VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: Weddings highlight Vegas heart exhibit

Monday, Feb. 17, 2003 | 9:05 a.m.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez did not get married, as rumored, in Las Vegas on Valentine's Day.

But the wedding chapels on the Strip were busier than ever.

Seems that hundreds of servicemen and women stationed at Nellis Air Force Base have been tying the knot in anticipation of being shipped overseas in preparation for a U.S. military strike against Iraq.

"It has been wonderfully sweet, and terribly sad at the same time," Charolette Richards, longtime owner of the Little White Wedding Chapel, told VegasBeat.

Her Las Vegas Boulevard chapel is where celebrities ranging from Michael Jordan, Ricki Lake and Stone Cold Steve Austin have tied the knot. Bruce Willis and Demi Moore were also married at Richards' place.

"We have had easily a few hundred military people in here over the last few weeks," Richards said. "I don't charge them for the chapel. The government won't let me enlist -- but I had to do something, since I can't serve my country the way they can."

The chapel rental fee is usually $55.

Many other Las Vegas chapels have been busy with weddings recently

"There is a whole lot of lovin' going on here," said a man who identified himself only as Elvis, who performs marriage ceremonies at the Silver Bell Wedding Chapel.

The Silver Bell is where Don Johnson and Melanie Griffth made it legal.

"It is sad when the uniformed personnel come in, because everyone knows what is hanging over them. But they are all going to come back safe and sound."

Meanwhile several servicemen celebrated their last night in this country before heading overseas Thursday at the interactive dinner show "Ba Da Bing" at Sazio inside The Orleans.

Teddy Davey, who plays Frankie Marone in the show, has a brother, Mark Davey, who is in the Army Task Force.

Mark Davey and nine of his colleagues came to Las Vegas just after training exercises were completed in the California desert.

"We were treated like kings," Davey said. "We were revered and humbled. It's so awesome that the people we protect embraced us -- it's not very often that that happens."

True romance

Julia Roberts and husband Danny Moder had a romantic Valentine's Day dinner at Prime on Friday. They held hands and laughed for about two hours. Afterward they exited Bellagio at the north valet -- and hailed a cab.

They were later spotted at Green Valley Ranch Station Casino, making her the third "Ocean's Eleven" star to hit the Henderson hot spot over the past several days. George Clooney and Brad Pitt were recently there on successive weekends. All three were reportedly looking at the property as a potential locale for "Ocean's 12," the anticipated sequel to their 2000 remake of the classic 1960 Rat Pack vehicle.

Holy castaway!

The best Valentine's Day pairing we came across was Adam West and Dawn Wells -- aka Batman and Mary Ann.

The unlikely duo performed together Friday night in Wells' hometown of Reno. The dinner show at the Golden Phoenix was a fund-raiser for the charity Project Solutions.

The couple also worked together on the upcoming CBS movie "Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt." She produces and he stars in the flick, in which the Batmobile is stolen from a museum and the Dynamic Duo -- West and Burt Ward -- try to track it down.

French licks

Busy week for the players in the "X" show at the Aladdin.

The comic relief in the adult revue, Emmy winner John Padon and Las Vegas comedian Mark Saccone, were tailed last week by a camera crew. HBO is doing a documentary about comedians who are successful and funny, but not sitcom-famous.

"X" producers Angela Sampras and Bobby Boling were in Los Angeles last weekend. Saturday morning they broke toast, er, bread with Gene Simmons and that night hung with Uma Thurman at the new club FourtyDeuce.

Finally, performers Dejah Juarez, Michelle Thibodeaux and Roberta Lorincz shot an episode of Rita Rudner's syndicated advice show, "Ask Rita." They also taught Rudner some dance moves.

Presidential pardon

For an ex-president with a Nobel Peace Prize in his pocket, Jimmy Carter is a pretty humble guy.

As VegasBeat first reported, Carter was in Las Vegas over the weekend. After attending a party at Phyllis McGuire's (not Patty McGuire's, as VegasBeat erroneously reported) home Friday night, he and his wife, Rosalyn, son and daughter-in-law Jack and Elizabeth and cousin Jeannine Carter went to see Jeannine's husband, David Osborne, play at Cafe Lago at Caesars Palace.

After the show a waitress presented Carter with a $60 tab for the five glasses of wine the party had sipped during the show.

Without missing a beat, Carter whipped out his American Express card to settle the bill.

It was like a scene from those old commercials: "You may not recognize my face ..." The young waitress had no idea who her famous customer was. In her defense, she was probably still in diapers when Carter was in the White House.

"Jimmy is pretty low-key about things -- he would never call attention to himself," Osborne told VegasBeat.

Osborne then took the group to The Colosseum to meet one of his Caesars colleagues, Celine Dion, who was doing some late-night prep work for her March 25 opening.

VegasBits

Tough work, but someone has to do it. Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil and "Weakest Link" host George Grey were at Jaguars over the weekend scouting talent for "Girls, Girls, Girls!" an upcoming Showtime special where Neil and friends chose the world's sexiest woman. Neil and Zee Batal are producing ...

What's On has decided to settle a lawsuit filed against the magazine by entertainer Tony Sacca. It had struck a deal where Sacca would show commercials for the magazine on his "Entertainment Las Vegas Style" show and the magazine would give him ad space. But it didn't, and he sued. "They realized I was right -- but there are no hard feelings," Sacca said ...

Tip of the toque to Picasso cook Joshua Bianchi and Kelly Mader, the executive chef at Marche Bacchus. They became engaged last week. Now that's going to be a home where people will be fighting to be dinner guests ...