Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos Chose Their Las Vegas Wedding Venue 45 Minutes Before They Got Married

On May 1, 1996, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos tied the knot at Chapel of the Bells for their Las Vegas elopement. Nearly 28 years after the co-hosts of Live with Kelly and Mark made it official, the couple will be returning to their wedding venue. Next week, Ripa and Consuelos will travel to Sin City to record four live shows from the BleauLive Theater at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas on February 26 and 27, 2024, so they decided that they're going to take a stroll down memory lane by paying a visit to the chapel. “We’re definitely going back there,” Consuelos told People in an exclusive interview. “We always try to make a drive-by when we’re in town, but this time, we’re going to take the viewers inside, where it all happened.”

In 1996, after the pair chose Vegas as their destination—a decision they made due to an unrelenting winter—they touched down without a venue booked. According to the couple, they didn’t start searching for their ceremony site until they got to their hotel room. “We checked into the hotel, and I remember going through the Yellow Pages because they had Yellow Pages back then,” Consuelos recalled. “And I looked up ‘Wedding Chapels,’ and the Chapel of the Bells had the biggest, biggest ad. It was one of the first ads, and it was right in the right position of the page.”

When the couple called the chapel to inquire about their availability, the venue offered them two times: 12 p.m. or 2 p.m. Consuelos asked Ripa for her preference, who chose 2 p.m., but Consuelos decided noon would be a better choice—even though it was 45 minutes away. “I wanted to make sure I didn’t get cold feet,” he revealed. “You didn’t make sure you didn’t get cold feet?” Ripa asked. Consuelos clarified, “I wanted to make sure she didn’t get cold feet.” 

Ripa explained that she was leaning toward the 2 p.m. slot, so had more time to primp. “I just wanted to shave my legs and maybe, I don’t know, put on some mascara before I got married!” she exclaimed. Consuelos was adamant about noon. “Nope, we’re going right now,” he said of his thought process at the time. “In the next 45 minutes, we’re going to do this.” 

Even though their elopement was spontaneous, low-maintenance, affordable (it only cost them $179—including airfare), and quick, it was memorable for both of them. "It was really romantic, though,” Ripa told the publication. “It was very sweet. We cherish those memories still to this day. It's been 28 years, and we still can remember every minute of that wedding. And I mean, it was really minutes. It was like two minutes! We were very present.”