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Newlyweds Nathan and Kara Henry of Nashville, look at photos on a digital camera after getting married in Las Vegas, Nevada, on August 7, 2006. Las Vegas bills itself as 'the wedding capital of the world', but late-night revellers who decide they want to tie the knot now must wait until morning.
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Las Vegas bills itself as "the wedding capital of the world," but late-night revelers who decide they want to tie the knot now must wait until morning.
The county'smarriage-licenseoffice, as of last Wednesday, will be closed between midnight and 8 a.m., when much of Las Vegas is still very much alive.
"It's one of the things Vegas is known for -- you can gamble, get drunk and get married all in the middle of the night," said Jay DeLeon, manager of the Graceland Wedding Chapel.
Probably the best known late-night marriage seeker was pop star Britney Spears, who shocked the world in 2004 when she married a childhood friend just before sunrise in Las Vegas. That union was quickly annulled.
People can still get married around the clock at one of the city's few all-night wedding chapels; it will just take a bit more planning to obtain the $55 license, said Cheryl Vernon, who supervises the marriage-services office.
Vernon said the new office hours were not the result of a push to curb irresponsible life decisions, but simply because too few early-morning customers ---15 to 30 people, came in to justify a late-night shift. About 300 to 500 people seek licenses on a normal shift, she said.
Last year the office issued 122,259 marriage licenses.
Vernon said most late-night license seekers have been jet-lagged travelers lugging suitcases and trying to avoid daytime lines, rather than spontaneous celebrants. Still, there were notable exceptions.
"Yes, we did have our few -- like Britney (Spears). She came in at five in the morning," Vernon said.
(Agencies) |
拉斯維加斯素有“世界結婚之城”的雅稱，但如今想在夜里結婚的午夜狂歡者們恐怕得等到第二天早上了。
從上周三開始，拉斯維加斯的結婚登記處從午夜到第二天早上8點之間不辦公，而這段時間的拉斯維加斯仍然還很熱鬧。
Graceland婚禮小教堂的負責人杰·德勒恩說：“在夜里賭博、喝酒、結婚是拉斯維加斯的幾大特色。”
最著名的“深夜新人”可能要數流行歌后“小甜甜”布蘭妮了，2004年她在拉斯維加斯的一個日出之前和兒時伙伴登記結婚，讓世人大為震驚。之后，布蘭妮又很快宣布婚姻無效。
拉斯維加斯婚姻登記處處長謝麗爾·弗農說，現在如果有人想在夜里結婚，可以選擇去拉斯維加斯的幾個晝夜婚禮教堂；而且，現在想花55美元辦個結婚證可能得稍微麻煩點。
弗農說，確立新的辦公時間并不是為了約束人們草率做決定，只是因為大清早來登記處領證的人很少，只有15至30人，而白天領證的人有300至500人左右，所以夜班就沒什么必要了。
去年，該婚姻登記處共辦理了122259張結婚證。
弗農說，夜間領證的人大多是拖著很多行李箱、為了避開白天長隊的國外旅行者，心血來潮的人較少。當然，也有個別人例外。
弗農說：“是的，也有一些例外。比如，布蘭妮，她在凌晨5點鐘來這里登記領證。”
(英語點津姍姍編輯)
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