Las Vegas’ downtown Elvis calls it a wrap in Jonas-Turner wedding
Jesse Garon is on the other line and says, “Did you hear about me and the wrapper?”
And I hear, “Rapper.”
“You mean, like, Flavor Flav?” I say.
“No!” Garon says. “Wrapper, like a candy wrapper. The Joe Jonas candy-ring wrapper!”
Ah. Now we are getting somewhere.
Garon is the favored Elvis tribute artist of downtown Las Vegas, familiar as he rumbles around DTLV and elsewhere in his 1955 Cadillac Series 62 convertible. Garon gained national notoriety this week as the costumed King who performed the Joe Jonas-Sophie Turner wedding ceremony Wednesday night at Little White Wedding Chapel on Las Vegas Boulevard.
The event took place after Billboard Music Awards show at MGM Grand Garden Arena (during which Jonas performed with the Jonas Brothers) and swiftly spread across social media.
Garon had no idea who he was to wed “until ‘bout six minutes before it started — that’s six, not six-0.” He only knew something big was about to unfold because the chapel was booked from 8 p.m. to midnight Wednesday.
“Nobody books the place for four hours,” said Garon, who is contracted to perform such ceremonies at Vegas chapels. “I only knew it was someone important.”
The couple used Ring Pop candy rings (sour cherry flavored) as their wedding bands. Afterward, Garon noticed one of the wrappers had been discarded in of the chapel’s pews.
What to to with the memento? Sell it!
“I put it on eBay and we’ll see what happens,” Garon said. “It’s already doing pretty well, even without any reporting of it. You should bid on it.”
I really should, but … within hours of posting, the winning bid had surpassed $400. Prospective bidders have until May 13 to leap in.
Garon said this has been his biggest celeb assignment by far.
“They said they had done a lot of research and picked me to do it,” Garon said. “I was really flattered, honored, to be called in.”
The newlyweds, the wedding party and full Jonas Brothers lineup sang and grooved to “Viva Las Vegas.” Garon mentioned the momentous anniversary of the event.
“It was 52 years to the day after Elvis and Priscilla were married in Vegas,” Garon said, referring to the May 1, 1967 event at the under-construction Aladdin. “I don’t think they knew they were getting married on that anniversary. It was just the same night as the Billboards. I guess they got lucky, right?”
Right. And they were not alone.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His PodKats! podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
