Elvis and Priscilla Presley's Wedding: A Look Back at Their (Top-Secret!) Las Vegas Nuptials

The King of Rock and Roll and Priscilla Presley secretly tied the knot on May 1, 1967

Elvis and Priscilla Presley’s May 1, 1967, wedding was just eight minutes long but required lots of careful planning to properly pull off.

“This was the best kept secret,” Priscilla said in a video interview for Elvis by the Presleys. “It all had to be properly planned. ... We didn’t want this out, because we didn’t want this to turn out to be a ... circus.”

With the help of Elvis' manager, Colonel Parker, and their most trusted loved ones, the couple were able to throw the paparazzi off their scent, relocating from Palm Springs, Calif., to Las Vegas at the last minute to tie the knot in a private suite at the Aladdin Hotel.

“It was, like, stealth,” Priscilla said. “It was actually kind of exciting.”

While the bride remembered feeling nervous up until her “I dos,” the big day went off without a hitch. “We were happy to be married, we were most happy that we pulled it off, we were happy that our friends and family were here,” she said.

Related: Elvis and Priscilla Presley's Relationship: A Look Back

Though the pair divorced in 1972, Priscilla never remarried following their split, even after Elvis’ untimely death in 1977. “I never wanted to marry after him,” she said at a Q&A in 2023. “I never had any desire. No one could ever match him.”

Keep reading to find out all the details on Elvis and Priscilla Presley’s wedding.

Elvis and Priscilla got married where Planet Hollywood is today

Elvis and Priscilla tied the knot in Las Vegas in the private suite of Aladdin Hotel owner Milton Prell, who was friendly with Elvis’ manager.

The hotel stood for 30 more years before being torn down in 1998. Though it has undergone several transformations since then, it is now the site of the current Planet Hollywood Las Vegas.

Elvis requested that their traditional vows be changed

While Elvis was traditional in some ways, waiting to consummate his relationship with Priscilla until their wedding night, he reportedly requested a rather unconventional change for the time to the couple’s wedding vows.

The “Jailhouse Rock” crooner is said to have asked to remove the word “obey” from Priscilla’s vows.

Priscilla used a decoy groom while wedding dress shopping

According to Priscilla, finding her dress was an adventure that required the assistance of Elvis’ pal Charlie Hodge to keep things under wraps.

As she recalled to Vogue: “I went in the dressing room, I’d come out with a wedding dress and ask Charlie, ‘What do you think, darling, do you like it?’ People [thought] that we were getting married.”

The ploy worked: Priscilla found her dream dress — a white silk chiffon gown with a beaded yoke and an empire waist that was trimmed in seed pearls — while flying under the radar at Westwood. “It wasn’t extravagant, it wasn’t extreme — it was simple and to me, beautiful,” the bride once said of the dress.

In addition to its uncomplicated aesthetic, Priscilla was drawn to the airy feel of the dress’s fabric. “It was something that I liked ‘cause it was very feminine, very lightweight, not too heavy and it matched very well with Elvis’ suit,” she explained to Vogue in 2023.

The gown was topped off with a three-foot veil secured with a rhinestone crown.

Related: Priscilla Presley Bought Her '60s Wedding Dress in Disguise — Here’s Every Detail About the Iconic Gown

Elvis needed a support wire to keep his pompadour up

Priscilla wasn’t the only one who took special care with her appearance on her wedding day. According to British Vogue, Elvis went to great lengths to keep his famous hairstyle from falling flat, even wearing a support wire to keep it in place.

He also went all out in the suit department. Elvis’ black paisley silk brocade tux was custom-made by MGM tailor Lambert Marks, who had previously worked with the singer on films such as Girl Happy and Spinout. The design came from a sketch drawn by Elvis’ pal and co-best man, Marty Lacker.

Lastly, the singer accessorized his snazzy look with a platinum, diamond and sapphire watch and a pair of cowboy boots.

Elvis and Priscilla had an extra-special wedding guest

Elvis and Priscilla’s wedding was an extremely intimate affair, with Vogue reporting that just around 14 people were in attendance.

Sanford and Son actor Redd Foxx, who died in 1991, was one of those present alongside the couple’s closest friends and family members.

Foxx said about the invitation, “It’s the best thing that ever happened ... to me.”

Elvis and Priscilla’s wedding party helped them fool the press

Among those standing by the couple’s side on their big day were the Blue Hawaii actor’s co-best men, Lacker and Joe Esposito, Priscilla’s sister Michelle Beaulieu, who served as the bride’s maid of honor, and her parents, Joseph Beaulieu and Anna Iversen, whom the groom flew in as a wedding gift per the outlet.

As Elvis’ friend Esposito explained to Larry King, the wedding party went to great lengths to keep the press at bay. “We all went to Palm Springs to fake everybody off,” he said.

According to Esposito, the night before the big day, the group snuck off to the airport, where they boarded Frank Sinatra’s jet on a course for Las Vegas.

From there, Esposito told King that they went straight to City Hall to obtain Elvis and Priscilla’s marriage license before arriving at the Aladdin Hotel for the pair’s ceremony. “[They] got married that morning,” he said, noting that the press was still in Palm Springs for the 9 a.m. wedding.

He added: “I was very honored to be the co-best man at [Elvis’] wedding.”

Elvis had a special gift made for the maid of honor

Michelle, who was just 13 at the time, didn’t know her big sister was getting married until she was boarding the plane to stand by her side. “I told my mother that no one was to know,” Priscilla explained in a video interview for Elvis by the Presleys.

When her sibling arrived, Elvis gifted her with a special ring that he had custom-made for her. “It was really kind of sweet,” Michelle said in the special. “He said, ‘Here’s something ... for you for being maid of honor.’ He said, ‘I had it specially made for you.’ ”

According to Michelle, Elvis also shared his thoughts on the ring with her, saying, “I really like this. I think it’s a really unusual design. I think you’ll like it, too.”

They shared their first dance to an Elvis tune

After sharing their first meal as husband and wife, which consisted of roughly $10,000 worth of roast suckling pig, oysters Rockefeller, lobster, Southern fried chicken and of course, champagne, the bride and groom shared their first dance to an Elvis tune.

Rather than swaying to the ever-popular “I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You,” however, the couple chose 1956’s “Love Me Tender."

Elvis and Priscilla’s wedding cake had six tiers

The wedding cake, which was designed by Aladdin Hotel pasty chef Denis Martig, was a six-tier wonder.

Martig described the confection to Memphis magazine in 2013, saying, “The cake itself was a yellow sponge cake. Each layer was filled twice with apricot marmalade and a kirsch flavored Bavarian cream. All the layers were glazed with kirsch flavored fondant icing and decorated with royal icing and marzipan roses.”

They had a second wedding reception at Graceland

For guests who couldn’t travel, the Graceland website revealed that the newlyweds held a second wedding reception much closer to home in the trophy room of their Memphis, Tenn. house on May 29, 1967.

Elvis and Priscilla’s wedding ensembles inspired a Barbie gift set

Elvis and Priscilla’s wedding ensembles left a lasting legacy.

In addition to being recreated for 2022’s Elvis and 2023’s Priscilla, the outfits were immortalized in a 2008 Barbie gift set of the pair by Mattel.

They didn’t renew their wedding vows in Hawaii

Though it has been widely reported that Elvis and Priscilla renewed their wedding vows in Hawaii in the early ‘70s, Priscilla debunked the rumor on Facebook in December 2015. “We loved spending time in Hawaii. It was Elvis' all time favorite vacation spot. But no, we didn't renew our vows there,” she wrote.

Priscilla added: “He went there to get away from the limelight...not to create it.”

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