CHICAGO _ The wedding-industrial complex has ensured that ostentatious displays of one-upmanship have become a routine part of getting hitched _ even for the middle class.
So how does a self-respecting billionaire assert his clout on his daughter's big day?
For food and beverage distribution mogul Christopher Reyes, the answer was: ask Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to close a major downtown street.
Reyes, 62 _ said by Forbes magazine to be the 206th richest American, with a net worth of $2.9 billion _ wrote to Emanuel on Aug. 27, 2015, with the subject line "street closure for my daughter's wedding." The email was among hundreds released by the mayor's attorney in recent days as part of a settlement of a lawsuit with the Better Government Association.
Reyes, who has a home in Lake Forest and has been a major donor to Emanuel and to Illinois Republicans, told the mayor his request through the normal channels to close down Monroe Street twice for a total of two and a half hours on a Saturday night in September 2015 had been denied.
He noted that he was "hoping" the street could be closed "for our guests' passage from the Art Institute of Chicago to the reception across Monroe."
Alas, Emanuel did not respond to the email, leaving Reyes, his daughter and their guests to slum it by crossing the street like ordinary mortals. The mayor's spokesman, Adam Collins, said there was "no action taken regarding the street closure. Just because someone makes a request doesn't mean anything comes of it."
Reyes, who serves on the boards of the Lurie Children's Hospital, the Steppenwolf Theater, the Lyric Opera and other nonprofits about town, did not respond to requests for comment this week.
