Sunday, March 20, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Las Vegas wedding chapel is setting for new ABC Family channel show

From left, Johnny Manvilla, Cheryl Luell, Barb Ludwig (holding Harley the Monkey), Chuck Ludwig, Joey Manvilla, Craig Luell and Rob Manvilla star in "Las Vegas Garden of Love."

For better or for worse, 'til 12 half-hour episodes do we part, the ABC Family cable channel unveils "Las Vegas Garden of Love," a hybrid documentary-reality series airing at 9:30 p.m. Monday.

The show takes a behind-the-scenes look at the Las Vegas Garden of Love Wedding Chapel, a 24/7 chapel that features an Elvis impersonator who can not only sing "Heartbreak Hotel" but preside over services, with the added bonus of a capuchin monkey named Harley.

As far as we know, Harley doesn't sing or perform weddings.

The reality saga really began three years ago when Cheryl and Craig Luell relocated to Las Vegas from Milwaukee. The couple had wed in a Las Vegas chapel in 1995, and Cheryl says it was always her dream to own a chapel.

Now 34, Cheryl had visited Las Vegas since she was 13, and was attracted by the faster pace and the better weather than Wisconsin can offer.

It wasn't good enough just to get away from Wisconsin, though. Eventually several family members moved in with Cheryl and Craig, so many you need a scorecard to keep track of who's who.

There's Cheryl's mother and father, Barb and Chuck Ludwig; Cheryl's two cousins from Milwaukee, Johnny and Joey Manvilla, 15 and 7 respectively, and their dad, Rob; and Harley the Monkey, who was a birthday present for Cheryl two years ago.

All under one roof.

Johnny handles the wedding videography, and is the show's narrator.

"I'm very family oriented," Cheryl says. "We all get along. You have your fights and arguments but you have to forgive and forget."

Knowing statistically that half of marriages end in divorce, Cheryl frequently gives advice to couples.

"One couple came in where the woman had been living with a man for seven years, and she wasn't sure it was what she wanted to do. We didn't marry them. This has to be something you want to do. This is not a joke, it's real. My folks, who have been married 34 years, taught me that no matter the ups and downs you stay with it."

Producers Stephen Hopkins, David Schermerhorn and Brent Travers think the family-oriented chapel will make a good TV series.

Cheryl had a family meeting before taping began. She told them: " `This can change your life. The camera will be in your face and you can say things and they can use it.' We didn't change for the cameras. To this day we haven't changed and we're not gonna."

To prove her point, Cheryl can be seen in her pajamas -- she wears the kind with the feet -- on camera, not bothering to do anything out of the ordinary just because cameras are rolling.

So far, although the show hasn't aired yet, Joey recently was recognized at the Boulevard Mall by someone who had seen an ad for the show. He received the star treatment.

"I don't want the boys to change," Cheryl says. "I don't think of myself as a star. I'm Cheryl, I own a wedding chapel."

Harley, on the other hand, may be the one to get a swelled head.

"He's an organ grinder monkey," Cheryl says. "If he doesn't get attention, he gets mad at us."