Elvis Wedding Disaster: Why the King REALLY Left the Building
Updated: Aug 10
A Real Elvis Wedding Story from a Wedding Caricature Artist
I am setting up my caricature stand at a wedding in Mississippi where I’ll be drawing for the evening. I’m on the second floor, and I look out the sliding glass doors to see the bride and groom getting married on the lawn below.
It’s a lovely setup. There’s something a little weird about this wedding ceremony, though. It’s the officiant. I do a double take.
He’s dressed as ELVIS. Apparently, this couple decided to have an Elvis impersonator wedding. I laugh to myself and snap some candid pictures.
The bride makes a wisecrack to the Elvis which I can’t quite hear. The audience laughs. Elvis is taken aback but he continues with the wedding ceremony.
She makes another wisecrack.
The Elvis is visibly flustered but he continues with the ceremony.
I cannot see the bride and groom’s faces since they’re facing the opposite direction — but I can see Elvis. Even though I’m so far away that his head is only about an inch high, I can see his frown.
I lean in closer.
The bride makes one more wisecrack. This time the Elvis reacts.
“Listen, I’m just trying to do my job here and get through this ceremony. So can I please get a little respect here?”
You could hear a pin drop.
I think my eyebrows arch right off my head.
For the rest of the ceremony the bride is as meek as a newborn lamb.
It’s one thing to rein in unruly guests at a wedding. It’s another thing entirely to be rude to the bride — during the ceremony!
Now, you might say she was being inappropriate. However when you are hired to marry people at an Elvis wedding, dressed as Elvis no less, you really should know what you’re in for.
This was a fun-loving couple. That’s why I was there to draw caricatures.
To be perfectly transparent, I was actually married by Elvis myself.
By accident actually. But that’s a whole different story. (If you must know, I lived in Vegas, we were doing a small ceremony, and the officiant had another gig later in the day ... as Elvis! Luckily, we thought it was funny.)
So later I am drawing caricatures at this wedding and meeting all the bride’s friends and family. They are a very diverse and fun group.
Elvis is singing somewhere behind me, and I find this rather amusing. So they found an Elvis officiant who is also an entertainer? That’s a first. Maybe I should get my minister’s license.
He’s really hamming it up. Completely over the top. I can hear him behind me, but I can’t see him.
I am drawing couple after couple, and it’s getting later and later. I’m concerned since I haven’t seen the bride and groom.
Elvis is still singing but now he’s crooning directly at a woman, and he’s getting obnoxious.
If I didn’t know any better, I would suspect he was drunk.
I hear a noise like a record being scratched by a DJ who is changing the record midway through a song. I wonder briefly what that was all about. I am drawing though so I'm not paying attention.
I find out later what that was all about when the bride finally sits for me.
She is talking to her best friend, who she is getting drawn with.
“Yea,” she says, “this is MY day. Not his. He was being rude, and I didn’t want all eyes on him. So. I threw him out!”
I was shocked.... and soaking in all the tea, believe you me.
BUT, upon reflection, I think she was right.
You have to be the crème de la crème to perform at weddings.
Elvis was not… and so the King left the building.
——————-
Looking for Wedding Entertainment Guests Actually Remember? (and don't throw out???)
I’m Kathy Buskett, a professional wedding caricature artist with over 27 years of experience providing live wedding entertainment throughout Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and the Gulf Coast.
I tell funny true stories like this one while I draw your guests.
If you’re looking for something interactive, flattering, and unforgettable for your wedding guests, you can learn more here:
I promise I won’t make wisecracks during your ceremony.
Or get drunk.
Or flirt with your guests.
OR upstage the bride, the worst sin of all.
Comments