LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Clark County Clerk Lynn Goya is in the process of finding those who were married in Las Vegas and archiving their stories.
“Every couple has a story, and whether the marriage ended in divorce or something else, they were in love when they came and really, it's the love story that we care about,” Goya said.
WATCH | I sat down with her to learn what made her want to start this project:
She got the idea in 2022 when the county hit 5,000,000 weddings.
“I wanted to know what the history was of Las Vegas as the Wedding Capital of the World,” Goya said.
Part of that history meant finding the earliest known reference to when that title was given to Las Vegas.
“In 1953, Sept. 23, in the London Daily Herald, they had called us the Wedding Capital of the World, so that's the first reference that we have been able to find,” Goya said.
Despite having the title in 1953, she says the history of Las Vegas weddings goes back before the county was even founded in 1909.
“We have been noted for weddings very, very early on because it’s been so easy and simple for couples to come here and get married,” Goya said.
That ease was part of the reason Tomas Beltran and Madeline Drown decided to make the trek from the Pacific Northwest.
“It felt fun. It wasn’t anything that wasn’t too serious,” Drown said.
“Cost-efficient too,” Beltran added. “Just kind of more like us. Non-traditional.”
“No stress. That was the biggest thing,” Drown said.
It also helped that the two had a little history with Las Vegas.
“When Maddie turned 21, we flew down here and I joked about us getting married in Vegas, and here we are,” they said.
The county started hosting an annual vow renewal ceremony for those who have gotten married in Las Vegas.
“It's a fun event where people get to get together, share their story, have fun, renew their vows and just celebrate being a part of the Las Vegas history,” Goya said.”The wedding industry is such an integral part of what turned this dusty frontier town into a major global, glamorous destination, that it's my opinion that we want to document as many of those 5 million love stories as possible.”