There are two images that people readily associate with Las Vegas,casinos and wedding chapels. Typical things that you might see in Las Vegas can include bachelor parties, a casino car raffle, and (of course) lots of newlyweds. Weddings are as much a part of Las Vegas as blackjack and Wayne Newton.

Las Vegas is much different than other wedding locales. Typically people want to get married somewhere quiet and quaint, like a countryside chapel, or on a sandy beach. Vegas is anything but quiet and quaint. Las Vegas is known for its bright neon signs, flashy shows, and the incessant sounds of slot machines. There are a wide variety of reasons why people choose to get married in Las Vegas. Some just want to experience something different than the typical quiet wedding, many are eloping suddenly (possibly to someone they just met), and others may just prefer $5 roast beef buffets to wedding catering in Toronto.

In Las Vegas you can see all kinds of different people getting married, young people, old people, couples clutching babies in cloth diapers, and any number of other imaginable situations. One of the big draws for people to get married in Las Vegas is the availability of themed wedding packages. If your bride wants to look like a Klingon, or your groom to look like one of the Village People, Las Vegas is the city to make it happen.

For many people, Las Vegas offers a cheap alternative to the traditional wedding. This may seem a little difficult to imagine, after all, Las Vegas is often nicknamed "Lost Wages" for its ability to part people from their money. For many people, however, Las Vegas actually offers the opportunity to have a wedding on the cheap. Instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars on a lavish affair, they can spend a few hundred, enjoy the weekend in Las Vegas and spend their savings on new vanity cabinets and other home renovations.

It's difficult to pinpoint a single factor that has lead to the success of Las Vegas as the wedding capital of the world. These different factors have all contributed to the explosion of Las Vegas as a top wedding destination.

Of course there are a few downsides to getting married in Las Vegas -- if you are eloping you probably won't get the Bahco tools you registered for, and the wedding photos may make grandma blush a little. When it comes down to it, a Las Vegas is the right fit for certain couples but not others, it's all a matter of personal tastes and priorities. One thing is certain though, there will be no shortage of people looking to get hitched in Las Vegas anytime soon.