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Nathan Pittorf of Buffalo N.Y. drips candle wax onto a makeshift Elvis memorial on the street outside Graceland, the home of the late Elvis Presley in Memphis, Tenn. on Aug. 15. Elvis died at the mansion 35 years ago and his life and career is celebrated every year at this time during Elvis Week.

Slideshow: Elvis Presley (1935-1977)

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The rise and fall of the King of rock 'n' roll.

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Elvis Presley faithful from around the world flock to Memphis, Tenn.  to visit Graceland, the home of the "King" who died 35 years ago Wednesday. A candlelight vigil is held every Aug. 15 to marks his death and is the high point of Elvis Week, a celebration of his life and career.

This year, fans got a surprise welcome from the King's former wife and daughter, Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley.

Fans held up lit candles, illuminating their faces in orange light as they stood in the street outside the gates of Graceland, Elvis' longtime home and his burial place.
    
"You should see this from our point of view. It's amazing," Priscilla Presley said, standing alongside Lisa Marie. "The candles are lit. It's truly a sight to behold."

Continue reading AP article

• Remembering Elvis Presley 35 years later
• Memphis hosts Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest 
• Thousands mark Elvis's death, get surprise visit

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Lance Murphy / EPA

Melanie Headley stands near a giant Elvis painting on the street in front of Graceland in Memphis, Tenn. on Aug. 15.

Mark Humphrey / AP

A man places a flower at Elvis Presley's grave during a candlelight vigil at Graceland, Presley's Memphis, Tenn. home, on Aug. 15. Fans from around the world are at Graceland to commemorate the 35th anniversary of Presley's death.

Mark Humphrey / AP

Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis's ex-wife and daughter, speak to fans gathered at a candlelight vigil in Graceland Aug. 15.

Tracey Nearmy / EPA

Fifty year old Australian Saltwater Crocodile Elvis is fed by keeper Billy Collett after attacking a lawn mower in his enclosure earlier in the morning at the Australian Reptile Park in Gosford Dec. 28 2011. Elvis was acquired by the park in 2008 after he had been causing a nuisance in Darwin harbor by climbing onto fishing boats.

I didn't realize landscaping was so dangerous.

The Herald Sun reports: The 5 meter croc, named Elvis, attacked the staff at the Australian Reptile Park at Gosford after they went into its enclosure about 9 a.m. today.

The hulking beast lunged at one of the lawnmowers and dragged it into his pond. The staff, who were tending to the enclosure at the time, escaped unharmed.

"Elvis is sitting at the bottom of the lagoon with the lawnmower next to him. He's guarding it," said park spokeswoman Libby Bain before the rescue.

Tracey Nearmy / EPA

Fifty-year-old Australian Saltwater Crocodile Elvis watches his keepers place a lawnmower back in his enclosure after having attacked the mower earlier in the morning at the Australian Reptile Park in Gosford December 28, 2011.

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Even as night fell, the pace of weddings held in Las Vegas today didn't let up. In the video below by msnbc.com's David Friedman, watch wave upon wave of wedding parties arrive and leave the Graceland Wedding Chapel as day turned to night using time lapse photography. The chapel, which opened in the 1950s, performed more than a hundred wedding ceremonies today.

For some couples, they considered the day lucky, or it held special meaning from their past. For others, getting married today was just plain practical. When Ryan and Christina Davis were asked why they chose 11/11/11 to get married, Christina replied, "So he wouldn't forget our anniversary." 

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

The south Florida couple were one of thousands of marriages in Las Vegas today and they are shown above, fifth and sixth from left, surrounded by friends and family as they pose for photos in front of the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign at the far southern end of the Las Vegas strip on Friday night.

More 11/11/11 Vegas weddings coverage:

A marriage license issued every two minutes

Celebrating with The King

Picking the date before the man

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

A newlywed couple travels the Grand Canal by gondola inside The Venetian in Las Vegas.

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

A wedding party prepares for portraits underneath an artificial sky in St. Mark's Square at The Venetian in Las Vegas on Nov. 11.

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

After ordering a post-wedding pizza, newlyweds Anthony Napoliano and Susie Chesshir wait with their sons Frankie, 5, and Donnie, 2, at the L.A. Italian Kitchen at The Venetian in Las Vegas, on Nov. 11.

More 11/11/11 Vegas weddings coverage:

A marriage license issued every two minutes

Celebrating with The King

Picking the date before the man

Gord Noren and Nicole Noren, both from Warren, Manitoba, dance in the parking lot of the Howard Johnson hotel while Elvis impersonator Eddie Powers sings. The Norens had just gotten married at a chapel inside the Howard Johnson, and gathered with  friends, Elvis, and a 1956 Cadillac to celebrate the occasion. 

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

"We've been planning this since January 2, right after New Years," Gord Noren says. "We were hung over and said, 'Let's get married!'."

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

Why 11/11/11? "It's all ones... We knew we wouldn't forget our anniversary," he said. Gord Noren literally married the girl next door, as he bought a house next door five years ago. 

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

More 11/11/11 Vegas weddings coverage:

A marriage license issued every two minutes

Celebrating with The King

Picking the date before the man

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

"We've got two kids and have been married for 23 years," says Gayle Borawski. She and her husband, Suave, both from Chicago, came to Las Vegas to renew their vows at the drive-thru window of The Little White Wedding Chapel on 11/11/11. "I didn't want to wait until 12/12/12," Borawski says, adding, "That number is too cold."

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

John Hamelin of Las Vegas waits behind the wheel of a 1965 Cadillac for his next pair of newlyweds at The Little White Wedding.

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

"They're pretty excited. All things considered, they're pretty happy, which is good because you don't get to see too many happy people these days," says John Hamelin of the newlyweds he drives around in this 1965 Cadillac Convertible. "The way things are, what do you have to smile for?" Hamelin says, "You've got to worry about losing your job if you haven't lost it already. I've been out of work for about three-and-a-half years." Hamelin was a long-haul trucker before losing his job. He just picked up the occasional job for the Little White Wedding Chapel and hopes he can drive for them a few times per week.

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

Newlywed Jessika Anderson of Tulsa, Okla., stands outside The Little White Wedding Chapel in downtown Las Vegas on Friday, 11/11/11, with her mom Jamie Rubeck, right, and her sister Jodi Rubeck, left. "My fiance calls or texts me every day at either 11:11 AM or 11:11 PM," Anderson says. "We tried to get married at 11:11, but they were too busy and we lost our slot."

More 11/11/11 Vegas weddings coverage:

A marriage license issued every two minutes

Celebrating with The King

Picking the date before the man

"We wanted to get married on the 11th and we didn't want a big wedding with all the family around. We wanted it to be with the two of us. We decided to go to Vegas," Femke Bollen describes why she and her fiancé, Marcel Bels, traveled from their home in Holland to get married in Las Vegas today. No family. No friends. Just the two of them.

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

Femke Bollen waits for her morning wedding appointment at the Graceland Wedding Chapel.

But why the 11th? Bels explains that in Holland the 11th is a special day, the start of their carnival. Turning to his bride he says, “from the beginning when we got together I've said, 'I want to marry you on the 11th'." After nine years together,  today they became husband and wife.

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

Femke Bollen and Marcel Bels emerge from their brief wedding ceremony.

More 11/11/11 Vegas weddings coverage:

No fries at this drive thru, just nuptials

A marriage license issued every two minutes

Celebrating with The King

Picking the date before the man

"We really didn't plan on getting married for another year or two," said 25-year-old Vincent Conn as he waited for his fiance, Sarah Pindur, outside the Graceland Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, Nev., on Friday, Nov. 11, 2011. "We wanted to kind of plan things out better, but she was like, 'I really want that date'. And actually, when we planned it, we didn't know this but she was pregnant. So now, she's seven months pregnant." 

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

Vincent Conn, left, and his best man, Steve Hall, both from Flint, Mich., wait outside Vintage Vegas Memorabilia for Conn's fiance to arrive for their 8:30AM wedding at the Graceland Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, Nev. on 11/11/11.

"We're staying at the Stratosphere," he said, adding, "She wanted to ride all the rides and stuff like that and drink and gamble, but she can only gamble now. She can't drink or go on any of the rides. She can barely walk for more than 10 minutes at a time, so it's been kind of rough, but we're having fun."

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

Wedding parties rotate in and out of the Graceland Wedding Chapel on 11/11/11. The chapel says that they'll marry about 100 couples today.

Conn and Pindur, both from Flint, Mich., were among thousands of people getting married in Vegas today -- 11/11/11. Conn is a car porter at a Cadillac dealer in Flint and Pindur is on maternity leave from her job in the financial aid department at a community college. 

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

Best man Steve Hall opens the door to the chapel for bride-to-be Sarah Pindur moments before her wedding.

Sarah's father, Patrick, kept looking up the street for the cab that was bringing his daughter to the chapel. His daughter and Vincent recently moved in with him in Flint, with their dog, their cat and a baby boy on the way. When asked what Sarah's dress looked like, Pindur replied, "I don't know.  I haven't seen it yet, but my credit card has."

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

Arm-in-arm, Sarah Pindur and her father Patrick walk down the aisle.

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

Elvis impersonator Mike Conti throws down while Conn and Pindur profess their faith for one another at the Graceland Wedding Chapel

"I like 11, 11; that's when people are supposed to make a wish, when you see it on the clock," says Sarah Pindur, now Sarah Conn, seen here kissing her now-husband. "So I picked the date a long time ago, so this is my dream wedding."

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

"I like eleven eleven; that's when people are supposed to make a wish, when you see it on the clock," says Sarah Pindur, now Sarah Conn, seen here kissing her now-husband Vincent Conn.

Video: Meet the couple and hear how the bride picked the date before the man

Story: Thousands flock to Las Vegas for 11/11/11 weddings

Posted Thursday night: Even though Patrick Nonnon and Sunny De Vuyst of Belgium just got off a 10-hour flight from Brussels, it didn't stop them from heading straight from the airport to the Clark County Marriage Bureau in downtown Los Vegas to get their marriage license.  They were among more than a thousand couples getting a license on Thursday night so they could wed on Friday - 11/11/11. 

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

Patrick Nonnon and Sunny De Vuyst, both from Belgium, fill out forms to get their marriage certificate on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011, in Los Vegas, Nev. The couple are getting married on Friday, 11/11/11, at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

Most couples picked the special date because they believe it's good luck, but Nonnon and De Vuyst have a more personal reason.  "She was adopted on November 11," says Nonnon of his fiance, "So we decided we should celebrate another event on that same day."  The couple have known each other for 20 years and have had two children together.  But why not get married in Belgium?  Why travel all the way to Vegas? "When you live in Europe and you think of Las Vegas, you think quick marriage, easy to do," De Vuyst says, adding, "We decided to come here, without the children, just the both of us."  

Mariah Consiglieri, Clark County Marriage Services Supervisor, thought the number of applicants on Thursday might break the one day record at the Bureau.  "The day before 7/7/7 we did 1,624 (licenses), and right now we're at 1,152, so if we keep up this pace…maybe," she said." Right now we doing about one every two minutes.  We'd love to see it happen.  It'd be great if we could break that record." 

Nonnon and De Vuyst are getting married at the Mandalay Bay Casino.  Leaving the building with their license in hand, Nonnon said, "We didn't want to have the usual wedding, we wanted to do something private."  But with more than 1,000 weddings happening in Las Vegas in a single day that privacy might be hard to come by.

Updated Friday morning: The marriage bureau didn't break the 7/7/7 record, but did issue a whopping 1,427 licenses by day's end.

Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

Australian Elvis tribute artist Mark Andrew takes part in the European Elvis Championships at the Hilton Hotel on Jan. 6 in Birmingham, England.

Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

Elvis watches are displayed for sale at the European Elvis Championships at the Hilton Hotel on Jan. 6, in Birmingham, England. Eighty contestants are taking part in three days of competition from which a winner will go forward to the International Elvis Tribute Artist Contest in Memphis in the USA in August 2011.

Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

Elvis tribute artist Malcolm King from Glasgow prepares backstage during the European Elvis Championships at the Hilton Hotel on January 6 in Birmingham, England.

Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

A handbag in the shape of a guitar is placed on a seat at the European Elvis Championships at the Hilton Hotel on Jan. 6 in Birmingham, England.

Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

A car displays a sign for parking at the European Elvis Championships at the Hilton Hotel on Jan. 6 in Birmingham, England.

Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

Two Elvis tribute artists sit together during the European Elvis Championships at the Hilton Hotel on Jan. 6 in Birmingham, England.

This looks like it would be a fun event to photograph.