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Time: CET - 9hInformations Las Vegas
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Wedding Tips Las Vegas

As already mentioned Las Vegas stands for the myth, that getting married here is the simplest, most economic and un-bureaucratic way there is to get married and it is! Naturally you can also get married together with all sorts of possible American hokum and kitsch. For example Elvis as the marriage registrar and you as aliens! – Here everything is possible. Otherwise Las Vegas would not be Las Vegas. Of course you can also have a perfectly normal marriage as well or a glamorous marriage with flown-in family and friends. As has already been said – Here everything is possible. From hokum and kitsch to romantic, from crazy to fantasy!

Now to the facts: In order to get married in Las Vegas, and subsequently to be able to obtain acknowledgement that the marriage is valid also in Germany for example the bridle couple must be of different sex, must be a minimum of 18 years old and can have no living spouse. You only need a valid passport i.e. a passport that has not expired.

In case you are divorced you must say where and when this occurred. You do not need a document to prove you are divorced.

In the Marriage Bureau at 201 Clark Avenue, Las Vegas, Nevada 89155-1603 you can apply for a marriage licence daily between 08:00 and 24:00 hours (also at week-ends) and it costs 55 US$. You need the marriage licence to be able to get married in Las Vegas and you must present it together with your passport when you get married. Apart from that you must also ask for a notarised marriage licence that you will need for example for your national civil registry office (it costs 4 US$). But do not be concerned applying for and requesting issuance of the marriage licence as it is really a simple and uncomplicated matter. You do not need an appointment. You can reach the Marriage Bureau by telephone on +1 702 671 0600.

After you have received your marriage licence there are two ways to proceed. Either you let yourselves short and sweat be married by the Commissioner of Civil Marriages in his offices just close to the Marriage Bureau or the marriage is performed by a State Nevada approved reverend. In both cases you will need a witness. It does not matter whether this is a stranger from the street, a Chapel employee or even the marriage photographer. At the end of the ceremony a signed marriage certificate is issued, and you are married.

Reverends will marry you anywhere. They will marry you for example in a car, a helicopter or completely romantically in one of the 70 Las Vegas Marriage Chapels. You can order your arrangement and where the marriage should take place, flowers, music, photographer, limousine etc., at one of these marriage Chapels. The marriage ceremony itself may be civil or denominational.

If you wish to have an evangelical marriage ceremony you will need to apply to a church of your confession. The Marriage Chapels of Las Vegas perform with their reverends only unaffiliated-confessional religious ceremonies.

It is not possible to have a marriage ceremony for foreign Catholics in the Catholic Church in Las Vegas.

The marriage by the Commissioner of Marriages takes place in his offices which is open daily and also at weekends between 08:00 and 22:00 hours. You do not need an appointment. You will find the offices of the Commissioner of Marriages at 309 South 3rd Street, Las Vegas.

Next there is still a need for a little bureaucracy in order to ensure that your marriage is recognised & acknowledged in your country. You will need 3 documents. The first you have already had issued after the marriage ceremony. The second document is a notarised copy of the registered wedding certificate that you can apply for and receive (it costs 10 US$) at 2nd Floor of the Clark Country Government Center, 500 S. Grand Central Parkway, Las Vegas. The opening times are week-days from 09:00 till 17:00 hours. You need the notarised copy of the registered wedding certificate because the American marriage certificate that you receive at the wedding, is not recognised in the most parts of Europe.

The third document is the so called Apostille, which notarise attests the authenticity of the marriage certificate (it costs 20 US$). You apply for the Apostille at the Recorders Office. However, it is not released there. Rather, within 8 weeks it is delivered by post to you at your European home address directly from the State Secretary of Carson City. At home, after you have received the Apostille then you can go to your local Registry Office with all three documents. There the documents are checked and the marriage and name-change are booked, inscribed and registered and according to your national law made absolute and valid, as well as being back dated to the day of the marriage in Las Vegas.
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