Since You Asked — A Bachelor Party with a Twist

This post is the story of how my brother and my friends pulled off one of the all-time epic Vegas pranks.

In May 2013, I was 42 years old and getting married. (Yes, it was a little later in life than most people — but she was worth the wait!)

My brother, Stephen, and seven other guys planned a great bachelor-party weekend in Vegas, including a day of drinking at the Golden Nugget pool, the dueling pianos at New York-New York, and a Saturday-night surprise main event.

They knew I didn’t want any bachelor-party clichés, i.e., no strippers. So they took the opposite tack: “You drag us out to Vegas for your bachelor party and won’t let us misbehave at all? Fine! We’ll give you the reverse!”

Then, they presented me with a pink sash, a tiara, and nine front-row tickets to Celine Dion.

My brother explained, “First, we’re going to the Voodoo Lounge at the top of the Rio for drinks. Then you’re wearing your sash and tiara when we sit ten feet from Celine Dion.”

I was stunned. It was a great dig at me, but look at the price on those tickets! Nearly $2,500 apiece!

“Jeez, guys, that was a lot of money to spend just to zing me for a couple hours.”

“Hey,” they said. “We would’ve spent that kind of money on whatever we ended up doing for your party.”

Also, to be honest, while I appreciated the humor, it was my bachelor party and Céline Dion wasn’t exactly my first choice for entertainment. The guys were into it, though, so I went along and enjoyed the goof of it all.

After all the obligatory photos of me all dressed up in my accoutrements, even I was saying, “Guys, if we don’t leave soon, we’ll end up missing the start of the concert.”

“Even better if we do! We’ll march you right down to the front row in your sash and tiara after the show’s already started and the whole place will be staring at you!”

Finally, we piled into a couple of cabs and headed to the Rio. All the while, I was texting my fiancée, telling her what was in store for me. She tried to be encouraging: “Well, you know a few of her songs. And it’s a classic Vegas thing to do. Try to have fun.”

Little did I know that at the same time, she was texting Stephen, who was sitting right next to me in the cab. “Dave’s totally buying it!”

At the Rio on the way to the Voodoo elevator, and my friend Joel whispered to me, “I kind of got roped into this. I thought it was way too much money and I didn’t want to fly to Vegas just to sit at a Celine Dion show.”

“Let’s ditch ’em!” I said. “After we have drinks, you and I will make a run for it and play some blackjack instead.”

But when we got to the top of the Rio, the surprise was revealed. The whole thing was a gag. There were no Celine Dion tickets. Stephen is incredibly creative and clever; he not only printed up very genuine-looking tickets, but he left a little Easter egg in the fine print: a nod to April Fool’s Day.

The main event for the evening turned out to be a terrific steak dinner at the Voodoo Steakhouse (I highly recommend the 32 oz. tomahawk chop), followed by drinks on the outdoor patio of Voodoo Lounge. A memorable night to cap off a very memorable weekend.

Goes to show you, no matter how many times you’ve been to Vegas, it can always surprise you. You just need the right crew and a willingness to venture outside your comfort zone a bit.

So the next time you’re in Vegas and one of your buddies suggests something that seems lame, give it a shot. You might end up getting a great story out of it!