Keeping Count

Istanbul, Turkey, is the worldwide wedding capitol. Las Vegas is the U.S. city with the most weddings (along with Los Angeles/Orange counties CA, followed at great distance by Cook-County/Chicago IL, San Diego county CA, Miami/Dade FL, King-County/Seattle WA, and the Main Island of Hawaii, including Honolulu). Every year 2.3 million couples marry in the U.S. – of which 80,496 licenses were issued here in Las Vegas last year. Nationally, 80% of all weddings are held in a church or house of worship. Here, most are not. Nationally, 178 guests attend the average wedding. Here the number (and consequently the expense) is smaller. Nationwide, the average wedding will cost $20,000 (2% of which funds the officiant). Traditionally, the bride’s father foots the bill but about 30% of today’s couples pay for the wedding themselves (17% of weddings are paid for by the bride’s parents, 53% by a variety of sources, according to surveys by Bride’s magazine).