Las Vegas makes $2bn a year from “quickie” weddings, says Zoe Bernard in The Hustle. Couples pitch up at a roadside chapel, marry in 10 minutes, then head – presumably – to the casinos. More than 70,000 people get hitched this way every year, and 18,000 locals work in the wedding industry.
These “no-frills” unions have long been a part of the city’s history. In the early 20th century, Nevada was the only state where you didn’t need to take a blood test before getting married. In other words, you could do it while drunk. Word spread, and before long party-loving Californian couples were crossing the state border to wed. Tourist-hungry state officials embraced the idea. They set up 24-hour chapels, made bookings cheap and kept marriage (and divorce) requirements as loose as possible. Celebrities joined in too – early Vegas weddings include Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow, and Elvis and Priscilla Presley. More recently, Lily Allen married actor David Harbour at the Graceland Wedding Chapel.
Most weddings are stressful and spendy, says Daniel Vallance, the director of a Vegas wedding chapel. My advice is, the shorter the better: “10 to 15 minutes of staring into someone’s eyes feels like a lot longer than you might think. I’ve been married twice, so I know.”
Stick with your icky partner
I am always getting the ick, says Rax King in Mel magazine – that feeling when your partner does something that is unassuming but completely off-putting, like smacking their lips before they tell a joke. Once you notice it, you can’t not notice it. And suddenly “everything your lover does is awful”. That’s the ick.
When I get the ick, my instinct is to abandon the relationship altogether. But wouldn’t it be better to wait it out, to let the sensation pass rather than act on one random, nonsensical impulse? Almost certainly. The person you find icky could turn out to be just fine, and running away from a situation rarely leads to happiness. “Acting on the ick can leave you feeling icky yourself.”