The front step of the Wee Kirk o’the Heather Wedding Chapel (“World Famous Since 1940”)

Wedding Chapels, 5 of 5

And, to wind things up with the wedding chapels, here’s a little something I wrote after the first time I saw brides walking though casinos:

Nevada Impurities

The brides of Las Vegas – pretending not to notice
the notice they attract – hoist up the fronts
of hoop-skirted dresses and plow through clots
of slot machine grannies, pulling grooms
and bridesmaids in their wake.

Only the dry cleaner back home,
charge with returning the gown
to its virginal state, will see how
satin lace chiffon hems
are embroidered with casino carpet grime.
He’ll shrug as he fits giant dresses
into acid-free boxes,
betting the knowledge will stop with him.

Las Vegas, Nevada

photographed 5.29.2009