Elvis-themed wedding held in Big W parking lot for 38 couples at Parkes festival

Melbourne couple Mr and Mrs Jackson were among the 38 couples who renewed their vows. Photo: Nic Walker

Tying the knot in the Big W underground parking lot may seem a little underwhelming to the uninitiated but, for Chris and Mary Madoyris, it was “a dream come true”.

The Sydney couple renewed their vows in Parkes as part of the Elvis Festival – she in full bridal dress (not the original but the same size, she stressed), he in a white Elvis jumpsuit, black wig and gold sunglasses.

Mary Madoyris and her friend in the Big W outdoor car park after the ceremony. Photo: Nic Walker

The pair have bonded over the King since they first met. “We always wanted to get married by Elvis but it’s too expensive in America,” Mary said. “48 bucks in the Big W car park – it’s a dream come true!”

The ladies each received a gerbera daisy, while the gentlemen were adorned with a Hawaiian lei.

Technical difficulties besieged the makeshift stage but the crowd improvised a rousing rendition of Love Me Tender anyway.

Chris and Mary Madoyris and their friends leaving the Big W indoor car park after they renewed their vows. Photo: Nic Walker

Civil celebrant Andrew Appleby, dressed as Elvis, capably led the 38 couples through new vows peppered with his own lyrics.

“Please continue to love me tender, as I do you,” they chanted. “For a fool such as I just can’t help falling in love with you.”

The couples stood together on the car park’s asphalt, which had earlier in the morning played host to an Elvis-themed gospel church service.

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Elvis is in town

Elvis would’ve turned 80 on January 8, 2015. The Parkes Elvis Festival is celebrating the King’s birthday with a ‘Roustabout’ carnival theme. Photo: Nic Walker.

They smiled and recited the words to I Love You Because, sung by Elvis in his first commercial recording session 1954.

Peter Jeffery, 81, discovered Elvis shortly after that, when he heard Heartbreak Hotel, released in 1956. “It hit me like a Bondi tram,” he said.

He and his wife Ann renewed their vows in what will be their 60th year of marriage. Wasn’t that called a diamond anniversary? “Yeah, but I won’t get one,” she quipped.

Still, refreshing their lifelong partnership in Parkes was a pretty good substitute. It was a birthday gift to Ann from the family – she turned 79 on Sunday.

“They booked it in March and didn’t tell me – I didn’t even have a clue!” she said.

The ceremony concluded as it inevitably would (“Elvises, you may kiss your Priscillas”), and the couples were treated to a performance by the omnipresent Justin Shandor –crowned the world’s “Ultimate Elvis” in 2010 – before posing for a group photograph.

Outside the car park, where light rain had turned the pavement slippery, impersonators continued to sing their favourites from the King’s 800-strong songbook, as the 23rd Parkes Elvis Festival wound down. Elvis had left the building, but not, it seemed, the hearts of many.

source: smh.com.au