LAS VEGAS — They weren’t planning to get married in a Cheetos-themed chapel at Super Bowl LVIII, but Somerset, N.J., residents Don and Chanel Spates saw the orange pop-up building on the Las Vegas Boulevard and figured, sure, why the heck not?
And so, two days before the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers kicked off in Vegas’ first turn at hosting the big game, the couple donned a borrowed orange blazer and a pull-on white dress, stood in front of hologram officiant Chester Cheetah and vowed that their love would “forever be as hot as flaming hot Cheetos.”
They even nabbed four bags of free chips.
“We just kind of did it on a whim — and we got snacks!” Chanel Spates said. She and her husband were married (for real) 30 years ago, but the Miami Dolphins fans walked away with a uniquely Vegas story to tell back in New Jersey. They weren’t the only ones who turned Super Bowl weekend into a multipurpose adventure.
Since Nevada relaxed its marriage laws in the 1930s, weddings have been as much a part of Vegas trips as blackjack and Wayne Newton. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that the first Super Bowl here should have plenty of matrimonial storylines, even if the game actually seemed to decrease the number of nuptials (more on that in a minute).
Some of it, like the Cheetos Chapel, was savvy marketing. Former Giants quarterback Eli Manning, dressed in a snazzy red tuxedo, surprised a couple at the Little White Wedding Chapel during their ceremony with Old Spice deodorant to ensure that the groom would stay “fresh from pits to toes on his wedding night.”
Then, there was the hopeful speculation that Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and pop superstar Taylor Swift would tie the knot somewhere in Vegas after the game. You could even get 8-to-1 odds that Kelce would propose, and while he declared this week that Vegas weddings are out of control — I don’t know if I’ll ever have a Vegas wedding,” his comments did little to defuse the fun.
“Tell them to come on down!” said Tracy Burke, chapel manager at the Little Church of the West. “We’re a historic landmark right down the street from the stadium.”
The Chapel of the Flowers took it one step further, offering a free wedding to any couple named Travis and Taylor. The odds of that seem slimmer than the Jets actually winning the Super Bowl one of these years, but several chapels offered special football packages in hopes of attracting deal-seeking lovers to walk down their aisles.
For just $580, the Vegas Touchdown Package at the Little Vegas Chapel offered the opportunity for football fans to be married by a referee — or, if they preferred, Elvis. This is Vegas, after all. People are always going to opt for Elvis, which is exactly what Kevin and Claire Sloan from Vancouver did on Thursday afternoon.
“Our vows were all part of Elvis songs,” Claire Sloan said. “So he vowed to never treat me like a Hound Dog, and I’m never going to step on his Blue Suede Shoes.”
There is not an actual Heartbreak Hotel in Vegas, sadly, but the area around Little Vegas Chapel offers everything a newly married couple might need. It is adjacent to a cannabis dispensary, across from a tattoo parlor and down the street from tuxedo shop. It is also in a neighborhood just off the Vegas strip with at least a half dozen chapels competing for the wedding business.
And here’s a Super Bowl secret: Those chapels appeared to be mostly empty. February isn’t a great month for Vegas weddings — who wants to bring the friends and family here when it is 48 degrees and rainy? — and, according to two chapels, the presence of the big game actually had a negative impact on the number of ceremonies.
“The Super Bowl has killed the wedding industry,” said Kalin Ivanov, who describes himself as “the talent manager and the talent” at the Viva Las Vegas Chapel. “Who wants to come here in the winter and spend $2,000 on a suite?”
If history is any indication, it won’t kill it for long. There are more than 100,000 weddings a year in the city, keeping the many Elvis officiants busy. If Travis and Taylor want to come back in a few weeks, they’ll probably still get their ceremony for free.
The Cheetos Chapel, however, is only here during Super Bowl week. Who needs to throw rice at the happy couple when their fingers are covered in orange dust?
MORE FROM STEVE POLITI:
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Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com.