Wedding count during New Year’s countdown could set record in Vegas
(WISH) — For better or for worse, a wave of couples saying “I do” in Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve could set a record for the Nevada city’s busiest wedding day ever.
According to The Associated Press, Sunday’s numerical date, 12/31/23, is known in the massive Las Vegas wedding industry as a “specialty date,” thanks to the repeating 1-2-3 1-2-3 pattern, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
The icing on the cake? This specialty date falls on a holiday famous for blowout celebrations.
“It’s a double whammy,” said Melody Willis-Williams, president of Vegas Weddings, which operates multiple venues. “Anytime you get these specialty dates, they’re always hugely popular. But tie that in with New Year’s Eve and it’s a showstopper.”
The number to beat on New Year’s Eve is 4,492, the single-day record for marriages in Las Vegas set on July 7, 2007. The second-most popular specialty wedding date on record with the county’s marriage bureau is Nov. 11, 2011, when 3,125 couples tied the knot.
Vegas Weddings company is fully booked at midnight at its multiple venues, including its brown-brick chapel in downtown Las Vegas with a white steeple and red awning.
Willis-Williams says her company alone expects to wed more than 120 couples on New Year’s Eve. Five of those couples will tie the knot just as the clock is counting down to midnight.
Clark County Clerk Lynn Marie Goya says couples married on a specialty date in Las Vegas have described them as “magic dates” that are easy to remember.
“I think the celebration that has a group dynamic is really appealing,” Goya said. “When everyone is in line and they’re all getting married and excited about being in love, it just enhances their own experience.”