We arrive in Vegas on Sunday, November 16. After checking-in to the Alladin Hotel, we spend the day roaming around the shops. We buy our future child a teddy bear and an ornament dated with the words “our adoption journey begins’ to commemorate the day. We head back to the room where a tray full of homemade cookies and brownies are waiting for us compliments of Steve and Elena. We indulge in the snacks then collapse into a sugar coma for several hours. Our limo was picking us up at about 7:30 so we get dressed wait outside the hotel for our limo. The enormity of what was happening started settling in. Marriage, babies, etc. We are giddy, nervous and excited. The driver escorts us to the town hall to pick up our marriage license. There was only one couple in front of us. We make our way to the chapel. In a matter of minutes we are married and on our way to the Stratosphere Restaurant for our first meal as husband and wife. I carry my small bouquet of flowers around and people stop and stare to look at yet another couple who just eloped in Vegas. It was a fun exhilarating night. The restaurant had spectacular views and we toasted our marriage.
The next few days were a blast. I stared at my beautiful rings and we cracked jokes about our new status as ‘married’. Once we returned home, the wedding rings would be removed and we would revert to being ‘engaged’ until our April wedding. But while in Vegas, we were free to be ‘husband and wife.’
Besides a handful of friends that were involved with the adoption process, our families still do not know about our Vegas Wedding. It remains our dirty little secret.
