Renewal of wedding vows has decidedly Las Vegas flair

Wednesday, July 31, 2002 | 10:36 a.m.

Only in Las Vegas would a wedding party include a dozen topless dancers, a drag queen as maid of honor and an Elvis impersonator.

Maid of honor Frank Marino, the female impersonating star in "La Cage" at the Riviera and the self-proclaimed queen of Las Vegas, wore a fitted turquoise beaded dress and carried a basket of rose petals to toss over the friends of Greg and Sunny Thompson as they renewed their vows Tuesday night.

"I hope they hurry up," Marino said before the 15-minute ceremony. "I can't hold my stomach in anymore."

Elvis, also known as Johnny Thompson, discovered he had forgotten to wear the famous Presley rings, but he did remember the wedding bands.

Billed as the world's "first topless showgirl wedding," the ceremony will be broadcast this fall on NBC-TV's women-centered reality show, "Life Moments."

The production started after the Thompsons decided to renew the wedding vows they made on Feb. 26, 2000, in Seattle.

Sunny had wanted the $25 drive-through window special for the wedding, which was held at A Special Memory Wedding Chapel downtown.

But her producer husband suggested inviting the showgirls from his "Skintight" show at Harrah's and "Showgirls" at the Rio.

The dancers wore strategically placed turquoise feathers and rhinestone G-strings for the ceremony as they danced down the aisle to Frank Sinatra's "Love and Marriage."

The bride, who stars in "Showgirls," wore a cream-colored bra studded with rhinestones, a matching satin skirt with rhinestones at the waist and an old fashioned headdress with a veil trailing her.

The pair also wanted a Vegas wedding because Sunny, who wanted to serenade her groom, couldn't sing a note in Seattle. She had laryngitis, Minister Duane "Rev" Williams said.

"For at least three days, Greg had a perfect wife," Williams cracked, drawing guffaws from the men in the crowd.

Sunny sang, no "Vegas throat" apparent. She poured out her heart to Greg with "That's All" after the vows.

For the minister, the topless showgirl wedding wasn't his only first.

"I performed the world's first hot tub wedding on wheels at the Golden Nugget," Williams said, pointing to a National Enquirer spread featuring the Nov. 6, 1984, event.

For most of the guests, such as Shannon O'Keefe and the showgirl bridesmaids, showtime on a Las Vegas stage was an hour away. O'Keefe, lead dancer in "Skintight," brought her two Pomeranians, "Taylor" the lead dog and "Coco" the understudy -- performers all.

Only in Las Vegas.