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-license¹ 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 Chapel².

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 annulled³.

People can still get married around the clock at one of the city's few all-night wedding chapels⁴; 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 curb⁵ irresponsible life decisions, but simply because too few early-morning customers ---15 to 30 people, came in to justify⁶ a late-night shift. About 300 to 500 people seek licenses⁷ 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 lugging⁸ 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.