Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos Spent $179 on Their 1996 Las Vegas Elopement — Including Airfare

“It really is such an efficient way to get married,” Kelly Ripa said

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos managed to pull off the most efficient, cost-effective wedding possible.

Ripa spilled details about her 1996 elopement with Consuelos on Tuesday’s episode of Live with Kelly and Ryan. She first answered a question from co-host Ryan Seacrest, 47, about whether an Elvis Presley impersonator was present for the occasion (he was not).

“We just had a very normal, very regular wedding,” said Ripa, 51. “It really is such an efficient way to get married. And it was fun. We were like, ‘Now, this is gambling! Woohoo!'”

Ripa even admitted that she thinks if she and Consuelos, 51, “had to endure a large wedding, the planning and the seating charts and the venue — we would not have made it.”

She continued, “I don’t think we would have made it to the wedding. There would have been had feelings and blame all over the place. And I can honestly say, we do not feel less married. As a matter of fact, we feel more married than those people, because we’re still married.”

Ripa then explained that the pair eloped because they “had two days off of work,” which was rare for them at the time.

“Two consecutive days off from work, both on the same day. And it was like, ‘Let’s go to Vegas and get married and it’ll be fun,'” she said. “It was ’96 guys, remember the winter of ’96? The winter of ’96 is in the record books as the most miserable, it was an endless winter, and it was a snowstorm when we left. And we looked at the weather because we thought about going to City Hall but that was still cold and miserable, whereas Las Vegas, it was 85 degrees and sunny. ‘Let’s do that!’ And so that’s what we did.”

She added, “$179 for a wedding, including airfare, cause we had miles and we had a canceled trip or something. But $179 in total — total with everything.”

In May, the longtime couple — who share children Michael, 25, Lola, 21, and Joaquin, 19 — celebrated 26 years of marriage.

Previously addressing the secret to their long-lasting marriage, Consuelos joked, “I’m an incredibly slow learner, so I feel like I’m just getting it.”

“Like, ‘Oh, this is what you’re supposed to do,’ or, ‘OK, sometimes ‘yes’ means ‘no.’ After 23 years, I’m just learning that — so, I don’t think I could give anybody advice,” the Riverdale alum told Esquire in 2019. “I guess sometimes you see these public marriages end and you wonder, ‘Really? You’re going to quit now? It’s just been a couple of years, maybe you should try to stick it out.’ It’s kind of great to have a life together with someone.”

Consuelos added, “Of course, I’m not supporting staying in a horrible marriage. I’m just saying, if you can, maybe wait until it calms down a little bit. Wait until the magic happens.”

Ripa, for her part, shared a similar sentiment.

“You’re going to fight, you’re going to have disagreements. Relationships [and] marriages are not sprints, it’s a marathon,” she said on Live with Kelly and Ryan in 2020. “There’s going to be like, mile 24, when you’re like, ‘I quit.’ But you just got to push through. Just push through.”

Live with Kelly and Ryan airs weekdays (check local listings).