Las Vegas wedding - advice

seventyeight

Hi guys,
I'm looking for some advice from people who have gotten married in Las Vegas in recent years. Basically we're thinking of just booking a trip to LV for early Aug and getting hitched there. Is it that simple or what? I'd really appreciate some advice on what to do and what NOT to do.

It seems from the DFA and Clark County websites that there is no real red-tape but the legalities are worrying us:

Are any papers needed to get married there?
Would the marriage be legal back in Ireland?
Do we just need to register it once we return home?

Recommendations on pre-booking wedding packages, chapels etc etc would be more than appreciated.

Many thanks in advance,
seventyeight

spade

Hey Seventyeight,

I looked into this before - we're thinking NY not LV - and discovered some interesting things:

1. Papers required over there: Valid ID http://www.accessclarkcounty.com/depts/clerk/pages/marriage_information.aspx

2. The marriage should be legal here - there should be no problem, but officially there is no guarantee, because

3. You cannot register an international marriage here - there's no mechanism to do so. http://www.groireland.ie/getting_married.htm

In practice, international marriage certs are recognised by authorities and companies etc here as legal but essentially the powers that be have left it wide open to not recognise those they don't want to (same-sex etc).

You should be fine, I know loads of couples who've been married in Spain, Italy, US and UK and the same applies.

LashingLady

We got married in Vegas last September! It was fabulous and I would love to do it all again!

Are you planning on "eloping" i.e. just the two of you are will you be inviting some family and friends?

You need to go and get a marriage license from the courthouse before the wedding. You just need id for that. Like spade says you don't register here but I was talking to the Revenue Commissioners and they said that they don't even need to see my marriage cert to get us set up on the married tax system. I wouldn't worry about it at all. You will be legally married based on the Nevada state laws and that is recognised by Ireland. Really here in Ireland there isn't any agency who is particularly interested in the fact that we are married. I have to get a new passport soon so we'll see how we go with that......

I found www.theknot.com very useful when planning the whole thing, it's like the US version of weddingsonline.ie.

Bear in mind that it will be VERY hot there in August. It was the same for our wedding in August but we got married at 4.30pm so by the time we were outside getting photos taken it was a lot cooler.

We had the following:

Wedding ceremony at The Wynn Hotel package included half hour of photography
We had a photographer for a Strip Tour after the ceremony where we had photos taken at all the famous locations along the strip
Reception was held at Maggiano's Little Italy which do a great group package but if it's just going to be the two of you or a small few then there's lots of fancy restaurants where you could have a very nice meal.

seventyeight

spade wrote: »

Hey Seventyeight,

I looked into this before - we're thinking NY not LV - and discovered some interesting things:

1. Papers required over there: Valid ID http://www.accessclarkcounty.com/depts/clerk/pages/marriage_information.aspx

2. The marriage should be legal here - there should be no problem, but officially there is no guarantee, because

3. You cannot register an international marriage here - there's no mechanism to do so. http://www.groireland.ie/getting_married.htm

In practice, international marriage certs are recognised by authorities and companies etc here as legal but essentially the powers that be have left it wide open to not recognise those they don't want to (same-sex etc).

You should be fine, I know loads of couples who've been married in Spain, Italy, US and UK and the same applies.

Thanks Spade, that's a lot of help.

seventyeight

LashingLady wrote: »

We got married in Vegas last September! It was fabulous and I would love to do it all again!

Are you planning on "eloping" i.e. just the two of you are will you be inviting some family and friends?

You need to go and get a marriage license from the courthouse before the wedding. You just need id for that. Like spade says you don't register here but I was talking to the Revenue Commissioners and they said that they don't even need to see my marriage cert to get us set up on the married tax system. I wouldn't worry about it at all. You will be legally married based on the Nevada state laws and that is recognised by Ireland. Really here in Ireland there isn't any agency who is particularly interested in the fact that we are married. I have to get a new passport soon so we'll see how we go with that......

I found www.theknot.com very useful when planning the whole thing, it's like the US version of weddingsonline.ie.

Bear in mind that it will be VERY hot there in August. It was the same for our wedding in August but we got married at 4.30pm so by the time we were outside getting photos taken it was a lot cooler.

We had the following:

Wedding ceremony at The Wynn Hotel package included half hour of photography
We had a photographer for a Strip Tour after the ceremony where we had photos taken at all the famous locations along the strip
Reception was held at Maggiano's Little Italy which do a great group package but if it's just going to be the two of you or a small few then there's lots of fancy restaurants where you could have a very nice meal.

Hey LashingLady, that's a great help, thanks a million.

Yeah, we're looking at 'eloping' and getting married over there. We have a baby on the way too so we wanted to at least have the paperwork done and then have a proper family "wedding" (blessing really) next year. We were looking at having a registry office marriage here but this would be more fun (we both always wanted this) and won't put anyone off attending the 'real wedding' next year.

So it'll just be the 2 of us in LV, we'll need to try to get some witnesses from somewhere though

Anyone have any tips on chapels or what to do when we get there?

seventyeight

I love how you can fill in the Pre-Marriage Application form on the Clark County website so you just bring your reference number to the express window at the courthouse! That's just so brilliantly American!!

Lorita

do I need a certificate of freedom?? I think not...when and where would you ned one of these???

seventyeight

Nah. You only need your passport, your reference number (above) and the $60

AineK77

Hi seventyeight just catching up on this now and was wondering how you got on as we plan to do the same thing (bambino on the way here too!!!) - always wanted to get married in Vegas I have to say but HS was not really into it, but as it's the only option for a 'quick wedding' (you have to wait 4 months for a letter of freedom from the DFA here!!!) we're going with it probably in September woo hoo so want Elvis to marry me a haw haw (or however you write that!!?)

xxbrady

Can anyone confirm if you need certificate of freedom? I know someone that married in San Fran this year and needed one. I presume I won't need to go to a marriage course if I'm getting married in LV!,,,

AineK77

Howdy as far as I know for LV and New York you don't, LV you just need proof of ID I am still looking into this and am going to ring trailfinders wedding abroad people about it so will let you know but I think LV is fairly straight forward....still haven't tied the knot myself am thinking maybe NY now but will be doing this in a few weeks time so will keep you posted :)