Local judge willing to perform ‘Millionaire’ ceremony again

Kim Smith

Thursday, Feb. 24, 2000 | 11:15 a.m.

The Clark County district judge who performed the wedding the nation is talking about would do it again, with one caveat.

"I'd ask to talk to the groom and the potential brides first," Family Court Judge Dianne Steel said. "I'd need to know that the people were there for a reason, that they were there for more than a lark."

Steel was the judge who joined Rick Rockwell and Darva Conger in what turned out to be unholy matrimony during the Feb. 15 Fox television special "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire."

The pair are already considering an annulment days after returning from a honeymoon cruise. A few days after the wedding, the news surfaced that Rockwell once had a restraining order issued against him after a girlfriend said he hit and threatened to kill her.

In an interview on "Good Morning America" Wednesday, Conger said she "committed an error in judgment" and Rockwell is "not a person that I would ordinarily have a friendly relationship with."

Steel, who performed the ceremony without pay, said she was saddened by the turn of events. Like the millions of other people who watched the show, she wanted to see the couple live "happily ever after."

Historically, arranged marriages have worked, Steel said. Of course, none of them had to suffer under the scrutiny of a voracious press.

"I regret that the two people involved weren't more up front," Steel said. "I was asked to perform a wedding for two people who I thought wanted to be married, and I'm sad that they didn't have the same convictions I had."

She never got the chance to chat with the couple, but they seemed happy during the two-minute ceremony, Steel said. In fact, if they hadn't been, they could've backed out at any time because the show was taped a week before it aired.

"They were all glowing and smiling," Steel said. "They were looking into each other's eyes. There was no indication that they were going 'Oops!' in their minds."

The one person she did get to talk to was the back-up multimillionaire, whose name she can't recall.

"He seemed very solid," Steel said.

He told her he would've asked different questions than Rockwell did and to her they seemed "more subtle, more real people kind of questions."

"I was hoping that (Rockwell) was the same kind of guy," Steel said.

Oh, well, Steel said, it was an experience.

"If it had worked, I'd be the hero," Steel said.

Kim Smith covers courts for the Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-2321 or by e-mail at kimberly@lasvegassun.com.