Elvis, Grim Reaper help couples exchange 10/10/10 vows

By Jackie Valley

Sunday, Oct. 10, 2010 | 7:12 p.m.

There’s no single way to declare love.

Just ask the brides and grooms clogging the lobby of the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel on Sunday. For some, it was about to be “a hunk, a hunk of burning love” affair complete with the white-sequin suit-clad King himself.

For others, it was a more traditional white-dress ceremony or a 1950s-inspired shebang or even a brush with death while declaring eternal love.

But as the marquee outside the chapel declared, these couples always will have one thing in common: a 10-10-10 anniversary.

“It’s a cool day because it’s a numbers thing,” said Ron DeCar, owner of the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel. “There are only two more times this will happen — 11-11-11 and 12-12-12. Hopefully, next year will be as big.”

Inside one of the wedding chapels, DeCar doubles as Elvis Presley as he officiates a 30-minute ceremony for one of the 160 couples getting hitched Sunday.

“I can’t hear you all,” Elvis informs the wedding party of newlyweds Ann and David Tedone.

“VIVA LAS VEGAS!” the party sings as the Hawaiian-clad couple shimmy down the aisle after exchanging their vows.

“There, that’s better,” Elvis says.

It’s the end of their wedding ceremony but the beginning of their lives together as Mr. and Mrs. Tedone.

The Florida couple met as widows in Vermont after losing their spouses. During their courtship, they said the number 10 kept popping up — leading to their 10-10-10 wedding date decision.

And their Hawaiian-themed Elvis wedding in Las Vegas provided the perfect backdrop for a fun wedding with family and friends, the Tedones said.

“It’s not tacky at all,” Ann Tedone said as she basked in newlywed bliss outside the chapel. “It’s fun and that’s what intrigued us.”

And that’s exactly the point, said Robert Greer, minister at the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel.

“We make it fun and we make it legal,” he said. “That’s what we tell everybody.”

DeCar, who bought the wedding chapel after years of singing at weddings and doing impersonations, expected to assume the role of Austin Powers and James Bond before the end of the triple-10 day.

The Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel began guiding couples through their vows at midnight until 4 a.m. Sunday. DeCar slept for two hours before getting back to business at 6:15 a.m.

Sunday marked the busiest day for the chapel since 07-07-07, he said.

Lucky No. 7, however, was not lost for newlyweds Chris and Shelli Mazzone from San Jose, Calif. Their 10 a.m. wedding on 10-10-10 coincided with their seven-year anniversary as a couple.

At 10:10 a.m., Elvis pronounced the Mazzones man and wife — four years after they had booked the chapel.

“We’re not even superstitious or anything,” Chris Mazzone said.

The date stemmed from his wife joking about how she would only get married by Elvis in Vegas, said Chris Mazzone, who is a wedding deejay on the side.

“I’ve been to almost 1,000 weddings but never been married,” he said, “so this is big.”

Inside another chapel, ominous organ music plays as a green and purple glow hangs in the foggy air. Welcome to the gothic-themed wedding of the day — or as bride Allison Barber called it: the ‘Til Death Do Us Part’ theme.

“It was the simpler choice,” said Barber, who flew with her groom, Don Noll, and their teacher co-workers from Orlando for the wedding. “There’s not a lot to do.”

The couple became engaged on Halloween last year, making the gothic-inspired nuptials all the more appropriate.

Wearing black and dark purple ensembles, the couple stands on the altar as their officiator — the Grim Reaper — emerges from a coffin to begin the ceremony.

In a seemingly bizarre role reversal, the personification of death speaks about life — wedded life, that is.

“It’s also a commitment of your love together and life together,” the Grim Reaper says about marriage.

Before saying their final vows, Barber and Noll use two candles to light a single flame, signifying their lives becoming one.

“Do you promise to only walk through the cemetery gates together, never alone?” the Grim Reaper asks.

The couple kiss, solidifying their marriage. Then, the Grim Reaper instructs the groom to “walk her down the aisle to eternity.”

Light floods the chapel as the wedding party heads outside for pictures.

Aside from good luck, Barber said she hopes the 10-10-10 anniversary will serve a more practical purpose.

“I told Don it’s because he can never forget our anniversary,” she said.