On May 1, 1967, Elvis Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu in a small suite at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. They had first met years earlier in Germany, back when he was a soldier, and she had later come to live at Graceland.
There was no cathedral. No red carpet. Just a room, a judge from the Nevada Supreme Court, and a handful of people.
Elvis wore a black brocade tuxedo. Priscilla wore white silk chiffon and a veil, with her hair swept up high in the style of the day. Joe Esposito and Marty Lacker stood up with him as best men. The ceremony was so short that some guests said they blinked and it was done.
Here is the part that still upsets fans. The room was tiny, and Colonel Tom Parker kept the guest list short and the press close. Some of Elvis’s oldest friends, men who had been beside him for a decade, were not in that room for the vows. A few of them never fully forgave it.
Elvis and Priscilla held a second reception back in Memphis a few weeks later to try and make it right.
Elvis and Priscilla Presley Wedding 1967
Afterward, there was a breakfast reception with about 100 guests, ham and eggs, champagne, and a six-tier cake. Then photographs. Then back to work, because with Elvis there was always more work.
Now count the months.
On February 1, 1968, at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Priscilla gave birth to a daughter. They named her Lisa Marie. It was almost exactly nine months to the day after the wedding, and fans have been pointing that out ever since.
However, when Elvis held her daughter for the first time, people said the tough guy melted right there. He carried baby pictures everywhere. He bought her a golf cart to drive around Graceland. He let her stay up late with him because he never could sleep anyway.
The marriage did not last. They separated and divorced in 1973, though they stayed close as parents.
But that little girl born in February 1968 became the one thing that outlasted all of it. She was his heart, and everybody knew it.