But what to do? I jumped on the Web to do some research and discovered: Fun Fact #1: Vegas is The Wedding Capital of the World. It seemed the logical choice for our adventure. Vegas is the place to go if you want a different kind of wedding. Choices run from the ubiquitous "Minister as Elvis" to helicopter weddings. You can also share your happy moment with a live Internet broadcast www.lasvegasweddings.com.

Having decided on the hot air balloon, the next step was to pick the hotel. Right now Vegas is awash in fabulous, swanky properties. With a click here and there you can take a look at the various hotel rooms, restaurants, pools, casinos (anything your heart desires) that are available. After cruising through several sites, we decided on Mandalay Bay), mostly for its 11-acre tropical water park with its delightful array of pools including a floating, lazy river.

Now it was time to get a flight schedule nailed down. The net provides lots of options here as well. We went straight to an airline source Delta Airlines and by the following week we were winging our way to Vegas.

Our close friends, Billy and Alyce, had bravely decided to join in our escapade and with alarm clocks set at 4:30 AM. By 6:35 we were on Delta flight #101 headed to...Salt Lake City? There were no direct flights was Billy's mild comment as he gazed longingly at his cigarettes during the first leg of our journey. "Next time, I'll book the flight" said Alyce.

By 12:05 PM we were air-bound again, this time Vegas or bust.

The air was hot as wedding cake candles when we landed in V-Town. And as our shuttle bus took us to Mandalay Bay we giggled at the sights: The Pyramid-shaped Luxor Hotel with a 10-story replica of the Sphinx of Giza, the roller-coaster circling the New York, New York Hotel and the pirate ship battle in front of the Treasure Island Hotel. When we arrived at Mandalay Bay it seemed that so had half of the free world. (Fun Fact #3: Over 30 million people visited Las Vegas in 1999. Around 100,000 of them got married!) Not only is Vegas a primo vacation spot, but many, many conventions are held here. And, surprise!, a meeting of dentists was underway at Mandalay Bay. We squeezed into the elevator with roughly 3,000 lightly-toasted dentist types and went up to our rooms. "This is like the subway during rush hour," Billy muttered. "Next time, I'll book the hotel!" said Alyce.

But the wonderful Mandalay pools awaited and, after "ahhing" over the giant marble bathtub, Slava and I changed into bathing suits and went off to play. (Fun fact #4: The average annual temperature in Las Vegas is 66 degrees.)

That evening the four of us went to dinner and set about exploring the Vegas playground. Everywhere you look there is something to astonish, delight or just make you scratch you head in confusion. (Check out Las Vegas Leisure Travel Visitors Guide for what's happening.) But, as they sing in My Fair Lady we were getting married in the morning and our balloon had a 6:00 AM lift-off time. So once again we set alarms for 4:30 AM. (Is there a theme here?) For night-time people, in a night-life town, this was really hard!

At 4:30 AM sharp, Slava and I were up and enjoying a pleasant room-service breakfast with Alyce. Billy, meanwhile, had gone down to the Casino to check out the scene. ("The working girls were just getting off duty. Very friendly," was his report.) Our balloon pilot called with the sad news: the flight is off! Something about high winds, bad karma, who knows? The upshot was no wedding that day. Oh, well, we'll do it tomorrow. We weren't scheduled to leave Vegas until Friday and it was only Wednesday.

Now we had time to see the sights! The white tigers over at the Mirage Hotel, the upscale shops at Caesaršs Palace, the Eiffel Tower at Paris, the gondola rides over at The Venetian, the artwork at The Bellagio. "The Eiffel Tower, gondalas, statuary...it feels like...Europe-lite," remarked Billy. (Fun fact #5: Las Vegas is the fifth most popular vacation destination in the world for foreign travelers.)

After a vodka-infused dinner at The Red Square restaurant, where the bar is made of solid ice, we joined our buddies, the 3,000 dentists, at the elevator bank and toddled up to our rooms to again set our alarms for 4:30 AM.

Next morning, as I was biting into a croissant, the phone rang. "Oh no," said Alyce. But, oh yes, it was again our would-be pilot. No weather, no balloon, no wedding. Now Slava and I were getting a little tense. We were flying back to New York the next day, and we wanted to fly back as Mr. and Mrs. "The working girls tell me that no hot air balloons have gone up in the past 3 weeks due to high winds," reported Billy. He had taken his breakfast of coffee and cigarettes at the bar.

But the pilot had said tomorrow looked promising and I was optimistic. I really wanted to get hitched in that hot air balloon. "It will be fine," Slava said reassuringly. (You gotta love that guy's outlook!) "Next time, I'll book the balloon ride!" said Alyce.

So shrugging our collective shoulders we went off to try our collective hand at out-foxing the casinos. After losing some bucks, going for a swim, plus a wild ride on the coaster circling New York, New York, the four of us had a delicious supper at Wolfgang Puck's Chinois and were off to bed. (check out www.tasteofvegas.com for terrific dining ideas.) That 4:30 alarm comes up quickly!

I was just pouring Slava a second cup of coffee when the phone rang. "Yes, I see. No other choice?" You guessed it. The balloon was grounded. "That's it!" exclaimed Alyce. "Enough hoo-ha! I'm taking charge! I'll book the wedding!" She was a whirlwind of activity: making calls to chapels, booking the minister, arranging for flowers, getting the limo to take us to the chapel and the airport. (Fun fact #7: Las Vegas has nearly 1000 taxis, 325 limos and 31 bus routes.) But, our plane was due to leave at 10:00 AM so we had to get married NOW. Then, Billy strolled into the room. He had been down at the bar. It was now about 5:30 in the morning. "Do you need any bridesmaids? The working girls say they're available."

Well, to get to the end of the story... Alyce came through like a champ. The Little White Chapel was adorable. (Any place that is good enough for Sinatra, Dennis Rodman and Demi Moore is good enough for us!) Our limo driver took good care of us -- we made the wedding AND the plane. I had a wonderful bouquet of Stargazer Lilies. We were married outside under a gazebo by the delightful Rev. Stone. Billy videoed the entire ceremony as the working girls looked on. (He had made friends.)

Would we do it again? In a heartbeat. In fact, maybe next year to celebrate our anniversary we'll try a hot air balloon ride over the Napa Valley. 4:30 wakeup call, Alyce and Billy?

Juliana Picone-Fadeyev is Creative Director of The DaVinci Corporation a design and marketing firm located in Port Washington, NY.

photos by WXT

Š 2000

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