Wedding no5: Faye and Chris Dabek - doing it Vegas style!

And so my gal Faye Keane became Mrs Dabek. It was definitely a wedding to remember. From the word go everything went without a hitch. I even made it safely up the aisle in my skyscraper shoes. Though believe me the pain did kick in about ten minutes in!

You should have seen Chris’s face when he saw his beautiful wife-to-be walking up to him. At first he looked nervous but as soon as they made eyes at each other, you could feel the calm wash over the both of them. In that moment everyone could see how in love they are with each other, besotted even.

Though the wedding was small what was really touching was that everyone played a key part. The mums lit the first candles, Mr Dabek did a reading, I was the maid of honour and Mr Keane obviously gave Faye away. It’s typical of Faye and Chris to make sure everyone has a role.

Prior to the ceremony Mrs Keane bet me $5 me that Chris would be the first to cry, thus reducing us all into quivering wrecks. I won because guess who was the first to crack? Mrs Keane herself. Her sobs halfway through set Mrs Dabek off. Unlike Wendie’s wedding, I managed to hold myself together. I welled up at times but it wasn’t until after the ceremony and onto the champagne reception when Faye’s dad came up to me and said, “Debbie thanks for everything,” that pushed me over the edge.

The meal at the steakhouse (in the Wynn) was amazing. I had veal for the first time. (Controversial I know!) We sat outside near the grand waterfall where halfway through the meal a giant green frog appeared on the top to the tune of Louis Armstrong’s What A Wonderful World. Now should any of you plan to visit Vegas one day, do look out for this. To this day I am still baffled as to the reasoning behind this. Maybe it’s just a very clever marketing ploy to get people talking about the Wynn. The Bellagio has its famous fountain display; the Wynn’s attempt at one-upping them is with this giant amphibian.

After dinner, the Newlyweds surprised us with a limo tour along the Strip. Swanky indeed. We even got to see the famous Welcome to Las Vegas sign which I had accepted that I would not see as it was a long way away on foot. I was indeed a very happy lady.

Americans love a good wedding and they are not shy in showing their excitement when they see a bride and groom. Everywhere Faye and Chris went, people applauded, cheered and yelled, ‘Congratulations!’ In one bar, two honeymooners from Alabama even bought them a drink. At the restaurant the applause gradually grew louder as table by table people stopped eating to congratulate them.

Faye and Chris are now back on the Wirral as Mr and Mrs. Their home reception do takes place this weekend at Tranmere Rovers Football Club. It will not rival that memorable day in Vegas but at least this time all family and friends will be present. I of course will be there once again fulfilling my MOH duties…in my pretty but painful skyscraper shoes.

ALWAYS Tell The Bride... especially if it's a Vegas wedding

Vegas weddings – love them or loathe them. To be in the ultimate microcosm of the entire world, complete with shiny lights, while reading your vows. Viva Las Vegas as The King sang. Or, think it is the tackiest idea, devoid of any romantic notion. Blame it on The King with his notorious drive-thru, shot gun wedding to Priscilla at the Little White Chapel.

Tonight’s episode of Don’t Tell The Bride is set in Las Vegas. Now I normally steer clear of such trashy TV (honestly!) but what with a certain Vegas wedding taking place in two weeks, how could I resist? The show centres on the groom who is given £12,000 to organise the perfect surprise wedding for the bride. Operative word being surprise. Yes, the bride is left entirely out of the loop. Talk about disaster.

It turns out that a Vegas wedding is the bride’s worst kind of nightmare. Did she loathe the idea! At the 11th hour it was hit and miss whether she would go ahead with it. TV being TV, she eventually walked up the aisle at The Venetian. But there was no sign of the bride’s brother and sister, the groom’s sister and their friends and extended family. Oh and the groom wore a bright, white tux. He picked the wrong dress - the bride in the end demanded a new one at a cost of £1,500. She broke down in tears at the airport when she discovered her destination. On top of all that her sister, the maid of honour, refused to go because she was that disgusted with the groom.

Admittedly, I was disappointed that the bride went ahead with it. If I were that heartbroken, angry and worst of all disappointed in someone I trusted, no way would I have boarded the plane.

Call me dark, bitter and cynical but I cannot see that couple lasting forever.

Surely the groom would have had some inkling to the kind of wedding the bride did NOT want. She wanted stately country home, a big wedding shared with all of her friends and family. He wanted Las Vegas. The groom either knew this but went ahead with his preference, taking the biggest gamble of his life by betting everything on the hope that the bride would go through with it. Or he was just a plain, simple idiot.
It was painfully addictive to watch. Is it wrong, wrong, wrong to trust someone else to organise our wedding day? Without our input...even if that person is The One? Like the old cliché, it’s not where we end up but the journey in getting there that makes it worthwhile. For a bride to be left completely out of the loop is unthinkable and of course she will be devastated. Tip for all future grooms: Do Always Tell The Bride.

This episode proved that Las Vegas weddings are not everyone’s cup of tea. Having said all this, I have no doubt that Faye and Chris’s wedding will be nothing short of fantastic. Firstly they’re on the same page, secondly Faye is in full control and everything will go to way she planned. Oh and thirdly just when I think she can’t get any more organised, today I receive a laminated official itinerary of the big day.

This couple could just be the Chosen One who will rewrite the book on how to do a Vegas wedding perfectly. Love them indeed!