At the Las Vegas airport, you can play slots until it’s time to board, buy custom poker chips and — from now until Valentine’s Day — snag a license to wed.
It’s the fifth year the office has opened its temporary shop in the baggage claim area of Terminal 1, saving the betrothed a trip to the main office downtown. Just look for the signs and heart-shaped decor near Carousel 5 from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. every day.
“It just offers such a great service and the couples seem to love it,” Clark County Clerk Lynn Marie Goya said in an interview from the airport Thursday, where some couples had already stopped by for paperwork. “It’s such a great Vegas-y thing for Valentine’s Day.”
Part of the county clerk’s office, the Marriage License Bureau issues roughly 80,000 licenses every year and says it’s generally the busiest in the world — hence the Las Vegas title of “Wedding Capital of the World.” More than 1,500 licenses are granted around Valentine’s Day, according to the office, about twice as many as during non-holiday times.
Goya said the airport pop-up is usually responsible for about 500 licenses a year. Most of the people who come to the location spot it when they go to baggage claim and collect their bags, she said. Licenses cost $102.
The airport tradition started in 2018 and has continued since, with a pandemic pause in 2021.
“Weddings are important to all aspects of the local economy,” Goya said. “A lot of people who get married here come through the airport.”
Love is in the air 💕& if you are planning to tie the knot in #Vegas on #ValentinesDay, you can get your marriage license as soon as you touch down! #ClarkCounty's marriage license pop-up opens tomorrow at @LASairport from 8a-4p daily in T1 baggage claim area near carousel 5. pic.twitter.com/QtxGfhYVnA
— Clark County Nevada (@ClarkCountyNV) February 1, 2023
According to county officials, visitors coming to the city to get married or attend a wedding generate more than $2.5 billion in economic activity every year.
The clerk’s office suggests couples submit their marriage license pre-application online at Weddings.Vegas, after which they’ll receive a reference number. With that number, they can finish the process in person at the main bureau or the airport pop-up by showing required identification.
After that, there’s just one thing left to do: actually get hitched.
“There’s no marriage here,” Goya said from the airport. “You have to still go get married.”
She expects extra crowds on some special days this month: 2/2/23, 2/3/23, 2/23/23 and of course 2/14/23.
“Valentine’s Day is always huge,” Goya said.