Associated Press

Las Vegas, January 5

Britney Spears and a childhood friend apparently “took a joke too far” by tying the knot at a wedding chapel after a long night of partying — and then quickly arranged an annulment. The 22-year-old pop star married Jason Allen Alexander of Kentwood, Louisiana, about 5:30 am on Saturday at a Las Vegas wedding chapel, said George Maloof Jr, owner and operator of the Palms Casino Hotel. “Nobody knew it was coming,” said Maloof, Spears’ good friend.

But the couple arranged an annulment Saturday afternoon in the presence of several people, including a Las Vegas lawyer, said a source close to Spears who spoke on condition of anonymity. The signed annulment will be filed when the courts open on Monday morning, the source said.

Spears’ record label, Jive Records, released a statement on the marriage by Sonia Muckle, Jive’s VP of publicity, to Entertainment Tonight. “On January 3rd, Britney Spears and a friend took a joke too far by getting married. Ms Spears and Mr Alexander have filed for an annulment which will become official on Monday, January 5.”

Spears and Alexander journeyed by limousine to the Little White Wedding Chapel on the Strip after a stop at the Ghostbar, a club in the Palms Casino Hotel. The chapel staff told the couple they couldn’t get married without a license, so they were taken to get a license and driven back to the chapel, where they were married.

The bride wore a baseball cap and torn jeans down the aisle and was escorted by a Palms limousine driver, the source told AP. Spears was expected to leave the Palms on Sunday. Employees at the chapel declined comment.

Alexander was back in his hometown on Sunday, according to his grandfather. “He’d been through a lot. We picked him up in New Orleans coming back and he didn’t have much to say,” the elder Alexander told. “I wish them well,” he said. “Whatever happens, happens.” Spears released her fourth album, ‘In the Zone’, last November.She begins a concert tour March 2 in San Diego.