Ripa got ‘mark’ at LV wedding

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos eloped to Vegas in May 1996. That's not news. But this is:

"This could be an exclusive for you," Ripa says. "We got tattooed after we got married here!"

Tantalizingly, she won't say where her tattoo resides.

"I can't tell you where, or what," she says and laughs.

"They're not matching at all. And they're on different spots on our bodies. Mark's is out in the open. That's all I'm going to say!"

She and Regis Philbin are here to tape four "Live" episodes at Encore Theater at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Sunday and Monday. Tickets are gone, but you can line up for standby tickets at least an hour before each show.

Anyway, Ripa calls getting married at Chapel of the Bells "the greatest move we ever made." Sure, their families may have wanted a traditional wedding. But the couple had gone down that aisle on "All My Children."

"We married each other on the soap three times!" she says.

Plus, the price was right.

"It cost me $168 to get married," she says and jokes, "I'm going to encourage all of my children to elope."

She, Consuelos and their three kids, ages 13, 9 and 7, celebrated Thanksgiving at the Wynn with Mark's side of the family. They both have family who live here.

By the way, her ripped body at 40 is unbelievable. Her secret is sweat: She digs working out in a spin class called SoulCycle, and a program called Physique 57 that is "the hardest thing I've ever done."

"I love to exercise. I think it's good for my brain. It clears your mind. It's great for my heart. And I can wear short sleeves and my arms aren't wiggling all over the place.

"You have to switch it up and do something challenging, and you won't get bored.

"I like a class environment. I think people are motivated by other people. Nobody wants to look like the one person that can't do it, so everybody does it, no matter what agony they're in."

In Vegas, she's doing an advanced exercise class after someone gave her a gift certificate.

"I never turn down a free exercise class."

Have you ever heard anyone utter such a thing? I have to say, Kelly Ripa is the firecracker you think she is on TV. She's smart, funny and gracious. I wish more celebrities (or journalists, or anybody) were like her.

Doug Elfman's column appears on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Contact him at 383-0391 or e-mail him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He also blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.