While traditional brides opt for Here Comes the Bride to herald their arrival at the wedding service, Gill Martin walked down the aisle to Fools Rush In.
Having been brought up on a non-stop diet of Elvis records, the glitzy Las Vegas ceremony seemed an appropriate way for her to tie the knot. Even better, Gill had won the all-expenses-paid trip in a radio competition.
Love me tender - Gill and Paul Martin got married in Las Vegas after Gill won a competition Picture: LUAN MARSHALL
The 33-year-old healthcare assistant at Southend Hospital met husband Paul, 53, at a Southend nightclub seven years ago - not, she stressed, on an Elvis night.
She said: "We always said we would get married in Vegas but I thought we would never really afford it."
They were accompanied by her older sister and partner and two friends. Sadly, finances would not stretch to pay for her two children, Emma, 15, and Daniel, 13, and Paul's three grown-up children to go too.
A limo took them to the church where the Elvis impersonator also performed Love Me Tender and Viva Las Vegas during the 15-minute ceremony.
Gill, who admits to liking Elvis more than Paul does, said: "He was better-looking and slimmer than the real Elvis. I think he was interested in the pretty woman registrar."
The newly-weds spent a week in the Stratosphere Tower Hotel - one of the tallest buildings in the city.
They are now back in their Southchurch home with their new African grey parrot named, naturally, Elvis.
Published Tuesday, April 15, 2003
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