1-2-3 … Walk (down the aisle)! Couples race to get married in Las Vegas this numerical New Year’s Eve

Originally Published: 29 DEC 23 13:29 ET

By Brammhi Balarajan, CNN

(CNN) — Getting hitched in Las Vegas is famous for being as easy as 1-2-3. Now, the nation’s top wedding destination is prepping for an influx of couples hoping to embrace that simplicity by marrying on New Year’s Eve, when the date will be: 12/31/23 – alternately, 1-2-3 1-2-3.

“Magic dates” long have been among the most coveted days for tying the knot. “Lucky 7s” day – 7/7/2007 – stands as the most popular wedding date in Las Vegas history, with 4,492 couples married, the clerk of Clark County, Nevada, said in news release. The most recent popular “magic date” was 2/22/22, with 2,331 weddings.

Wedding industry experts are watching to see if Sunday could be a record-setter.

“People always want to be able to remember their anniversary date,” Brian Mills, board president of the Vegas Wedding Chamber said.

“It’s kind of a kitschy thing to have a cool number date.”

For this year’s potential rush, Las Vegas’ home county even arranged for a marriage license pop-up at the airport so couples can register and get their paperwork right when they get off the plane, the clerk told CNN.

The pop-up also capitalizes on another special aspect of Las Vegas weddings: the group experience, Clark County Clerk Lynn Marie Goya said. Couples get to chit-chat while waiting for marriage licenses, see each other walk down the Strip all glammed up and cheer at the chapel or casino door for duos as in love as they are.

“It’s almost like a Vegas wedding club,” Goya said. “They have that romantic comedy moment where everybody is involved in their love story.”

Already the wedding chamber’s venues are all sold out for New Year’s Eve, with up to 20% more weddings booked compared with a usual final night of the year – long one of the most popular dates to exchange vows – Mills said.

And the type of ceremonies run the gamut, he said: In Las Vegas, “you can get married any way you want. … You can have something really small of just the two of you, or you can have a million-dollar wedding.”

Some Las Vegas venues are offering special packages to commemorate the date’s novelty: The Love Story Wedding Chapel’s $123 New Years Nuptials package lets couples “wed n walk” and enjoy a bubbly toast, while Vegas Weddings’ $2,024 “Celebrate 123123” package offers a walk down the aisle just moments before midnight. The Chapel of the Flowers described its remaining New Year’s Eve slots as “not just a date – it’s 123 123, a once-in-a-lifetime experience!”

No matter the day, Las Vegas has been a wedding hotspot for at least a century, Goya said. During Prohibition, Nevada was one of the few states that didn’t add restrictions to wedding licenses – instead, it dropped blood tests, waiting periods and medical exams. Then, chapels started sprouting up.

Now, Clark County issues more marriage licenses than any other US county, according to the Vegas Wedding Chamber.

“This is always kind of our big finale to the year,” Mills said. “So, everybody’s very excited to see how all the people come into town and tie the knot and celebrate Vegas and love being (in) the wedding capital of the world.”

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