September 17, 2026
How Much Does It Cost to Elope in Las Vegas?
A Las Vegas elopement runs about $200 to $2,100. Here is every real cost, from the $102 license to park permits and the chapel fees nobody advertises.
Eloping in Las Vegas runs from about $200 to about $2,100, and the difference comes down to how many services you are paying for. Around $200 gets you legally married at the county office with nothing else attached. A chapel package lands under about $1,125 once the marriage license is added in. An outdoor ceremony in the desert, with your own photographer and officiant, starts around $670 before the location permit. About $2,100 is where that same desert day starts when you buy it as one all inclusive package, with the permit handled for you. I am McKenzie, the photographer behind McKenzie Stewart Weddings. I have photographed weddings every year since 2010, over 300 of them, and I do our elopements with Michelle Brown, a licensed Nevada officiant. Here is what each piece costs, including the fees that only turn up after you have already booked something.
The Costs Every Las Vegas Elopement Pays
Three things are required for a legal Las Vegas wedding no matter how you do it, and two of them cost money. You need a Clark County marriage license. You need an officiant who is licensed in the county. You need one witness. And afterward almost everyone buys a certified copy of the marriage certificate, a separate purchase and the document you will need if either of you changes your name.
| What you are paying for | What it costs |
|---|---|
| Clark County marriage license | $102, or $105.29 paid by card |
| Certified copy of your marriage certificate | $20 per copy |
| Officiant licensed in Clark County | About $200 to $450 nationally |
| One witness | Free. Bring your own, or your photographer can do it |
Everyone pays for the license. Both of you go in person, at the same time, to the Marriage License Bureau at 201 E. Clark Avenue in downtown Las Vegas, bring government photo ID, and pay the $102 fee. The bureau is open 8 a.m. to midnight every day of the year, and no appointment is needed. Nevada has no waiting period and no blood test, which means you can get the license and marry the same day. Once it is issued, the license is good for a full year. You can also fill out the application online ahead of time so the counter visit is short.
The $102 is not quite the whole fee. The county does not accept checks, and paying by credit or debit card adds a processing surcharge, so the license costs $105.29 at the window. That is $3.29 more than the published price, and small add ons like it sit on top of most of the numbers in this article.
Nevada also requires a witness, and this one catches couples who fly in alone. At least one witness has to be present at the ceremony, and that person cannot be your officiant, so the two roles need two different people. If it is just the two of you coming to town, someone else still has to be there, and it can be someone you already hired. McKenzie can be the witness at any elopement she photographs. We wrote more about how that works in our guide to the Nevada witness rule.
The person marrying you has to be authorized by the county before your wedding day. Nevada requires ministers, notaries and marriage officiants to hold a certificate of permission from the county clerk before they can perform a marriage there. A friend who got ordained online does not qualify unless they get that county certificate too. So the officiant is a real line in your budget. Wedding industry cost surveys put a professional officiant at roughly $200 to $450 nationally, and The Knot reports a national average of $260. No industry cost survey publishes a Las Vegas specific number, so the national range is what to budget against, and what moves it is how much of the officiant’s time your ceremony takes: a short standard script costs less than a ceremony written from scratch with your vows worked through beforehand.
These fees are current as of September 2026, and counties and parks do change them.
Tier One: The Courthouse Ceremony, About $200
The cheapest way to be legally married in Las Vegas is to let the county do the ceremony. The Office of Civil Marriages at 330 S. 3rd Street charges $75 for a civil ceremony, and with the card processing fee the total is $77.75. Cards are the only payment they take. No cash, no checks.
| What you are paying for | What it costs |
|---|---|
| Civil ceremony at the Office of Civil Marriages | $77.75, card only |
| The fixed costs above, license plus certified copy | $122, or $125.29 by card |
| Total | About $200 |
What you get for that is a commissioner of civil marriages performing your wedding, and nothing else. There is no photographer, no flowers, no music, and no witness supplied, so you still need to bring someone to witness. You also need the marriage license already in hand before you show up, because the civil ceremony fee is separate from it.
The hard part here is getting an appointment. The office takes appointments only, they are booked online, and only the slots that are actually open ever appear. So if you have a fixed date, family flying in, and a photographer already booked, this is the one piece of your day you cannot count on getting. Couples who need a specific date usually end up somewhere else.
Tier Two: A Chapel Package, Up to About $1,125
Chapel and hotel wedding packages in Las Vegas cover a wide band. According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, a fuller resort or chapel package, the kind that includes a coordinator, florals, photography, music and sometimes transportation, lands near or just under $1,000. A ceremony with nothing added runs well below that.
| What you are paying for | What it costs |
|---|---|
| Chapel or hotel ceremony package | Up to about $1,000 |
| The fixed costs above, license plus certified copy | $122, or $125.29 by card |
| Total | Up to about $1,125 |
The band is wide because the cheapest package and the most expensive one are not selling the same thing. The cheapest buys the ceremony itself and nothing else. Photos, flowers, music, a coordinator, and any time in the room past your slot are all priced on top of that.
So before you pay a deposit, read the fine print for six things:
- How long you actually have the room.
- Whether an officiant is included or billed on top.
- Whether a witness is provided.
- If photography is included, how many images you receive.
- Whether you get the digital files with the right to print them.
- Whether the chapel files your marriage certificate with the county afterward, since that filing is what puts your marriage on the county record and is what the certified copy is made from.
The Fee for Bringing Your Own Photographer to a Chapel
Most chapels sell photography as part of their packages, and that money is built into what they charge. So when you want to bring your own photographer, the policy varies from chapel to chapel. Some let your photographer shoot outside before and after but not during the ceremony. Some charge a fee for an outside photographer. And some do not allow one at all.
In my experience that policy is almost never on the package page. I have photographed chapel elopements from the outside and from the inside, including inside A Little White Chapel, and the answer is different at every chapel. So email the chapel before you pay anything and ask three questions. Can we bring our own photographer? Is there a fee for that? Can they be inside during the ceremony itself? Ask by email rather than by phone, so you have the answer in writing if the person who booked you is not the person working your wedding day.
If you are doing a chapel elopement with us, you book the chapel time first and then book me around it, at $350 for a single hour or $300 per hour when you book two or more.
Tier Three: An Outdoor Desert Ceremony, About $670 and Up
An outdoor elopement is priced piece by piece instead of off a package menu. You are buying the same things every couple buys, plus a permit for the location and a photographer for however many hours you book. Here is what that looks like bought separately.
| What you are paying for | What it costs |
|---|---|
| Photography, one hour | $350 |
| Officiant | About $200 to $450 nationally |
| Park entrance, per vehicle | $0 to $25, depending on the location |
| The fixed costs above, license plus certified copy | $122, or $125.29 by card |
| Location permit | Set by the agency that manages the land |
| Total | About $670 to $950, plus the permit |
The permit is the reason this tier does not come out to one clean number. Some agencies publish a fee, some publish only part of one, and some quote you only once your application is in. The permit table further down says which is which, location by location, so you can see what is still an unknown for the place you want.
The same day can also be bought as one thing. Our all inclusive elopements start around $2,000 for one hour, and we handle the permit paperwork for your location. We quote every elopement individually, because two things move the number: the location, since permit costs differ from place to place, and how many guests you bring, which affects the permit too. For that price you get:
- The location permit paperwork, handled for you.
- The ceremony, written and performed by Michelle.
- The photography with me, and every edited image in an online gallery with full printing and posting rights.
- A witness, if you need one.
- Ceremony music from a song you pick.
- Champagne.
- Michelle filing your certificate with the county afterward.
Add the $102 license and the $20 certified copy and a package elopement starts at about $2,122. Locations include the dry lake beds, Red Rock Canyon, Valley of Fire, Mount Charleston, Lake Las Vegas, and Boulder City or Lake Mead. Booking is open right now. November 10, 2026 is just the first date these packages are available, so every date from that day forward is open to you.
What Photography Costs, and Why the Range Is So Wide
My rates are the same for elopements as for everything else, and they are published: $350 for a single hour, $300 per hour when you book two or more hours, and $500 for an hour and a half. A professional second photographer is $100 per hour if you want one. For photography bookings, a $500 deposit holds your date and the balance is due a month before the wedding, and I hold dates for couples whose venue is booked, so the date is confirmed. Prices are subject to change, and the full list lives on our pricing page.
Photography prices look so different from one quote to the next because they are quotes for different jobs. An hour of ceremony coverage in the desert is not the same purchase as a photographer who is with you from getting ready through the last dance. And a package that includes photos usually means a set number of images rather than a photographer for the day. So when you compare prices, compare two things: how many hours you get, and whether you receive the digital files with the right to print them. We broke that down in more detail in what a Las Vegas wedding photographer costs.
If you want more than the ceremony covered, the rate drops to $300 per hour at two hours or more. Two hours is $600, three hours is $900, and every hour after that adds $300 to the total in the table above. Two things tend to fill that extra time. The desert locations are far apart, so a good piece of an hour can go to driving between them. And a second location often means a second permit, because each place is managed by a different agency with its own paperwork.
Permits: When You Actually Need One and What It Costs
A permit is required for a ceremony at most of the places couples picture when they think about a desert elopement. The fee is the one number you may not be able to look up ahead of time: several agencies do not post a wedding permit fee at all, and set it when you apply. The table below says which ones those are.
| Location | Who issues the permit | Permit needed for a small ceremony? | Permit cost | Entrance fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Rock Canyon | Bureau of Land Management | Yes, every wedding, no size exemption | Set by BLM. Published figures start around $345 to $390 for a couple with a paid photographer, and BLM confirms the amount on application | $20 per vehicle, plus a $2 timed entry reservation October 1 through May 31 |
| Valley of Fire | Nevada State Parks | Yes, a special use permit, applied for 60 days ahead | $25 processing fee, plus a park set fee that is not published | $10 per Nevada vehicle, $15 per out of state vehicle |
| Lake Mead | National Park Service | Yes, a special use permit | Set by the park, not published | $25 per vehicle, good 7 days, card only |
| Mount Charleston | US Forest Service | No, not under 75 people | $0 | Free |
| Jean dry lake bed | Bureau of Land Management | Yes, once you hire paid vendors | Not published, ask the Las Vegas Field Office | Free |
| Eldorado dry lake bed | City of Boulder City | Yes, weddings and filming both | Not published, ask the city | Free |
| Welcome to Las Vegas sign and the Strip | Clark County, and the City of Las Vegas north of Sahara Avenue | No wedding permit, but a film permit for commercial photography | $45 processing fee, and it is your photographer’s permit rather than yours | Free |
Three rows in that table matter most for your budget. The first is Red Rock. Red Rock Canyon requires a permit for every wedding, no matter how few people are coming, and it only accepts applications between 180 and 30 days before your date. The second is Mount Charleston, where the Forest Service requires no permit at all for a group under 75 people. The third is the set of places that will not give you a number in advance: Lake Mead, Valley of Fire and both lake beds set their fees when you apply, so those stay open questions in your budget longer than the rest. When couples book the all inclusive package, the permit is the piece that has to start earliest, because it decides how early everything else has to happen.
The two dry lake beds are separate places under separate authorities, and the difference decides who you apply to. Jean dry lake bed is federal land managed by the BLM Las Vegas Field Office. Eldorado dry lake bed belongs to the City of Boulder City, which issues its own permit for weddings. If you are choosing between them, our dry lake bed elopement guide covers both.
Does Hiring a Photographer Change the Permit You Need?
At Red Rock Canyon it does. A wedding with no paid vendors falls into the BLM’s organized group category. Hiring an officiant or a photographer moves you into the commercial category, which is priced differently, so check that you are applying under the right one. At Valley of Fire your photographer may also need a photography permit of their own on top of your wedding permit, and that one is their cost, not a line in your budget.
Our guide to eloping in Las Vegas without a chapel walks through the application process itself, location by location.
The Costs That Show Up Late
These are the line items that rarely make it into anyone’s first budget, and the ones couples email us about after they have already added everything up.
- The certified copy, and what it is actually for. If either of you is changing your name, this is the document that does it. The Nevada DMV says it plainly: the marriage license you signed at the ceremony is not accepted, and only the certified certificate filed afterward with the Clark County Clerk will work. Social Security wants the same thing before the DMV will, and so does the passport office and anywhere else that holds your legal name. The Clark County Clerk sells a certified copy for $20, online, in person, at the kiosks in the Marriage License Bureau, or by mail, and mail orders take up to three weeks. Third party websites sell you the same copy with their own convenience and shipping charges on top, so order it from the county. Most people end up wanting more than one.
- The card surcharge. The license is $105.29 by card and the civil ceremony is card only. Bring a card either way, because the county does not take checks and Lake Mead has been cashless since 2024.
- Hair and makeup. There is no reliable Las Vegas figure published, but nationally The Knot puts professional wedding hair and makeup for the bride at around $300, with trials, travel fees and tips commonly billed separately.
- Flowers. A bouquet is its own purchase at every tier except the packages that name it. There is no reliable published figure for a single elopement bouquet either, and what you pay depends on the flowers you choose and the season you choose them in.
- Travel and the room. Elopement packages almost never include your flights or your hotel, so those stay on your own budget.
- Entrance fees, per vehicle and not per person. Everyone in your party who drives separately pays again. At Valley of Fire, a car with out of state plates costs $15 instead of $10.
- Tips. Industry guides put a photographer tip at $50 to $200 and an officiant tip at $50 to $100, and all of them say the same thing: a tip is optional, and it is not expected at all when the vendor owns the business and sets their own prices.
What Is Free, and the Catch on Each
A few Las Vegas elopement spots cost nothing to use, and each one comes with a real tradeoff.
Mount Charleston is the one where the place itself costs nothing. No permit under 75 people, no entrance fee, pine trees instead of desert. What you give up is certainty: nothing is reserved for you, the popular pullouts and picnic areas fill up, and winter road conditions vary. We go early and keep a second spot in mind.
The Welcome to Las Vegas sign has free parking and no admission. The catches are a line of tourists that never really clears, a 30 minute limit on filming there, and a median parking lot you can only enter from southbound Las Vegas Boulevard.
The public sidewalk on the Strip costs nothing either. The catch is that the resorts own much of the walkway, plaza and pedestrian bridge space along the boulevard, and none of it is marked. Assume any spot in front of or between two resorts belongs to one of them and needs that resort’s permission before you shoot there.
Red Rock Canyon costs $20 per vehicle to drive into, plus the timed entry reservation in season. A wedding ceremony there is separate and needs the permit, every time, at any size.
Common Questions About Las Vegas Elopement Costs
Can you get a Las Vegas marriage license the same day you get married?
Yes. Nevada has no waiting period and no blood test, so you can walk into the Marriage License Bureau and be married the same day. The bureau is open 8 a.m. to midnight, 365 days a year, and no appointment is needed for the license itself.
Do you need a witness to elope in Las Vegas?
Yes. Nevada requires at least one witness to be present at the ceremony, and that person cannot be the officiant. If you are traveling as just the two of you, arrange the witness ahead of time. Some elopement packages provide one, ours included, and anyone you hire can do the job. McKenzie can be the witness at any elopement she photographs, so you do not have to find a stranger.
What is the cheapest way to get legally married in Las Vegas?
The marriage license plus a civil ceremony at the county’s Office of Civil Marriages. The license is $102 and the ceremony is $77.75, which comes to about $180, or about $200 once you add the $20 certified copy of your certificate. The hard part is the appointment: they are booked online, only open slots ever appear, and a specific date is not guaranteed.
Is eloping actually cheaper than a wedding in Las Vegas?
Yes. The Knot’s 2026 Real Weddings Study put the average U.S. wedding at $34,000 in 2025. An all inclusive Las Vegas elopement, with the permit, the officiant and the photography all bought as one package, starts around $2,100.
Does the time of year change what a Las Vegas elopement costs?
Almost nothing about the fees moves with the season. The license, the civil ceremony and the certified copy are the same in January as in June, and so are the park entrance fees themselves. What changes is access, and the one small cost that comes with it. Red Rock Canyon requires a timed entry reservation from October 1 through May 31 for anyone entering the Scenic Drive between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., which adds a small per vehicle fee and one more thing to book. Mount Charleston road conditions vary in winter. And permit lead times mean the date you want decides when you have to start, not what you pay.
Let’s Talk About Your Date
Tell us your date and the spot you are picturing, and we will price it for you. Email us at mckenzie@msweddingimage.com with those two things and how much of the day you want photographed, and we will tell you what it comes to and what the permit looks like for that location. If you want the whole day handled in one piece, our all inclusive elopement package is the place to start, and if you are still deciding between a chapel and the desert, our elopements page goes through both. Permits at some of these locations have to be applied for months ahead, so the sooner we know where you want to stand, the easier that part is. We are so excited for you.