This year, March 19th marks the first day of spring. And when spring is in the air, most assuredly so is love, and where there’s love, there’s marriage.
While there really hasn’t been much advertising for matrimonial tourism here in recent years, some reports claim the number of weddings is down nearly 40% from 2005 when Las Vegas “I dos” were at their peak. Sin City is still the world’s number one nuptial destination. There are approximately 120,000 marriage ceremonies that are performed here annually, roughly 10,000 weddings monthly or a little more than 300 daily.
Let’s face it; there’s a certain je ne sais quoi to exchanging vows here, as Vegas has been a symbol of living a happy, carefree, no restraint lifestyle for decades. Of course reinforcing that perception are the many movies and television shows that have glamorized Vegas weddings – from Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher tying the knot in 2008’s “What Happens in Vegas,” to Sarah Jessica Parker and Nicholas Cage saying “I do” amid flying Elvises in 1992’s “Honeymoon in Vegas,” and Ann Margret hooking up with “The King” himself, Elvis Presley, at the end of 1964’s iconic “Viva Las Vegas” – Vegas is a sexy place to be pronounced man and wife. And how could we ever forget the infamous Las Vegas drunken marriage of TV “Friends” Ross and Rachel (David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston)? Weren’t they on a break?
But all those fictional weddings pale in comparison to their real-life counterparts as celebrities have been getting hitched in Vegas for decades. For example, one of the earliest celebrity weddings took place in 1942 when Hollywood legends Ava Gardner and Mickey Rooney were joined in matrimony in what would be the first of Mickey’s seven Sin City hookups.
So, to commemorate all those larger than life personalities who took the plunge in the Silver State’s most populated city, since 21 is a lucky number, here are nearly two dozen Las Vegas Celebrity Weddings, including a very subjective Top 10 list.
Eleven Honorable Mentions Rita Hayworth & Dick Haymes – Back in 1953 the Sands Hotel and Casino was the site for the wedding of the Hollywood starlet and her fiancé singer. Their marriage lasted just two years before they sought a divorce.
Joan Crawford & Alfred Steele – In 1955, “Mommie Dearest” took the CEO and Chairman of the Pepsi-Cola Company as her lawfully wedded husband at the Flamingo Hotel. They stayed married until he passed away in 1959, to which upon his untimely death, she became a director of the company — no more wire marriages.
Mary Tyler Moore & Grant Tinker – They said “I do” at the Dunes Hotel in 1962 and in 1969 founded MTM Enterprises which would go on to produce such hit TV shows as “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Bob Newhart Show,” “WKRP in Cincinnati,” “Hill Street Blues” and “St. Elsewhere” among many others. Unfortunately, the TV power couple pulled the plugin 1981 and got divorced.
Allen Ludden & Betty White – He was a TV game show host. She was an established TV personality who would go on to become a television icon. In 1961 they met in New York on the game show he hosted, “Password,” and two years later, they said their vows in Las Vegas. They remained married until Ludden’s death in 1981. White never remarried, saying he was the love of her life, and the two have side-by-side stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
David Cassidy & Kay Lenz – As a singer and teenage heartthrob, Cassidy found fame early in life with the hit “I Think I Love You” on the TV show “The Partridge Family,” playing opposite his real-life mother, Shirley Jones. After he and Lenz met, they dated for a while, and then he tied the knot with the budding actress in 1977 at the Little Church of the West. When the marriage ended in 1983, Cassidy said, “Kay had her own life, and I had different needs.”
Doug Hutchison & Courtney Alexis Stodden – This one made headlines for all the wrong reasons. Hutchison, a 51-year-old character actor known for his roles in “The Green Mile,” “The X Files,” and “Lost,” married a 16-year-old former beauty pageant queen and aspiring pop star in 2011 at the Little Chapel of Flowers, with her mother’s consent. Having a 35-year age gap, their relationship drew controversy and criticism, as Hutchison was labeled a pedophile as a result of the marriage. The pair split in 2013, reconciled in 2014, renewed their vows in 2016, became separated in 2018, and finally got divorced in 2019.
Shia LaBeouf & Mia Goth – Welcome to the Millennial Generation. In 2016 the two actors live-streamed their ceremony online from the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel, part of the facility’s King Tut wedding theme package. While the couple initially wanted to keep their nuptials private, the video was leaked to TMZ, and so the world got to see them joined in matrimony. By late 2018 the lovebirds stopped cooing, and the two flew their separate ways.
Still going strong
Kelly Ripa & Mark Consuelos – At the time, she was a soap opera star on “All My Children” while he was an aspiring actor. After he too landed a role on the show, the two dated for a year, and despite breaking up a few days before saying “I do,” the couple eloped to Sin City in May of 1996. Three kids and nearly 24 years later, as the actors once told a TV interviewer, still “dig each other.”
Kirk Douglas & Ann Buydens – When these two met, he was one of the biggest movie stars in the world, having portrayed such larger than life figures as Ned Land, Vincent Van Gogh, and of course, Spartacus. In late May 1954, the silver screen leading man and his Parisian girlfriend tied the knot at the Hotel Sahara. As we head to press, these two crazy kids (he’s 103, and she’ll turn 101 in April) are about to celebrate their 66th anniversary together.
The Top 10
We’re down to the nitty-gritty. Which nuptials make the Top 10? While Judy Garland, Britney Spears, Jon Bon Jovi, Fernando Lamas, Wayne Newton, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and Jane Fonda all took vows here in town, surprisingly none of them made the cut.
So, with that said, drum roll please . . .
10. (Tie) Angelina Jolie & Billy Bob Thornton – Despite having each other’s name tattooed on their bodies and carrying around vials of each other’s blood, these two got hitched after only a few weeks of dating. Although they said “I do” at the Little Church of the West in 2000, it became obvious their lives were on different paths, and two years later, the couple called it a day.
10. (Tie) Cindy Crawford & Richard Gere – Despite an age difference of 18 years, this seemingly perfect pair exchanged vows at the Little Chapel of the West in 1991. However, with her being a supermodel spending time in New York and Paris, and him being a Hollywood leading man spending time on the set and on location, they just didn’t spend enough time together to make their marriage work and by 1995 decided to go their separate ways.