Remembering When Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker Gambled on a Las Vegas Wedding After the Grammys

Swapping "hot slob-kebab" vows under the influence of more than a little tequila at a Las Vegas wedding chapel doesn't exactly sound like the start of many fairy-tale unions.

But for Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker, it was one step closer to happily ever after. And it all started with a date night that epitomized the meaning of "let's just go and see what happens."

It had been more than five months since Travis proposed on the beach with a massive oval diamond at the Rosewood Miramar hotel in Montecito, Calif., when the betrothed couple touched down in Sin City with one destination in mind: the 2022 Grammys.

They arrived at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 3 looking like they'd discovered the meaning of life in each other's eyes (i.e. their usual red carpet look) and proceeded into the venue, Kourtney in a black Et Ochs jumpsuit and Travis coordinating in a black Givenchy vest and trousers topped with a shocking-pink Raf Simons coat.

During the show, he shed the outerwear (and his vest, naturally) to perform with H.E.R. and Lenny Kravitz, a rollicking rendition of "Are You Gonna Go My Way" that brought the room, including a beaming Kourtney, to its feet.

Celebrity Weddings in Las Vegas

Then it was onto the afterparty further down the Strip at Delilah, inside the Wynn hotel. The duo familiarly known as Kravis installed themselves at a table toward the back of the lounge and proceeded to make out, madly-in-love style, according to a source who told E! News, "They weren't holding back and were having a lot of fun."

And who knows if it was the shots that were flowing or if Kourtney came down with a touch of musicians-are-so-hot fever, but despite having something much grander in the works, she and Travis decided to tie the knot right then and there.

Well, not right there.

First they had to go get a marriage license—which despite assumptions about what you can get away with in Vegas proved to be an issue when it turned out the Regional Justice Center downtown wasn't open for business at 2 a.m. (All the hilarious we-eloped-to-Vegas stories don't ever include that unsexy part...)

Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker: Romance Rewind

"There was no possibility to get a marriage license at that hour," Kourtney explained during an April 6 Jimmy Kimmel Live appearance with mom Kris Jenner and sisters Kendall Jenner and Khloe and Kim Kardashian.

"Isn't everything 24/7?" Kim interjected. Which is exactly what Kourtney thought.

"I'm like, 'Are you guys lying?'" the eldest Kardashian sister recalled saying. "We asked like five times, 'What do we have to do to make this happen?'"

Ultimately, with the license bureau not due to open until 8 a.m., they decided that the piece of paper didn't matter and rolled up to the One Love Wedding Chapel in his-and-hers black leather jackets, raring to say "I do."

Which, reader, they did, with an Elvis impersonator officiating as they promised to love each other tender.

"We just did it anyways," Kourtney told Jimmy Kimmel. "It's what's in the heart." (True, but when Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez picked Vegas for their July 16 vows, they got a license.)

Kim slept through everything, but Kris knew what was happening ("Honey, live your life," she told her daughter) and Khloe was on Facetime for, she cryptically noted, "some of it"—and then whoever was on their group chat got the news later that morning.

"Like, 'Oh, hey guys, by the way, I got married last night,'" Kim paraphrased her sister's message. "And I woke up to, like, a million texts." (And then, as this was 10 months ago, Jimmy swiftly moved on to ask about Kim's relationship with then-boyfriend Pete Davidson.)

Kourtney Kardashian & Travis Barker's Blended Family Photos

Kourtney first clarified what had actually happened earlier that day, sharing photos from her big, er, morning on Instagram with the explanation: "Found these in my camera roll. Once upon a time in a land far, far away (Las Vegas) at 2am, after an epic night and a little tequila, a queen and her handsome king ventured out to the only open chapel with an Elvis and got married (with no license). Practice makes perfect."

Longtime pal Simon Huck commented, "Who doesn't love a Vegas dress rehearsal?"

Especially since, as Kourtney later revealed on an October episode of Hulu's The Kardashians, she threw up after that first ceremony. "And took my top off, and unbuttoned my pants," she shared. "And I had to, like, walk through the hotel with a million people taking my photo."

"I was a hot slob-kebab," she added. As for any other special details...

"I blacked out," Kourtney admitted. "I actually don't remember, though. I didn't even remember Elvis, like, sang to me walking down the aisle. I didn't remember I had a bouquet."

And then there was the whole "I take thee, Rachel" moment, which she did remember.

"When Elvis was marrying us, he's like, 'I, Khloe, take thee Travis,' and I just, like, lost my mind," Kourtney continued, recalling how she "fell straight on the floor and we, like, couldn't get up."

For his part, Travis thought the whole thing was awesome.

"If that's anything like our real wedding," he told Simon on the show, "I'll be really stoked."

Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker Get Legally Married

In the meantime, the Kardashian-Jenner crew—and the Barker brood, for that matter—were going with the flow.

"They all know that they will be having a real wedding soon enough and that this was a warm-up for the real thing," a source close to Kourtney told E! News at the time. "Kourtney and Travis have merged their families together and the kids are supportive as well."

(Or as Kris told Kim in reality-TV-private, "She was drunk as a skunk, laying on the floor, throwing up. Who wants to get married like that?" To which Kim countered, "Who doesn't?")

Indeed, everyone still had a destination wedding in Italy to look forward to, the planning well underway by then. But before that really big day, Kourtney and Travis officially became Mr. and Mrs. Barker on May 15 at a courthouse in Santa Barbara, Calif. No one made the guest list other than the bride's grandmother, Mary Jo Campbell (M.J. to the fam), and the groom's father, Randy Barker.

"Till death do us part," Kourtney captioned a pic of the newlyweds sharing a kiss as husband and wife.

A week later, practice made perfect (and Kim was wide awake) at Travis and Kourtney's mega-nuptials in Portofino, with nary a hot slob-kebab in sight.

Sign up for E! Insider! Unlock exclusive content, custom alerts & more!