WEDDING SCHOOL BELLS

She first laid eyes on him on "Project Runway" and couldn't look away -- except, well, she had to, because her Hot Pocket was burning in the microwave.

Shortly thereafter, she spied him again, this time in front of the Hot Pocket rack at Sam's Club, and she knew he was the One.

They went to the Tropical Smoothie Cafe. There was a first kiss (in his mom's car). Two weeks into the whirlwind romance, he proposed in the middle of a tour of the Hot Pocket factory. On Tuesday, they got "married" at Vegas Weddings, a downtown Las Vegas wedding chapel.

OK. Not really. Something this goofy couldn't possibly be true, right?

The happy "couple" consisted of Alejandra Toledo and Mitchell Deas, two students in the Academy for Hospitality and Tourism at Valley High School, near Eastern Avenue and Vegas Valley Drive. Their mock nuptials, complete with fake back story, were the culmination of a semester project on event planning, a first for the program and a rich educational experience for students hoping to make a career in Las Vegas' tourism marketplace.

"The students that want to go into this field, they're going to figure out how much work it takes," said Paul Borin, director of the hospitality magnet program. "I think it's absolutely essential. They're getting their feet in the door early."

The students are in two classes. One focused on planning the event, including selecting a location, arranging for pictures and transportation, planning a reception and decorating, even researching civil and religious requirements for marriage.

The other class focused on technology, including building a wedding Web site and creating a commemorative slide show.

The class roles now switch.

"The little things that take planning and take money, they get to experience that," said Ann Marie Perone, one of the teachers involved. "They even planned a honeymoon."

"You're not going to let them take that, are you?" quipped Linda Freeman of Vegas Weddings.

"Not unless I'm going with them," Perone said.

Her classes have planned events in the past but never brought one to fruition, she said. There's a lot of student interest in event planning experience, especially wedding planning, and she hopes it will become a fixed option at the school.

"This is what we need in our schools," Perone said. "It's practical."

While the number of marriage licenses issued in Clark County has been declining the past few years, weddings are considered important to the tourism economy. Four percent of visitors in 2007 were here for a wedding, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, with a nongaming economic impact of $875 million.

Freeman said it's hard to find people ready to step into the industry.

"This isn't an industry that people gear themselves to formally," she said. "Folks that move into the area and they might see a posting for a wedding coordinator, they don't necessarily come into it with the skills mix."

Those include organization, multitasking and problem-solving experience, all done with personality.

"I think it's an awesome opportunity that they're giving the kids," Freeman said. "They can gear themselves into the classes that they would benefit from, and the industry will benefit as well.

"There are people here who are attempting to get into these fields, and they don't have any experience or understanding of what it takes to do the job."

Even those with wedding experience elsewhere have much to learn. A busy day somewhere else might be several weddings; at chapels here, the daily tally can be 25 to 50 ceremonies.

Toledo said the experience was an eye-opener.

"We found out how much work, like really, really, really hard work -- and I'm stressing 'really,' " Toledo said. "Wedding planning specifically is a lot of work."

But she and Deas appreciated the exposure to the industry and the direction the academy provides, which includes courses in hotel and gaming management, accounting, marketing and finance.

"I think it's a good way to experience other things," Deas said. "When you first go into high school, some people don't really have in mind what they want to be."

When Toledo and Deas were pronounced "man and wife," the officiant -- also a student -- told Deas he could "now turn and hug your bride."

A wise move, because they're really just friends, and they each have a real-life significant other.

"They're really OK with it," Deas insisted, since everyone involved is a student in the academy. "They know it's for a project. They understand what we have to do."

Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435.