i'm beat, Donna's married, and my wallet's a bit lighter. all in good fun.

drove to Cory's house after work, picked her up, picked Dennis up, Dennis dropped us off (and took my car), we bought our ridiculously over-priced tickets, and we were off. except, well, not. first, the flight was delayed an hour-plus and then Donna, who along with Erik was on our flight, called in tears to say they weren't honoring her reservation. thankfully, on the latter case, she was still able to buy a ticket even though there was a standby list of twelve or so people. it wasn't a nice way to start off the weekend, though.

but with those troubles out of the way, we sat down in the bar for a drink and some nachos to waste time while the plane was "found". eventually, we got on the plane, left the ground and arrived in Vegas. huzzah! Vegas! except, whoops, my cell phone dropped out of my pocket on the plane and i couldn't get back on before the plane left for Albuquerque. doh. went to baggage claim to see what they could do. a very helpful woman gave me her best shot and told me to try back tomorrow to see if they'd found it. my first gamble for the trip. will i get my phone back or won't i? anyone want odds?

after that mess was put aside to be fixed or forgotten later, we hopped in a limo (the taxi line was much too long) and headed for our hotel. the Imperial Palace. yeah, palace, right. at least it's mid-Strip. checked in, said "hi" to a group of Donna and Erik's friends and relatives that had gathered at a bar, dragged our bags to some Motel 6-esque add-on building at the back of the already non-glamorous hotel, freshened and headed back to meet up with the group. the four of us decided to go to Paris (the hotel, not the city) for some food, seeing as it was getting on after-midnight and we were still surviving on nachos from five hours ago.

Paris is one of the newer hotels i hadn't yet seen. very pretty! it reminds me a little of New York, New York (take it for granted that if i mention a city i mean it in the sense of a hotel in Vegas) with the replica streets. the "sky" was beautiful -- always set at twilight. we found ourselves a little cafe and a eight-dollar steak and potato deal, and settled into the scene.

after our meal, Donna and Erik headed down to the Clark County Clerk's office to get their marriage license and Corinne and i partook of some gambling. the video poker machines were not nice to me but the Wheel of Fortune slot machines left me at pretty much even. we stayed there until about four and then wandered back to our room. by the time we fell asleep, it was 5:30am. not bad for the first night.

Saturday, after we woke up late but not too late, we set about getting some errands done for the wedding. a very nice concierge at the Venetian named Kerry helped us round up some pretty flowers for the mothers and the bridesmaid and we tracked down a cleaner who could press my shirt in less than three hours. the cleaners turned out to be in the middle of some warehouse district but were able to do the work in about five minutes. our hotel was useless for this task and would have required an entire day to press a shirt. no good since the wedding was at six.

the errands, some breakfast and Keno at Treasure Island, and a little sight-seeing done, we headed back to the room to get ready. Corinne looked absolutely gorgeous in a black patterned dress that was probably a little gauzy for the frigid nights (it was a lot colder than i had expected) but was worth the chill factor. i, of course, was in my new black suit, white shirt, and black tie. we were a very dapper couple if you ask me.

we met Donna at her suite in the Venetian and found her looking stunning. she was very ... her. white dress with a few red rhinestones, long red gloves and red boots. quite a vision. she was happy and everything seemed to be coming together perfectly and easily. her brother Lee, his wife Lisa, their daughter Tyler, and Emily, the maid of honor, were also there. everyone was in great spirits and looking spiffy.

we headed over to the chapel by taxi and met the rest of the clan out front. the Candlelight Chapel of Las Vegas is quite funny. were you to look at it directly and not turn around into the glaring neon of the Strip, you might think it was some small town church in Any Town, USA. but at the outskirts of your peripheral, those flashy lights and so very Vegas sights are forcing you to remember exactly where you are. even so, it's a lovely place to have a wedding. very simple, calm and pretty. and since they've probably performed thousands upon thousands of weddings, they're ready for anything.

the ceremony was short, sweet and rather nice. Erik was in full perma-grin. the whole wedding party looked just plain happy. we showered them with bubbles rather than rice, and took plenty of pictures. they hopped in a limo to meet us back at the suite, and we all clambered into cars and taxis.

the suite was the perfect place for the reception. easily big enough for the lot of us, with an excellent view of the North Strip, twenty-seven floors up. we ate, drank, toasted, took more pictures, and were generally merry. afterwards, we all headed down to the casino floor, Donna still in her wedding dress, and did some gambling. eventually, we landed in Caesar's, did some more gambling, ate, and, finally, crashed back in our rooms around three.

Sunday was slow and leisurely. Corinne and i stopped by the suite to wish the couple good morning. they seemed aglow with happiness. we shared silly stories from the night before and Donna presented the grass stains she'd gotten on her wedding dress like a trophy. we all giggled happily.

got some lunch at Paris, briefly saw (and lost money in) Aladdin, and then over to Bellagio. the Bellagio puts all other hotels to shame. it is the elegance that some of them attempt but none quite achieve. walking around, even on the casino floor, it is well laid out with wide thoroughfares and high ceilings. there are quite a few nice restaurants and bars. we sat on the outside balcony of one and watched the quite beautiful water show the Bellagio puts on hourly, half-hourly or quarter-hourly, depending on the time of day. (we sat down during the latter.) we snacked on cheese and wine, and then headed out to get our bags and go to the airport.

remember the ordeal with my phone? well, i'd called on Saturday to see if they'd found it and the woman who answered had tried to help me by digging through all the found cell phones (apparently quite a few) but didn't find it. i also called Albuquerque but they didn't have it either. i was ready to give up but something told me to check once more in person. good thing i did because they had it all set aside for me. my phone was found!

the plane trip back was ... well, it just was. Cory slept a little and i zombied. it was a decidedly muted trip in comparison to how our arrival had gone. back in the Bay Area, we felt good to be home. a nice, cool, fresh, moist breeze greeted us, as did Dennis in my car to pick us up. we slept heartily that night and i think i dreamt of Elvis impersonators battling it out with French mimes and Venetian gondoliers.