The Las Vegas Strip glittered more brightly than ever on Wednesday as the Debra Armour-Ken Kaufman duo and Mark and Donia Steele renewed their marriage vows in a double ceremony celebrating three years and 17 years of matrimony, respectively. The festivities took place at 1 p.m. at the Graceland Wedding Chapel on Las Vegas Boulevard, with Elvis Himself officiating.
The reiterating brides and grooms wore a quartet of matching rayon shirts from Wal-Mart, featuring a Hawaiian floral motif in hues of blue, red, orange, and hunter green, and stunningly accessorized with matching pink flamingo necklaces obtained by Ms. Armour in New Orleans. The Armour-Kaufman outfits were complemented by bright sombreros from South of the Border, SC, while the Steeles' headgear consisted of purple and blue Las Vegas souvenir baseball caps.
Wedding guests included Larry Gomberg of Fairfax, Virginia, and Brian Childers of Germantown, Maryland. Both did double duty as wedding photographers, wearing multiple 35 mm and digital cameras around their necks as they scrambled about the plastic-flower-bedecked chapel pews angling for perfect shots.
A trio of tourists who stopped by the chapel to pick up a brochure and rate sheet were so entranced that they stayed to become surprise wedding guests: Marc, Lisa, and Lisa's seeing-eye dog Toffee, all of Vancouver, British Columbia. (With all due respect to Mssrs. Gomberg and Childers, it was observed afterwards that Toffee was the best- behaved guest of all.)
For wedding gifts, the Canadian visitors gave the re-nuptual couples each a can of jackfruit in syrup, a product of Nakornpathom, Thailand, which Marc spontaneously produced from the trunk of his car.
Mr. Presley, who has returned to earth as a rather portly ordained minister in the Fellowship of Hope, was resplendent in a black jumpsuit ornamented with gold medallions and beaded tassels, open to mid-chest and accented by a naughty flash of chest hair. With rousing karaoke accompaniment, he crooned such Elvis standards as "Loving You," and "Can't Help Falling in Love with You." He also voiced the Graceland Wedding Chapel Marriage Creed, an acrostic that begins, "Give to each other the warmth and comfort that all living things seek," and winds up with "Devotion will be one of love's greatest rewards."
Tears flowed as the officiant instructed the lovebirds to gaze into each others' eyes and repeat vows to always be their teddy bear and their hunka hunka burning love, and never to step on their blue suede shoes. When the couples exchanged rings, Marc of Vancouver was so overcome by emotion that he tore a pop-top off a soda can to use as a ring while he softly repeated the vows to Lisa in their guest pew. (I am not making this up!)
Following the ceremony a wedding luncheon was held at Dona Maria's Mexican Cantina. The menu featured tamales, chimichangas (Mr. Gomberg: "So THIS is a chimichanga?"), enchiladas, and Spanish rice. Ever the sentimentalist, Mr. Steele downed a bowl of menudo, the authentic Mexican tripe soup, which was served at the occasion where he first met Mrs. Steele back in 1982.
The re-nuptual revelry extended throughout the afternoon and evening at the Stratosphere Hotel Casino's 1100-feet-above-street-level rooftop (outside!) High Roller roller coaster and Big Shot freefall rides, the Hilton Hotel's Star Trek Experience, and at various Fremont Street establishment downtown. Here the moveable wedding feast continued with pizza and chocolate-dipped bananas. The previously-weds had mixed luck at the slot machines and gaming tables, however, before retiring to their lodgings shortly after Dr. Kaufman (an admitted virgin at the craps tables) received a painful lesson on the origin of the term "crapped out," both there and at the video poker consoles.
After another week of honeymooning and bridge-playing in Vegas, the Armour-Kaufmans will return to their home in Rockville, Maryland, while the Steeles will continue to travel around the country in a trailer. The happy couples request that in lieu of presents, friends and relatives send recipes for jackfruit--and an explanation of whatever the heck it is, before they venture to open the cans.
