Vegas Weddings

Expensive stores, grand casinos, magnificent hotels, and delicious restaurants are some of the most popular attractions you will find in the incredible city of Las Vegas. Though people are willing to splurge hundreds and thousands in the casinos, stores, and restaurants, when it comes to a couple ready to commit their love for each other, the average they will pay is between eight to fifteen dollars for their “wedding.” In “Marrying Absurd” written by Joan Didion, uses many examples of irony to portray the ridiculousness of Las Vegas weddings.

Irony becomes exposed as Didion quotes the words of Mr. James A. Brennan. Didion writes, “’I got it down from five to three minutes…People always expect more when they get married’”(102). It is ironic the how little the expectations are of people who chose to be married in Las Vegas. They are willing to go through a drive thru, pay the cheapest price possible, and be married in less than ten minutes. Such “high” expectations are wanted. The name “Strip Chapel” is also ironic in itself. A chapel should be thought of a holy and sacred place, not somewhere on the strip where a cheap 5 minute wedding takes place. Lastly, Didion mentions the song an organist plays, “When I fall in Love it Will Be Forever.” Irony is portrayed through the first words of the song, “When I Fall in Love.” The song displays that the couples are not even in love yet, but are making a commitment for forever. Didion reveals that a true promise of love should be a special and beautiful moment not a fast cheap one at a Las Vegas Strip Chapel. 

Didion's piece reminded me of the movie "The Wedding Planner." The main character Mary falls in love with a man Steve, later finding out he is about to marry another woman. Mary decides to marry a different man in hope to make her dad happy, but on the day of Steve's and Mary's wedding, they both back out of their weddings. They end up back together, portraying that a commitment of true love should be shared at the right place and with the special person that you know you will love forever.