Newlyweds Nathan and Kara Henry of Nashville, look at photos on a digital camera after getting married in Las Vegas, Nevada, on August 7, 2006. Las Vegas bills itself as 'the wedding capital of the world', but late-night revellers who decide they want to tie the knot now must wait until morning. Las Vegas bills itself as "the wedding capital of the world," but late-night revelers who decide they want to tie the knot now must wait until morning. The county's marriage-license office, as of last Wednesday, will be closed between midnight and 8 a.m., when much of Las Vegas is still very much alive. "It's one of the things Vegas is known for -- you can gamble, get drunk and get married all in the middle of the night," said Jay DeLeon, manager of the Graceland Wedding Chapel. Probably the best known late-night marriage seeker was pop star Britney Spears, who shocked the world in 2004 when she married a childhood friend just before sunrise in Las Vegas. That union was quickly annulled. People can still get married around the clock at one of the city's few all-night wedding chapels; it will just take a bit more planning to obtain the $55 license, said Cheryl Vernon, who supervises the marriage-services office. Vernon said the new office hours were not the result of a push to curb irresponsible life decisions, but simply because too few early-morning customers ---15 to 30 people, came in to justify a late-night shift. About 300 to 500 people seek licenses on a normal shift, she said. Last year the office issued 122,259 marriage licenses. Vernon said most late-night license seekers have been jet-lagged travelers lugging suitcases and trying to avoid daytime lines, rather than spontaneous celebrants. Still, there were notable exceptions. "Yes, we did have our few -- like Britney (Spears). She came in at five in the morning," Vernon said. (Agencies)

拉斯維加斯素有“世界結(jié)婚之城”的雅稱，但如今想在夜里結(jié)婚的午夜狂歡者們恐怕得等到第二天早上了。 從上周三開始，拉斯維加斯的結(jié)婚登記處從午夜到第二天早上8點(diǎn)之間不辦公，而這段時(shí)間的拉斯維加斯仍然還很熱鬧。 Graceland婚禮小教堂的負(fù)責(zé)人杰·德勒恩說：“在夜里賭博、喝酒、結(jié)婚是拉斯維加斯的幾大特色。” 最著名的“深夜新人”可能要數(shù)流行歌后“小甜甜”布蘭妮了，2004年她在拉斯維加斯的一個(gè)日出之前和兒時(shí)伙伴登記結(jié)婚，讓世人大為震驚。之后，布蘭妮又很快宣布婚姻無效。 拉斯維加斯婚姻登記處處長謝麗爾·弗農(nóng)說，現(xiàn)在如果有人想在夜里結(jié)婚，可以選擇去拉斯維加斯的幾個(gè)晝夜婚禮教堂；而且，現(xiàn)在想花55美元辦個(gè)結(jié)婚證可能得稍微麻煩點(diǎn)。 弗農(nóng)說，確立新的辦公時(shí)間并不是為了約束人們草率做決定，只是因?yàn)榇笄逶鐏淼怯浱庮I(lǐng)證的人很少，只有15至30人，而白天領(lǐng)證的人有300至500人左右，所以夜班就沒什么必要了。 去年，該婚姻登記處共辦理了122259張結(jié)婚證。 弗農(nóng)說，夜間領(lǐng)證的人大多是拖著很多行李箱、為了避開白天長隊(duì)的國外旅行者，心血來潮的人較少。當(dāng)然，也有個(gè)別人例外。 弗農(nóng)說：“是的，也有一些例外。比如，布蘭妮，她在凌晨5點(diǎn)鐘來這里登記領(lǐng)證。” (英語點(diǎn)津姍姍編輯)