in the garden. They can also offer weddings for small groups in their authentic 1950's diner, or will go off site for helicopter weddings.

A standard wedding takes a total of 30 minutes, with 15 mins for the ceremony and 15 mins of photography, and costs from $199.

The team of co-ordinators will plan exactly what you require, and does a full rehearsal beforehand to ensure the wedding goes smoothly and every knows what they are doing and when.

Viva Las Vegas has a horsedrawn carriage, the Pink Cadillac and an entire fleet of stretched limousines to ensure that they will get you to the chapel in style.

Viva Las Vegas is the only place in Vegas currently offering full theatrical weddings with all the effects, costumes and actors where required, and while other popular themes include James Bond, Gothic weddings and Austin Powers, they are most famous for Elvis weddings. Imagine arriving up the aisle in a pink Caddilac with a smoke machine billowing and Elvis appearing to serenade your guests and conduct the ceremony. The Pink Cadillac wedding, with all the trimmings including an HD video stream so that your friends can log on and watch the ceremony live via the internet, costs $777.

It is the two Elvis’s who really form the heart of Viva Las Vegas and have put their hearts and souls into the business since setting it up in 1999. Both of them work up to 12 hours a day with a staff of 25 servicing the 5 chapels. The most recent addition to their wedding empire is a modern event centre with a bar and catering for up to 300, just around the corner from the chapel.

For the full experience, Viva Las Vegas has a little avenue of shops including a florist, hairdresser and most popular of all, a costume shop, where you can hire anything from a traditional suit to an entire Elvis outfit.

They can also offer their clients an online package with wedding countdown and the facility for your guests to contribute to the costs of wedding and honeymoon.

1205 Las Vegas Boulevard South

Las Vegas

Nevada 89104

Tel: 001 702 384 0771

Website