Before we see the lace-trimmed gown recreated in Sofia Coppola’s upcoming biopic ‘Priscilla’, revisit the surprising story of how a young Priscilla Beaulieu tracked down the dress of her dreams ahead of her wedding to Elvis.
On 1 May 1967, just before 10 a.m., Nevada Supreme Court judge David Zenoff married king of rock and roll Elvis Presley, 32, and his girlfriend of many years, 21-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu. It took place in a flower and candle-filled suite at the Aladdin Hotel in front of around 14 people.
Back in 1967, for Elvis and Priscilla, there were no impersonators in sight. Colonel Tom Parker, Presley’s manager, had invited members of the press to a conference that took place in between the intimate ceremony and champagne breakfast for 100 that followed. Though it was relatively discreet for a celebrity wedding of the time, theirs is one that should be remembered, not least for her understated wedding dress—appropriately a style of true simplicity, with a hint of classic ’60s glamour.
Despite reports that Beaulieu designed her own wedding dress, it was in fact purchased off the rack, following something of a secret mission to find it, using the name Mrs Hodge. “I went to places like Neiman Marcus in disguise,” she later said. “I went with a [blonde] wig and everything just to keep it private!”Photo: Getty Images
The search ended at the department store Westwood. It was white, with long lace sleeves and pearl embellishments. “It wasn’t extravagant, it wasn’t extreme—it was simple and to me, beautiful,” Presley later admitted. “I didn’t have time to stay there forever and look at dresses; I had one fitting for this dress and that was it, I was out of there.”Most Popular