Elvis, will you marry me?

Las Vegas, Nevada---I sat in the back of the Little White Wedding Chapel, feeling all shook up, trying very hard to take this seriously. I was about to attend a wedding. But there was no crying in the chapel. When each of the three bridesmaids, all wearing bright red dresses and glitter headbands topped with red feathers like a flapper-girl of the 40’s, walk by giggling loudly, it was impossible to not to have a big smile myself.

And then it happened. Music stopped and the wedding march began and there he was. Elvis.  Wearing a gold jacket and gold sunglasses. Sideburns; check. Deep Black hair; check …and oh yeah there was the bride too. But Elvis, the young version, was walking the bride down the aisle to meet her groom standing in front of this chapel room about the size of a small Starbucks lobby.  He was surrounded by three of his buddies who had surprised the couple and all dressed in matching red and black pinstriped suits and gangster hats. It was all perfectly coordinated with the bridesmaids.

My quest, I had decided after meeting some newlyweds at the Grand Canyon who had just done this, was to visit all the wedding chapels in Vegas who had Elvis impersonators.  And as old fashioned as Elvis’s outpouring of sweet love for his Mama, I started with the phone book.  

There were five locations that advertised an Elvis Wedding Special. Besides the Little White Wedding Chapel, of all the ads that listed addresses there was; “Graceland” claiming to be the original and where Jon Bon Jovi was married, there was “A Elvis Chapel” and “The Elvis Chapel” and then there was “A Elvis Chapel.com” which turned out to be someone’s home.  Thanks to my Hyundai’s GPS I zipped around Las Vegas finding the chapels with no problem. Most are actually all clustered together on Las Vegas Boulevard.

Between all the chapels, the package you can pick from is anything Elvis. You’ve got the “Viva Las Vegas”, the “Loving You”, the “Concert with the King”, the “Can’t Help Falling in Love” and the “Famous Dueling Elvis’s” package with two impersonators…perhaps the young “All shook up Elvis” with the bloated old “My Way Elvis”. There was also a “Tribute to Elvis” package #1 and #2. The “Aloha Special” and two chapels that featured the “Blue Hawaii” package.  WAIT, I’m not done.

You may want to opt for the “Hound Dog Special” or the “Doo wop Diner”, the “visions from The King” or the “Teddy Bear in the Diner” package.  STILL not done.

There is the “Memories,” “Burning Love,” “Elvis at the sign” (a marriage performed at the Las Vegas sign), the “Double Trouble” (similar to the Dueling Elvis’s) or either the “Elvis and Marilyn” or “Elvis and a Show Girl” package. Other options at one chapel stated “if you want more Elvis, we can provide Elvis in the Limo, Elvis in a Helicopter and Elvis in a couple of different mini concerts or reception settings.”

Seriously.

You have choices too. You can be married by Elvis as the minister, dress up as Elvis yourself or have Elvis walk you down the Aisle. However, you be assured that ALL packages come with Elvis singing to you.

Now for all you suspicious minds, that’s a whole lot of Elvis.

From what I could compare, packages ranged from $199 for $799 which does not include the wedding license and some do not include the minister’s fee. When I met the couple in the Grand Canyon who told me of their Elvis wedding five days earlier, I found out they were from Australia and had just found a place on the internet. I had to find out more.

“So,” I asked, “what did your family and friends say to all this?”

“Well my Mum is just about over it,” the bride said in her cute Aussie accent.

“And our friends are just like us, so they all think it’s great,” the groom said laughing.

They were both twenty-something and I wondered what the fascination was on the other side of the planet with a generation over 35+ years after Mr. Presley’s untimely death.

“Foreigners are our number one market,” one chapel told me. “Spain is big, Germany, Italy, Japan, they come from everywhere.”

“We have not felt much of the generation gap because Vegas and Elvis seem so intertwined in fame,” another explained. “Besides, our wedding vow renewal business has become as big or bigger then weddings and that is a generation that knew him well.”

And since the couples that come here have made this choice and they feel it’s now or never, by modern technology friends and family can sit in on the ceremony via live streaming through the internet!

The couple that was generous enough to let me sit in to their wedding, Edward and Roberta, clearly were having a blast with it.  When the minister said, "who gives this woman to this man?" Elvis responded, "I do sir, Elvis, king of rock and roll." (more giggling)

As the photographer clicked away as a part of most packages., Elvis started singing "Please love me" and ended with "All shook up."  He was a perfect vocal match to the King. Talking to this Elvis prior to the wedding I learned that he had been doing Elvis impersonations for 10 years but was new to the Chapel for about one year. And as skeptical as I had been about a Vegas wedding, the minister at this chapel, a tall handsome black man with braids tied in a ponytail that hung halfway down his back, gave a down to earth and meaningful ceremony for this couple. Then, the couple got sent off with a certificate, a DVD and a book on marriage!

And to complete the meaning of a pure Elvis wedding, two of the chapels came complete with a pink Cadillac to drive off in. The Little White Chapel, where both Joan Collins and Michael Jordon were married, even includes a drive through the “Tunnel of Love”, the painted ceiling full of cherubs and romantic words on the awning that stretches around the building.  

I watched one couple kiss as they drove away in the chauffeur-driven huge pink convertible.

An Elvis wedding in Vegas has different meanings to different people whether a huge fan or a fan of silliness, seeing this first hand, you just can’t help falling in love with the idea.