by David Valley
I was driving back to L.A. from Palm Springs with my fiancée, Kim, to get started on establishing our new quarters. Both Kim and I own condos which we will put up for sale while we start looking for a larger one suited to our living together. We want to find one in or near Marina del Rey so we can be close to Hobby and Sue’s yacht home. We were still on the I-10 heading west when Sue said, “We’ve kicked around some ideas about when we should get married, but you didn’t have a lot to say, Joe.
What do you think?”
“I’m flexible, but agree it should be fairly soon.”
“And what do you mean by ‘fairly soon’”
“Oh, I’m thinking in the next month or two.”
Kim nodded her approval.
“Hobby suggested the four of us getting married aboard Lazybuns, but I’m not crazy about that, I mean on the yacht … I’m all for a double ceremony, though.”
“Yes, I feel the same way. I liked Sue’s idea of going to an exotic place like Paris to get married, but then our friends couldn’t attend. Your idea of Las Vegas is fine, but don’t take me to a drive-through chapel,” she added with a laugh.
“Oh, no. I believe the major hotels have chapels, and I’d expect some are pretty nice. Check it out on the internet.”
“I’ll look it up on my iPad while you concentrate on the driving.”
While Kim was busy fingering her iPad, I was thinking about Vegas and how Hobby and I might combine our weddings with the WSOP, as I had discussed with him. I knew it got started late May and ran for about six weeks. I wasn’t sure I wanted to sign up for the championship event, but there are sixty or so other events too. I had taken a brief look at the schedule on my computer. The preliminary event which caught my eye was the no-limit hold ‘em, six seat tournament with a $1,500 buy-in. The guy that won that event last year got about a half-million bucks. Not too shabby.
“Joe, I checked weddings at some of the big hotels; Wynn’s caught my eye. They have many different packages from about $1,000 to $25,000. The one I like is about $10,000, but if we split it two ways, that wouldn’t be bad. It includes...”
“Okay, you’ve sold me. Why don’t you discuss it with Sue?”
Kim wasted no time in calling Sue. I could tell from the conversation the ladies had already been thinking about a Vegas wedding with frills. Kim said goodbye to Sue, and to me, “This is great. She’s been checking them out and likes Wynn’s too; she’ll talk to Hobby about it. I think she can sell him.”
“I’m sure she can,” I added gratuitously. I had just pulled into Kim’s condo parking area when my cell phone rang. I recognized the number.
“What’s up, Hobby?”
“You may know more than I do, but apparently our ladies have decided they would like to get hitched at the Wynn in Vegas. It’s alright with me. Are you on board?”
“Yeah, I guess I am. Kim said they’d like to check it out first, maybe next week. We should be finished up here by Wednesday.”
“That’s good. I could come back to L.A. and we could fly over in my plane.”
“No, don’t bother. We’ll take a flight from LAX and meet you there, Thursday afternoon. How’s that?”
“That’s fine, Joe. You know, I’m hoping we can plan the wedding to coincide with the WSOP. I’m thinking of one or two of the prelims and maybe the championship event. We could probably spend a month there. My buddy Jimmy Rush offered his condo at a fair price since he’ll be in Europe. It’s big enough for all of us. Shall I take it?”
“It might be a good idea. Maybe we can check it out when we’re in Vegas next week.”
Kim and I listed our condos and found a new larger condo overlooking the marina. It was nice and roomy with three bedrooms so I could have one for my office and Kim could have a spare room. We were waiting there for the realtor to give her a check for the down payment while Kim was enjoying the view. “Look, Joe, I think I can see Hobby’s yacht.”
“You’re right. That’s it. How cool is that? We’ll have to get a telescope and tell Hobby and Sue we can spy on them.”
“No, let’s get a telescope and not tell them,” Kim said with a wink.
“Good idea.” I like a wily woman.
Now in Vegas we were checking in at Wynn’s and Kim said, “I’ll use the house phone to see if Sue and Hobby are here.” As I was picking up my key, she nodded and said. “After we get settled, we’ll meet at their suite.”
You would think we were long-lost friends by the way we greeted each other. The thoughts of our upcoming weddings created a very special excitement that Hobby was ready to toast with some excellent bubbly. Later, I suggested, “Why don’t you gals go check out the wedding facilities while Hobby and I check out the poker situation?”
“Oh no you don’t,” Sue said strongly, “We’ll all go together to check it out and plan our wedding ceremony.”
There was no possibility of debating this issue, so we went along. I had no idea it could be so complicated, so many details, da-da-dada- da, but the girls really got into it as Hobby and I just nodded like a couple of bobble-head dolls. I whispered to Hobby, “Let’s go along with it today and have a nice dinner and show tonight. Tomorrow the Wynn has a tournament that starts at noon.”
“Ah, wonderful, poker again. I can hardly wait.”
Write to author David Valley at: dvalley1@san.rr.com
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