(Click on the photo for more)

(Click on the photo for more)

Page2Live sold his “package” to tennis star Venus Williams (above).

Let me explain.

The elder of the Williams sisters attended a ladies’ luncheon for Easter Seals at The Gardens Mall March 11 in Palm Beach Gardens. And organizers had Page2Live walk through the champagne-sipping, well-heeled crowd, then on a fashion runway, with a silver tray holding the “package” for sale.

– Click here for photos of celebrities visiting SoFla

On my tray of donated items: Tory Burch sandals; Ilori sunglasses; and a two-night stay at the Singer Island Beach Resort.

Venus, who lives at the nearby BallenIsles with sister Serena, bought the goodies for $1,500!

– Click here for a bird’s eye view of the sisters’ home

Pretty boy Jay Cashmere (left), the new WFLX-Channel 29 news anchor, booty-shook and shimmied down the runway to the music of Jennifer Lopez‘ Let’s Get Loud.

With about 200 women cheering him on while the bidding climbed to $1,500 for peep-toed  Salvatore Ferragamo pumps, dinner for two at Pistache in West Palm Beach and tickets to a show at the Kravis. Sold, to local lady Heidi Ruewah!

More fund-raisers:

– The Palm Beach Heart Ball

– Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s first ever Palm Beach gala

– Jay Leno, Allen West shine at Boys & Girls Club gala

(Click on the Mike Jachles photo for the full gallery)

WPTV-Channel 5 weatherman James Wieland said “I do” to Palm Beach Post advertising rep Jennifer Dalla Riva (above) at St. Ann Catholic Church Saturday in West Palm Beach.

– Click here  for Mike Jachles’ photo gallery of the nuptials

Many of the NBC affiliate’s personalities, including anchorman Jay Cashmere, meteorologists Steve Weagle and Glenn Glazer (below), as well as anchor/repoters Marci Gonzalez and Tania Rogers, were among the 170 well-wishers.

Unfortunately Wieland, 38, couldn’t order up a beautiful spring day for his big day as the wedding party ducked intermittent rain throughout the day, which ended with a dinner and dance at the Doubletree in Palm Beach Gardens. The cake? A four-tier rhinestone-covered number.

The bride, 39, wore a strapless, full-bottomed silk dress.

The lovebirds, who met at a party in 2008 and were engaged a year later, are headed to St. Lucia for their honeymoon.

Cashmere (left), Weagle, groom Wieland and Glazer carry bride Dalla Riva Saturday (Mike Jachles/Special to Page2Live)

For more:

– WPTV weatherman James Wieland engaged

Evan Cohen (Palm Beach Post photo)

WPTV-Channel 5 is letting the contracts of its two sportscasters, Ryan Lieber and Jay Gilmore, lapse and will outsource its sports news to West Palm Beach sports-talk radio station WEFL-760 am, the ESPN affiliate that covers Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast.

Starting Jan. 1, 760 afternoon drive-time star Evan Cohen will anchor the sports segments on Channel 5’s 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts. 760’s Jason Pugh, a former Florida Atlantic University defensive lineman and Palm Beach Post sports department part-timer, will anchor weekend TV sportscasts. That’s in addition to their ESPN radio duties.

Ryan Lieber (Courtesy Channel 5)

“It’s a win-win situation for us and Channel 5,” said Steve Politziner, a part-owner of 760. “Members of our staff have been guests on the Channel 5’s extended sports Sunday nights for almost six years. We’ve always had a strong relationship with Channel 5.”

Politziner said 760 will be totally in charge of its segments and is providing three employees — Cohen, Pugh and producer Herb Uzzi — to replace Gilmore and Lieber. With the added body, he said, viewers will get more complete and far-reaching reports. Channel 5 gets the ESPN logo and news it doesn’t have to produce.

Jay Gilmore (Courtesy Channel 5)

Neither Gilmore, who’s been at the station for three years, nor Lieber, a nine-year veteran, returned calls.

A Channel 5 insider tells me the move isn’t as much a cost-cutting measure as it is a ploy to attract Cohen. No detail about the value or length of the contract is available.

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Jim Sitton, staring at one of his awards for a story titled "Dangerously Dim" (Courtesy b-roll.net)

The WPTV-Channel 5 newsroom is going through the toughest day in its 55-year history.

Tragedy struck the station’s best-known, award-winning photographer, Jim Sitton, on what should have been one of the happiest times of the year.

A gunman related to Sitton’s wife, Muriel, entered their Jupiter home and allegedly shot six people gathered for the Thanksgiving feast. Four have died, including Sitton’s 6-year-old daughter, Makayla. The suspect, Michael Merhige, remains at large.

“Since Makayla was born, Jim has been taking pictures of her every single day to chronicle how she was developing and growing,” said a station insider who asked to remain anonymous. “You’d turn on the computer used for editing tapes, and there’d be pictures of Makayla all over the screen. It’s like everyone at the station knew her.”

Sitton, 48, has been at the NBC affiliate for about 15 years, after a short stint at WPBF-Channel 25. Sitton mostly worked investigative assignments with the station’s Contact 5 reporters, Shannon Cake and Kelley Dunn. Both women spent some time with Sitton at the home after the 10 p.m. shooting.

“He’s the most amazing friend,” Cake said, her voice breaking with emotion. “I just can’t talk about it.”

For more about the tragedy, look below or click (Read more…)

James Wieland! Such a romantic guy!

The WPTV-Channel 5 weatherman just got engaged to advertising rep Jennifer Dalla Riva.

Wieland and his Chosen One

And boy did he dream up one Blue Lagoon-themed scheme to make sure his betrothed wouldn’t say no.

Wieland, 37, first bought a conch shell. He then stuffed it with clay, and set a 3-carat sparkler into the clay.

Then, as he and his blonde sweetie frolicked in waist-deep water in Atlantic near radio talker Rush Limbaugh’s Palm Beach home, he half-buried the conch in sand.

“At one point, I thought I lost the shell,” he said.

But the future bride, 38, was digging nonchalantly nearby, and suddenly yelled out: “I found the motherload of shells!”

Wieland actually snapped a picture as Dalla Riva found the ring, which probably will cost him a couple brownie points.

Bingo!

But he had a dozen red roses hidden in the car, just in case she needed another push.

She didn’t.

The lovebirds are looking for a beachside wedding venue. It’ll be the bride’s second marriage, Wieland’s first.

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