Weddings offer slices of reality

While New Jersey Nets forward Kris Humphries and Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler are preparing to marry reality stars, the weddings appear to be shaping up quite differently.

Humphries, who popped the question with a $2 million ring, is participating in a sure-to-be-televised spectacle of a ceremony with Kim Kardashian. The couple is taking waltz lessons for their big day with another reality star, Mark Ballas of "Dancing with the Stars."

TMZ reports Humphries is pushing the practice sessions, calling him a "perfectionist" who insists on extra training.

If only he had the same dedication to his career.

Cutler's wedding to Kristin Cavallari of "The Hills" fame looks as if it might be more on the traditional side.

While Kardashian and Humphries registered for everything from an $800 ashtray (even though neither smokes) to an $8,000 vase and a $1,250 spoon, Cutler and Cavallari are keeping it simple.

The couple's registries at Williams-Sonoma and Crate and Barrel are made up of mostly kitchen utensils and dishes, including a whisk, oven mitts and something called a sausage stuffer.

Still, Cutler can't stay out of the gossip blogs. He was spotted looking bored last week in the front row of a Miami fashion show as Cavallari walked the runway in a bikini made of shards of blue glass.

Cutler appeared uninterested in the action going on in front of him, much like he did while sitting on the sideline after begging out of the NFC title game against Green Bay.

■ THANKS, PAL -- Minnesota Twins third baseman Danny Valencia hosted Cleveland Indians closer Chris Perez at his home this week as their teams played a four-game series at Target Field.

The two have known each other since they were 17 and lived together for two years at the University of Miami.

Valencia also was in Perez's wedding, though he didn't extend his hospitality to the field. He hit a two-run single off Perez in the ninth inning to lift the Twins to a 2-1 win over the Indians on Tuesday night.

Perez wasn't impressed with the blooper to left field.

"You can't be too happy about that hit," Perez told The Associated Press. "I'll take that swing every time. It just fell in there."

He added Valencia would be the one paying for dinner after what transpired on the field.

Valencia said he was going to make Perez watch the highlight over and over when they returned to his house later in the evening. If he asks his guest to toss him a beer, he probably should expect Perez to deliver it high and tight.

■ INNER PIECE -- The visitors' locker room at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., was converted into private daytime quarters for the Dalai Lama during his 10-day visit to the nation's capital, according to CTV.

His Holiness spent much of his visit at the arena performing the Buddhist ritual of Kalachakra.

Organizers had hoped to use the more luxurious home locker room of the Wizards but could not be certain all the guns belonging to Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton had been removed when the guards left the team.

COMPILED BY ADAM HILL
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL