Ashley Baptiste and Gus Calabrese decided to do more than just attend this year’s IMEX America. The two planners, who met 14 years ago and are partners in their own company, Conferences Connect, decided to get married here.
The seed was planted a few months ago when they realized it would be difficult to get everyone together for a wedding with families spread across the country. But this year they will come to Las Vegas for business three times. Why not just get married there?
“We love IMEX and all the people we love are at IMEX. So we decided to put it out there and see what happens.
The Sunday before the show, they received their marriage certificate at Las Vegas City Hall. They’re still not 100% sure they’ll do it, but the license is good for one year.
Then Baptiste realized that she had brought a white top, but she had nothing to wear. “So we spent most of Sunday looking for a white dress,” she said. “I really didn’t expect it to be so hard to find.”
They are ready.
The couple started mentioning the idea to friends at IMEX on Smart Monday, hoping to find someone who could officiate so they could have the ceremony on-site at the show. But no one.
“I think maybe people didn’t take us 100 percent seriously in the beginning,” Baptiste said.
Go to Xiaobai Wedding Church to get married
When they started chatting with a bartender in New York, they told them the story of the Little White Wedding Chapel.
On the big day, after the show, they headed to church while their friends took a break before the Rendezvous event, which started at 10 p.m. There were 5,000 people, and we knew 500 people who were going to be there,” Baptiste said. “This is one of our favorite parties, there’s something magical about being right in the middle of the Strip.
“It’s fun to attend Rendezvous with the families we choose. That’s the best,” she said.
At that point, they couldn’t call family to share the news because it was so late on the East Coast. “The next morning, I woke up at 6 a.m., texted my family and posted it online so people could see it before they saw all the other posts from the night before where people had tagged us,” Culbre said Si said.
On the last day of IMEX, they returned to the exhibition. Their friends in the song department wrote and performed a song for the newlyweds. Here’s the thing:
“Wherever life takes you, wherever you go, this is your main event, your greatest show.
Whenever you need help, whenever you need love, sometimes life isn’t fair.
But now you have Gusley (Gus + Ashley). This is the Dream Team. It will always be there.
