When Mr Herringbone and I were married just over a year ago, we managed to pull together a day of love, good food and great fun in about 5 months, and it felt like it passed in a whirlwind (a good one of course!). For our first wedding anniversary, it felt kind of fitting that since we were heading to the USA around the date anyways, that we should say “to hell with it” and do it again, albeit with a smaller budget….2 witnesses…and a little less class..
Choosing the right chapel was difficult, and, I’ll be honest, we felt that the cheaper – the better! Of course, we had to have an Elvis, which meant that the prices offered by A Elvis Chapel (yes, that is correct, they left off the ‘n’ in An in order to be higher up the phonebook), were hard to go past.
The inclusions were:
– limo pickup from hotel, and return after the ceremony
– a single rose for the Bride (real)
– 2 songs from Elvis (his choice)
– Elvis to escort Bride down aisle
– 12 professional photography poses on DVD
– optional DVD of the event (this I now wish I had selected)
What’s not to love!?
So we booked the wedding on the only free day we had in Vegas, and it turned out that 2pm on the Sunday was the only slot available (beggars can’t be choosers!). This left the whole morning for me to find a dress ($20 sale item in a store in a casino mall somewhere) and for our witnesses to buy some hilarious wedding gifts that included a green Las Vegas visor and a novelty t-shirt for Mr Herringbone.
We were collected from the Hotel in an 80s white stretch limo, and on arrival at the Chapel, I was handed a single red rose with a sprig of Babies Breath, and we met our Elvis. Comedy.Gold.
Elvis was already sweating under the white beaded jumpsuit he was sporting, and was also dripping in gold costume jewellery. He set the scene for our entry to the chapel, and if you could get any closer to the 1970s drug-addled Elvis, I’d pay more. He had to restart our walk down the aisle as they put on the wrong music, and he did a “time out” sign to indicate we needed to start again. He also pretty much sang every note except the melody, but with the energy in his jerky hip movements and his arms constantly waving – it somehow felt more authentic.
We danced, we cried (with laughter), we said “special Elvis vows” and we re-affirmed our love to each other in front of good friends in the crazy town of Las Vegas. It couldn’t have been more perfect. We had our ‘reception’ at a bar that had a happy hour near our hotel, and toasted to our memorable anniversary under the bright lights and bells of the crazy city.
Very nice idea, a funny memory.