Las Vegas: A Wedding/Star Trek Experience Finished
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**DrDolphin** · 09-08-2004, 01:51 PM

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What a great update Rachel, and I love the hair! I don't know if I could be so brave!

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I am a MAJOR hair chicken. I have had basically the same haircur for more years than I can remember. I had bad hair memories as a child - and as a result am very reluctant to change what works for me.

joyjoy · 09-08-2004, 02:27 PM

This is freakin' hilarious. The thought of you stumbling and tripping over the ropes is quite a vision. Not to mention the Nick Nolte reference. Live long a prosper, you geek.

**chezp** · 09-08-2004, 03:12 PM

Great installment Rachel - and from what I can see of the photo, the hair looks superb! I'm not surprised that everyone's been raving over it - you got a great cut by the looks of it.

More please!

luvnwdwgal · 09-08-2004, 04:10 PM

Are you sure your name isn't Lucy! I'm loving this! Your Nick Nolte reference was hilarious!

Looking forward to more!!

simbarel · 09-08-2004, 09:25 PM

Thanks all. This installment isn't as funny (sorry!) but at least it's touching!

Back at the hotel we took naps until 4:00 and then got ready for the big wedding to be followed by the Tournament of Kings dinner theater show—where you eat with your hands. Originally the plan was for us to take the monorail down all the strip’s hubbub before heading to The Excalibur, but alas, we were stuck with nomorail. So the new plan was to meet John at the Excalibur’s lobby at 6pm so Lisa could get ready in the room. We were all ready about 4:30 and had some time to kill so we headed back to Quark’s Bar and enjoyed som’more of them Romulan Ales.

Cheers!

For You DS9 Geeks…Some of the Excellent Cardassian Themeing at Quark’s Bar

After that we all loaded into a cab towards The Excalibur. Has anyone been there? All’s I gotta say is that this is thee place for we Fantasyland and/or Renaissance freaks. I’d put the architecture on par with Cindy’s castle, it’s seriously that good. My entire family was going “Ooooh…Rachel likes this…” even before I had a chance to say anything. I was so swept away by the interior of this place that I neglected to get any good photos of it…the only ones I got were fuzzy at best. You’ll have to go see for yourselves. Wally and I will be booking this resort for our yet to be planned Vegas trip.

I called John and told him we were at the lounge near the casino. He quickly appeared, and was looking rather sharp. It was very, very cute. John tends to be shy, seemingly-annoyed, and dressed down much of the time, so this was very big that he was all dressed up and happy we were there. AND he was nervous. It was his wedding day! It was severely cute. I knew that he was happy because throughout the entire trip we didn’t get into one fight, when normally it takes the two of us all of 3 seconds to get into one. He is very camera shy, but actually did a couple poses for me and my camera before he was to deliver the paperwork to the Canterbury Chapel.

The Sharp Lookin’ Groom

That’s his normal camera face. Like I said, he’s shy and hates attention in general, so when you get in front of him with a camera, he doesn’t know what to do with his face and it ends up doing, that. Still, I thought it was sweet that he was allowing me to take photos of him.

The Three Guys

John took off to get his paperwork in and M suggested that I call Lisa to see if she needed any help. Lisa is as well quite very shy so when I called her I wasn’t surprised when she declined our offer. Still, we thought it was wrong that she’d be up there alone on her wedding day, so I asked if she might care for a nerve-smoothing drink. She took me up on the offer, and soon M and I were on our way to delivering the fair maiden her Sex on the Beach.

Another thing that’s nice about The Excalibur is that the themeing runs throughout the building. The Hilton’s Star Trek theme is limited to only one corner of the building, which is kind of a bummer. But at The Ex, there was just no escaping it, and the artwork on the walls of John and Lisa’s room was breathtaking. Then we saw the bride, and she was just too cute. Lisa is a little hottie, even more so since she is the mom of a 14 year old (which means John is now the stepdad of a 14-year-old girl!

). M and I assured her that the slip was not too risque, but juuust the right thing for her to wear. It was her mom’s which was sentimental for her, and it’s not like the boys in my family wouldn’t enjoy looking at it anyways! She said she was wearing it because her daughter said it looked good, and that black is her and John’s favorite color. Great! During this time she was getting her hair ready as M and I hung in the doorway of the bathroom, voraciously complimenting her full manes of hair. Lisa tried telling us what a PITA it is to have such thick Italian hair, but we wouldn’t hear of it.

The Bride Prepares

Lisa was pretty nervous, and being a still-newlywed myself I could understand why. After some final touchups, we were ready to head for the chapel. I called John on his cell phone to make sure that was out of the vicinity so he wouldn’t see her.

Outside the Chapel

Though M and I were not bridesmaids, the staff allowed us in the Bride’s Room with Lisa for the final minutes before the nuptials. Lisa informed me that John wanted me to sign as witness

which I of course did with pride. We were placed in a 9x13’ room plastered with mirrors, which once again sucked as I was in there with two beautiful and tiny-waisted people. But even so, we all had fun in there and Lisa started opening up about her feelings about this wedding. Up until then, Lisa was a really hard read--I had been trying decipher for weeks if she really wanted to marry John. I just couldn't tell, and neither could the rest of the family, or even my other friends--but we all knew that John was very into the wedding. I was so scared that she was going to back out at the last minute. She and John actually started going out a good 10 or 11 years ago and John was pretty damaged when they broke up. After a while he dated another girl for about 6 years (another complete hottie, but somewhat younger than he) who was cool, but they fought like cats and dogs. After that breakup, John turned into a real big jerk, a real misogynist. He was never a “playa” but he just lost all trust in women, and pitted a lot of his anger towards me. So for about 2 or 3 years John was in a really bad place, particularly that final year--until one year ago that day, September 4th, when he bumped into Lisa at a concert (Mark's band) and the rest is history. What a difference a year makes because John is clearly so much happier. I don’t know what Lisa was doing in those 10 years other than raising a daughter on her own, but she told M and me that this wedding was one of the best things in her life, and in the mirrors I could see the three of us glowing over that statement. She told us that she couldn’t believe that she was marrying John and that she had always thought about him all those years, and that the fact they bumped into each other a year ago that day was a plan…that she was hoping that she’d run into him there.

Isn’t that sweet! I tell you, that made my wee heartcockles warmer than they’d been in a long time . I was so happy for my brother, and happy for Lisa too!

Time was coming close so Lisa checked out how she looked with the bouquet. This was kind of funny, because Lisa is tiny, and the bouquet was giant. Yet they were still very beautiful. We got a knock on the door and it was the hippy minister coming to get M and me to go into the chapel and wait for the bride.

Counting Downt the Minutes Before the Big Vows

M and I reached the chapel, and it was quite charming. No Vegas tackiness here! John was standing in the regular nervous groom spot and we decided to put Mark and M on the bride’s side and Dad and I were to sit on the right. Soon enough, the hippie minister came in and then a canned version of “Here Comes the Bride” and then there was Lisa, coming down the aisle. She met John, and you know how weddings work, I don’t need to explain. However, the funny part was that the hippie minister was VERY religious. Like, it seemed even more religious than my giant Catholic wedding. I just didn’t expect it to be so religious, and I KNOW that John and Lisa weren’t expecting it either. Later I told them that it was good to have all their bases covered, and they somewhat agreed. Also, the minister spoke verrrrry quickly, yet you never got the impression that he was bored or not into what he was saying. My father later expressed that he wished he had slowed down, but I told Dad that the quickness of it was all part of the Vegas Wedding Thing. I thought it was lots of fun.

With This Ring…

I have to wrap this up for now to go get ready for my own husband’s concert. He’s playing tonight (very late!) and he'd be upset if I didn't go work "the family business" (aka Selling Merchandise.)

G'night!

Coming Up…Tournament of Kings and Walking the Strip

simbarel · 09-08-2004, 09:28 PM

Oh, and you hair chickens...I can totally relate. I used to be that way until I got my hair cut back in 1997 or so and I kept it that way for a few years until I met Wally and he expressed how much he really liked long hair. I tried...I tried so hard...but with hair like mine it's best to keep it short, and I already had the foresight of knowing that it would look ok. Not really that brave at all, really!

GoofyMom · 09-08-2004, 09:58 PM

Yay! They're married! Looking forward to reading about eating with your hands at the dinner theatre.

**DopeyGirl** · 09-08-2004, 10:13 PM

You're keeping me in STITCHES!!! You're just too freakin' funny, Rachel!!! That Nick Nolte thing a ways back was genius . . . I showed that part to my DH and he was laughing for quite a while!!!

Also, you mentioned Dragon's Descent at Funtown Splashtown USA? Been there, done that . . . cried the whole time . . . won't do anything like it again!!! (We used to live in Brunswick, until a year ago.) I will probably get forced into getting on ToT, which I supposedly "promised" to ride with DH in March . . . I crossed my fingers though!!!

Sounds like the wedding wasn't so bad . . . look forward to hearing all about the rest of the evening!!!

luvnwdwgal · 09-09-2004, 12:27 AM

Looking forward to more Rachel!!!

**chezp** · 09-09-2004, 01:52 AM

What an awesome installment - and what beautiful photos. Lisa looked just perfect in what she wore and it seems like she and John were made for each other. What a lovely story and so well told. Thanks for sharing.

BritDisFan · 09-09-2004, 03:53 AM

Rachel your hair looks fab

. The wedding sounded really nice and Lisa and John looked lovely.

Karen

**Colexis Mom** · 09-09-2004, 07:17 AM

Another great update Rachel

I think that was a wonderful wedding, and how great that you got to spend some time with M!

Hurry back with more

Crackers · 09-09-2004, 07:50 AM

I am loving this. Though coming up on my third trip to vegas, I always love hearing new things.

PhillyPooh · 09-09-2004, 11:39 AM

Thank you so much for doing this trip report. It is great. My best friend and I went to Las Vegas last May for the first time. We stayed at Mandalay Bay which is real close to Excaliber. Looking forward to the rest. The bride and groom make a very handsome couple.