Pop star Britney Spears married a childhood friend from Louisiana in an early morning ceremony, but quickly arranged to have it annulled, people close to the entertainer said Sunday.

U.S. pop star Britney Spears (right) was married to childhood friend Jason Allen Alexander (left) Saturday Jan. 3, 2004 in Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. [AP Photo]

The 22-year-old Spears and Jason Allen Alexander of Kentwood, La., "took a joke too far by getting married" Saturday, her record label, Jive Records, said in a statement released to "Entertainment Tonight."

"Ms. Spears and Mr. Alexander have filed for an annulment which will become official on Monday," read the statement by Sonia Muckle, Jive's vice president of publicity.

George Maloof Jr., owner and operator of the Palms Casino Hotel, said Spears and Alexander got married about 5:30 a.m. Saturday at a Las Vegas wedding chapel.

"Nobody knew it was coming," said Maloof, Spears' good friend.

The two 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 Monday morning, the source said.

A view of the drive-though 'Tunnel of Love' at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas on Jan. 3, 2004. Pop star Britney Spears was reportedly married here on Saturday. [Reuters]

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 the AP.

Maloof denied rumors that Spears was drunk and had to be carried out of the Rain nightclub inside the Palms on New Year's Eve.

"I was with her the whole night," he said. "None of those reports were accurate. She was just having a good time."

Spears was still staying at the Palms and was expected to leave Sunday. Employees at the chapel declined comment.

Alexander was back in his hometown Sunday, according to his grandfather, Robert Alexander.

"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 "Entertainment Tonight."

"I wish them well," he said. "Whatever happens, happens."

He said Spears and Alexander had also spent Christmas Eve together.

Calls to Alexander's family home in Kentwood were answered by a machine. His grandmother said any details about the wedding would have to come from Jason or his father.

"We know about the wedding and stuff. It's all over the news," Betty Alexander said.

Spears released her fourth album, "In the Zone," last November. It debuted at the top of the album charts. She begins a concert tour March 2 in San Diego.

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