In a year when many weddings seem to be on steroids, the allure of a no-frills Nevada ceremony has never been stronger – as evidenced by Bennifer’s elopement to The Little White Wedding Chapel last summer.
Vogue AdriaMarch 2, 2024
Amongst the various glitzy montages in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, there’s one moment that stands out: a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it glimpse of Olivia DeJonge in a pearl-encrusted wedding dress as she marries the King of Rock ’n’ Roll at the Aladdin Hotel in Vegas. “Priscilla’s wedding dress was made in-house by my team, who examined hundreds of photos and recreated it exquisitely,” costume designer Catherine Martin told Vogue ahead of the film’s release. “It’s divine.”
Even before Elvis hit screens, whirlwind Vegas ceremonies had experienced something of a renaissance post-pandemic. In a year when many long-postponed weddings seem to be on steroids, the allure of a no-frills Sin City ceremony has never been stronger – as evidenced by Bennifer’s elopement to The Little White Wedding Chapel last month
Long before Colonel Tom Parker orchestrated the Presleys’ “I Dos”, Vegas had earned a reputation as a go-to destination for impromptu nuptials after relaxing its marriage laws in 1931 – part of a wider effort to bolster tourism to the sparsely populated state that included making gambling legal.
Clara Bow, considered one of Hollywood’s first It girls, married fellow actor Rex Bell in Sin City in 1932 – the first celebrity wedding on the Strip. The Little Church Of The West opened a decade later, and remains there to this day – serving as the backdrop for both Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere’s wedding in 1988 and Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton’s in 2000.
Below, more details about the 12 most dissected Vegas weddings of all time.
While Bruce Willis and Demi Moore had a famously lavish wedding (with Little Richard serving as minister), the pair first got married at the Golden Nugget Hotel in Vegas. “We’d gone to see a boxing match in Vegas,” Moore later told Vanity Fair. “The whole trip we joked about getting married. Finally, he said, ‘Well, what do you think?’ I panicked and then I just said, ‘Okay.’ But first I went up and fixed my hair.”
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Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman got married after falling in love on the set of The Long, Hot Summer, with their partnership lasting until the former’s death in 2008. The 1958 ceremony marked Newman’s second marriage, with the pair opting for a quiet wedding at El Rancho followed by a honeymoon in London.
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Vogue photographer Herb Ritts introduced cover girl Cindy Crawford to Richard Gere in 1988, with the model and American Gigolo star marrying three years later at The Church Of The West. The pair sealed the deal with aluminium foil rings, with Cindy Crawford wearing a navy Armani suit.
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Ahead of their Positano wedding, Kravis did a trial run in Vegas “at 2am, after an epic night and a little tequila”. The bride wore leather to match her husband – carrying a kitschy bouquet of roses and gypsophila.
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Lily Allen pulled off a surprise wedding to Stranger Things actor David Harbour in Vegas in the middle of the pandemic. The pair tied the knot at Graceland Wedding Chapel, with the “Smile” songstress in an off-the-rack Dior dress. As for their wedding meal? The couple feasted on In-and-Out.
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Years before anyone had heard the moniker Brangelina, Angelina Jolie made it official with her boyfriend of two months, Billy Bob Thornton, at The Church Of The West. In true grunge style, the Girl, Interrupted actor kept it casual in a grey tank and baggy jeans for the 2000 ceremony.
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Frank Sinatra married Mia Farrow at the Sands Hotel & Casino in 1966 – the same Vegas hotel where he had previously recorded Sinatra at the Sands. The 21-year-old Farrow wore a mod wedding suit with crystal buttons for the 15-minute ceremony.
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Twenty years after calling off their first engagement, Bennifer finally made it official during a low-key ceremony at The Little White Wedding Chapel. J Lo wore two gowns for the occasion: a sleeveless Alexander McQueen dress and an off-the-shoulder Zuhair Murad design.
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Bette Midler and Martin von Haselberg have been together for nearly 40 years after getting married by an Elvis impersonator at the now-closed Starlight Chapel back in 1984. Their choice of music in lieu of “Here Comes The Bride”? A tape by Italian composer Nino Rota.
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Cher eloped to Vegas via Learjet with Greg Allmann three days after her divorce from Sonny Bono came through in 1975. The pair would go on to have a son together – Elijah Blue – along with recording an LP, Two The Hard Way, which critics panned.
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Before decamping to Château de Tourreau for a Provençal ceremony, Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner eloped in Vegas after attending the 2019 Billboard Music Awards. The Game of Thrones star wore a cream Bevza jumpsuit with gold Loeffler Randall mules during the ceremony, with Priyanka Chopra acting as maid of honour.
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