Our Wedding Video

The Shalimar Wedding Chapel, Las Vegas, NV. June 9, 2006.

The wedding ceremony starts at the 20 minute mark, but you are welcome to view our pregame antics as well. Enjoy!

Wedding Pictures

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I don't think even 10,000 words could capture the beauty, joy and love contained in these photos. Enjoy.

Shalimar

If not having the wedding dress and tux delivered on time was the first scare, then pulling up to the wedding chapel was the next.

The limo ride was wonderful, especially the air conditioning. But my mind started racing through plan B, C, D and E as we pulled into the parking lot. Instead of a cute little chapel, it was, in fact, a Howard Johnsons!

I timidly got out of the limo and walked through the doors with my silent, stunned bride at my side. But as soon as we walked through the doors, all our fears dissapated. While it did not look like a church on the outside, the inside was wonderful. Very cozy, personal and friendly. Just what we wanted.

Our wedding cordinator was fantastic. She did triple duty as she also was our photographer and videographer as well. Cyn had requested lavender roses for her bouquet and they had no problem coming up with them.

When we arrived there were two couples ahead of us. A young marine and his beautiful bride and an older African American couple renewing their vows. That allowed us plenty of time to take a few pre-ceremony pictures.

Wedding Day

Cynthia had a touch time adjusting to the time change and was ready to face the day at 8. No matter that we had gone to bed only 4 hours before, the sun was up and so was she. It was our wedding day and she was ready to get the day started. No amount of pleading for 5 extra minutes worked, so I rolled out of bed and we started our day.

Breakfast in Vegas offers many choices. Numerous casino's offer discounted steak and eggs. Unfortunately, you often get what you pay for and end up paying for it the rest of the day. The buffets are always a popular option as well. However they can get quite crowded and the choices are not always impressive. One of my favorite hidden treasures in vegas is The Stage Deli. Its patterned after the one in NY and offers huge breakfast platters for little money. So we walked over to the Forum Shops to dine there.

Jack is the greatest waiter in all of Vegas. He not only made us feel at home, but gave us his "insiders" take on what to do while we were in town. He wished us well on our wedding later on that day and treated us like we were two of the highest rollers in the casino. If you do go, get the pastrami and eggs. Its a delicious dish that will get your day off to a perfect start.

After breakfast we had to get our clothes pressed. The flight had been unkind to Cyn's gown and my tux. We had anticipated this and contacted Ilenes. They sent a limo for us and brought us to their store. Vegas is all about the hustle, and our limo driver was no exception. He informed us that he was a wedding coordinator as well and if we needed anything, just let him know. We told him we were headed to our presentation and that all we needed were the clothes delivered to the hotel by noon.

We finished our presentation and headed to MGM to meet with the ticket seller for our BBVD tickets. We found that the Deuce was a much slower ride in the afternoon than in the wee hours of the morning. By the time we picked up our tickets it was 3:00. Cyn then called the hotel to confirm that the clothes had arrived. Instead she found out they had not! We immediately bolted back to the hotel, hiking the strip at breakneck speed. And speaking of breaking necks, Cyn gave Ilene's a mouthful. Hell hath no fury like a frantic bride. They apologized for the delay and assured us they were sending it over right now.

Our race back to the hotel was rewarded twice. Once by the clothes actually being there. The next by a wonderful surprise, a towering basket of munchies! Cyn's office had sent us a congratulatory basket of goodies to keep us munching all weekend long.

We now had an hour to get ready before the limo would pick us up for the wedding. Woo hoo! We're getting married.

Downtown Vegas

Once we landed, waited through the LONG taxi line and got set up at the hotel. We were booked at Casino Royale by the travel service. They said Casino Royale was going through an upgrade to 5 star status. They lied. Or if they didn't, let's just say they are about 4 stars short of their goal. But it is on the middle of the strip so the location was perfect. And because Cyn had never been to Vegas, she didn't understand why I made such a fuss.

After unloading it was time to go to the Courthouse to get our licence. So we caught another cab and rocketed our way downtown. There we got our licence, which now allows us to get our marriage certificate. The procedure itself was very simple, just a couple of signatures, our ID's and 60 bucks later, POOF, we have our licence.

So with licence secured away, we took advantage of being downtown and walked along Freemont Street. There Cyn got her first taste of Vegas lights. Her eyes were WIDE open as she took in all the neon from the hotels.













In between ooh and ahhs she gripped my hand tightly to let me know she was hungry. I knew just where to head. Binions offered up a $5.99 steak, which was just what the hungry mama wanted. For those who might be suspicious, let me reassure you, it was good. Not just "after midnight" good or "for the price" good. But honest to goodness good.













What better way to cap off our first night in Vegas than by doing a little gambling. Keep in mind, I am not a gambler, I'm a card player. Cyn's passion I soon found out is the slots. So we signed up for the first of 9 casino player cards and Cyn lost her Vegas Virginity. The good news was she won! OK, it was only 41 cents, but hey, a win is a win.










Feeling adventurous, we caught "The Deuce" back to our hotel. The Deuce is a double decker bus that runs the entire Vegas strip for two bucks each way. In most cities catching the bus at 3:20 in the morning would mean you would have your pick of seats, not here. It was standing room only as the strip was bustling. I tried pointing out sites to a fading Cyn, but the time change and full belly were quickly drawing her to sleep.