Fried Chicken King, Bride Wed in Heart-Spangled Rites

In a ceremony punctuated by fireworks and rose petals scattered from a helicopter, fried chicken magnate Al Copeland exchanged wedding vows with his former receptionist before about 600 people at the New Orleans Museum of Art.

The owner of Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken & Biscuits and Luan Hunter exchanged vows in a six-minute ceremony. According to files in the Clark County, Nev., recorder’s office, the couple were married in Las Vegas on Oct. 17.

“I’m not interested in talking about it,” Copeland said during the festivities Thursday night. It is the third marriage for Copeland, 47, and the first for Hunter, 33.

The bride wore a gown with a 15-foot train decorated with white and pink hearts.

After the vows, the wedding party and guests rushed outside, where a Popeyes helicopter hovered low to scatter rose petals. Then heart-shaped fireworks lit the heavens, concluding with “Al, I’ll love you forever, Luan” spelled out inside a fireworks heart.

The museum was decorated with hearts of all sizes, including outsized neon hearts around the doors.

Kool and the Gang and LaToya Jackson, a sister of Michael Jackson, entertained at the reception. Guests sipped champagne and nibbled on an assortment of Copeland-catered delicacies, including veal and oyster patties, crawfish beignets and smoked salmon--but no fried chicken.

The Copelands left the museum in the bride’s Porsche, which she had repainted in her favorite color, fuchsia. Its license plate read “LUV U LU.”