LAS VEGAS, NV - Elvis Presley’s Graceland will celebrate the April 23rd grand opening of its new, permanent exhibition, theater showroom and wedding chapel in Las Vegas at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino with star-studded, red carpet events. “Graceland Presents ELVIS: The Exhibition - The Show - The Experience” will bring the authentic Elvis Presley back to Las Vegas for the first time in 40 years, at the same venue where Elvis performed over 600 record-breaking, sold-out shows. Graceland Presents ELVIS will include an expansive, new permanent exhibition featuring hundreds of artifacts never before displayed outside of Graceland, live entertainment shows in the new Elvis Presley Theater, and the new Elvis Presley’s Graceland Wedding Chapel. The April 23rd opening events will take place on the 59th anniversary of Elvis’ very first performance in Las Vegas in 1956.
The festivities will kick off with a wedding ceremony in the new Elvis Presley’s Graceland Wedding Chapel at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino – the first chapel outside of Graceland in Memphis to be operated by Elvis Presley Enterprises, where couples can be joined together in an atmosphere of southern hospitality unique to the Graceland experience. The first couple to be married will be the winners of a nationwide contest announced this morning on NBC’s Today Show. The unprecedented wedding ceremony will be broadcast live on the Today Show on April 23rd and Priscilla Presley, who married Elvis in a Las Vegas ceremony in 1967, will take part in this very special event as Matron of Honor. In addition to the wedding ceremony and reception, the winning couple will receive a private tour of the new Elvis exhibition and VIP tickets to the premiere of “Elvis Experience” in The Elvis Presley Theater. For entry details, visit Today.com.
Wedding and vow renewal packages for Elvis Presley’s Graceland Wedding Chapel have been especially designed to bring the authentic and memorable Graceland wedding experience to Las Vegas. For information on booking the chapel for a wedding or vow renewal ceremony, visit Graceland.com/Vegas.
Also on the morning of April 23, Priscilla Presley will take part in the official ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the first-ever permanent Graceland exhibition outside of Memphis. The exhibition will encompass over 28,000 square feet and include hundreds of artifacts from the Presley family’s treasured Graceland Archives, showcasing the man, the performer and the music that revolutionized popular culture around the world. Visitors will experience an unprecedented journey through Elvis’ life and career, beginning with his early days in Tupelo, Miss., through his first recording session in Memphis, rise to fame, Hollywood career, life at Graceland, the Las Vegas years and more. Graceland-produced videos will immerse guests in the experience, concluding with a 26-minute retrospective film featuring Elvis’ greatest performances.
Some of the rare artifacts in the exhibition will include Elvis’ high school yearbooks; his first Gold Album; his 1955 RCA recording contract; his 1957 Harley Davidson motorcycle; his 1962 Lincoln Continental; the 1971 prototype Stutz Blackhawk delivered to Elvis at the International Hotel; coveralls from the film “Viva Las Vegas”; the diamond-studded gold International Hotel belt for breaking Las Vegas attendance records; as well as iconic stage wear from Elvis’ live performances, including the first outfit worn on stage for his first concert at the International Hotel in 1969; the legendary American Eagle jumpsuit first worn in the “Aloha From Hawaii” TV special and also worn on stage in Las Vegas; and the “If I Can Dream” white suit worn in Elvis’ acclaimed 1968 NBC “Comeback Special.” Select artifacts will be rotated regularly with artifacts from the Graceland Archives to ensure that the exhibit is constantly evolving and remains fresh. The exhibition will be open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tickets are priced at $22 plus taxes and fees, and are available for purchase now at Graceland.com/Vegas.
The newly renamed and renovated Elvis Presley Theater will present Elvis-themed live shows for limited engagement runs on the very stage where Elvis performed for millions of guests during his record-breaking, seven-year stint from 1969 through 1976. The theater is currently being restored so that it has the same look and feel it had when Elvis performed in this historic showroom.
The debut show will be the critically acclaimed “Elvis Experience,” produced by LCQ Productions, which will make its U.S. premiere on April 23, with a red carpet, opening night celebration. “Elvis Experience” is a large-scale production replicating one of Elvis’ legendary Las Vegas shows, starring actor Martin Fontaine and featuring 24 musicians and eight choir members portraying the original musicians and artists on stage with Elvis. “Elvis Experience” will open with the exhibition and chapel on April 23 and perform Tuesdays through Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are on sale now and start at $49 plus taxes and fees. After this limited engagement, the property will feature other limited-run, Graceland-produced live shows in The Elvis Presley Theater.
“On behalf of my family, we are tremendously proud to bring Elvis Presley back to Las Vegas for the first time in 40 years,” stated Priscilla Presley. “Elvis loved performing for the amazing audiences in Las Vegas at this venue, so we’re thrilled that this is now the site of the first Graceland-authorized, permanent exhibition outside of Memphis, as well as Graceland-produced live entertainment in the same showroom that Elvis performed so many incredible shows, starting with the ‘Elvis Experience,’ which Las Vegas audiences and Elvis fans will love.”
“In a country without royalty, there has truly only been, and continues to be, one king – Elvis Presley. And now in Las Vegas, there will be only one place to see the real thing, at the Westgate Resort & Casino,” stated Joel Weinshanker, Managing Partner of Graceland Holdings, LLC. “While Las Vegas is famous as being a city of ‘What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas,’ I can promise each and every visitor to our Elvis exhibition, live shows and chapel an experience that they will be unable to keep to themselves – one that will make them want to come back time and time again, as well as take a trip to Memphis to visit the one and only Graceland.”
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