Elvis estate bans impersonators at Las Vegas weddings

A uniquely-Las Vegas industry’s very existence is in danger after the group with rights to Elvis Presley’s image and likeness sent cease-and-desist letters to several chapels in the city.

Authentic Brands Group, which licenses Elvis-related merchandise, has told the wedding chapels to stop the unauthorized use of “Elvis Presley’s name, likeness, voice image, and other elements of Elvis Presley’s persona in advertisement, merchandise, and otherwise,” according to the document dated May 19.  

The letters have “sent a shockwave through the Las Vegas chapel community,” reported the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Many of them offer Elvis-themed weddings officiated by an impersonator, which are a significant portion of the city’s $2 billion per year wedding industry.

Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker recently got married a Las Vegas chapel, where they demanded an Elvis impersonator oversee their 2 a.m. ceremony.

 

 

 

 

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Some venues even use Elvis in their names like the Elvis Chapel, Elvis Weddings and Las Vegas Elvis Chapel – all of whom received a C&D letter.

“This couldn’t hit at a worse time. It’s not a good thing,” Clark County Clerk Lynn Goya said on Monday.

“It might destroy a portion of our wedding industry. A number of people might lose their livelihood.”

Goya headed a campaign to promote Clark County, which issued its five-millionth wedding license in February, as the “Wedding Capital of the World.”

The chapels were ordered to comply by May 27, but the Review-Journal said no chapels have been contacted further by ABG.

ABG licenses the estates of other famous stars, including Marylin Monroe and Muhammad Ali. Shaquille O’Neal is reportedly among its leading investors.

The letters come weeks before the “Elvis” biopic comes to theaters on June 24.