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D.C. schools chief Michelle Rhee and Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson have abruptly changed their wedding from a large celebration to a smaller ceremony with just family and close friends. "Michelle and I have decided to change the date and location of our wedding ... and plan to have a private ceremony for our families in the near future. We apologize for any inconveniences we may have caused," Johnson said in a statement Tuesday, reports the Sacramento Bee.

The Sept. 4 wedding had been scheduled for Sacramento's St. John's Lutheran Church, followed by an "evening of dining and dancing" at the home of Sacramento developer Angelo Tsakopoulos. The plans raised eyebrows as a possible conflict of interest for Johnson because the well-connected Tsakopoulos has frequent business dealings with the city. Could that be the reason for the sudden shift? Johnson did not mention Tsakopoulos, saying only in an e-mail to invited guests that the former plans were "not what we had intended."

The couple, he said, underestimated the intensity of interest in the wedding and had not properly managed that aspect of the event. (Seriously? Chelsea Clinton managed to pull off her big day, despite a smattering of media coverage.) But Johnson and Rhee said their wedding "ended up not being what we wanted." Nor, it would seem, what was wanted by all the guests who received invitations weeks ago and made plans to travel for the wedding celebration. It's unclear how many of the invited guests have been uninvited.

The couple said their "hope is to have a special and personal event that is respectful of the sanctity of marriage."

Lynda Erkiletian, not laughing. (Stephen J. Boitano/Bravo/NBCUPB via AP Images)

Things are getting a little too real for Lynda Erkiletian, one of the "Real Housewives of D.C."

A lawyer for the modeling agency owner sent letters to Comedy Central, Gawker and local blogger Carol Joynt last week threatening to sue for defamation after they wickedly riffed on Erkiletian's boast that "we cater to ambassadors and diplomats."

"There wasn't a story written that didn't mention her comment with a little wink-wink, nudge-nudge," Joynt told us Tuesday. She posted her take on the show ("a train wreck"), which included a risque aside about the models followed by "just kidding." Within 24 hours, Joynt received a stern warning from attorney Mark Lane asking her to remove the posting -- which she did -- and asking for an apology, which she also made online.

Lane said he also contacted Comedy Central, which has removed its offending language from its Web site, and Gawker (which called Erkiletian "one of the biggest, high-class" ... er, purveyors of something other than models in Washington), which refused, saying the surreal satiric commentary by Richard Lawson was "meant to be a joke."

"I don't get the humor there," Lane told us. "I don't see how anyone could think it is a joke." Really? Here's Lawson on the D.C. housewives: "All of them are wretched horse monsters from the planet Horsebreath, a place that is dark and cold and full of terror." Nonetheless, Lane said his client was "astonished" by the online treatment and still intends to pursue legal action.

Erkiletian attempted to clarify her remarks in a posting on her Bravo blog: "OK everyone, calm down, and shame on YOU! We are in the nation's capital, an international city, home to Ambassadors, diplomats and dignitaries from all over the world. ... Embassies host cultural and philanthropic events that often include an element of fashion, which is how we 'cater to ambassadors and diplomats.'"

Oh, come on, people! Doesn't everybody know by now that reality shows bear little relation to ... reality?

Joynt said Bravo rookies have no concept of how innocuous comments are manipulated to create ratings drama. "I don't think amateurs can ever appreciate the power of the producer and the edit. The only time you control your image on television is when it is live."

Marvin Bush, 2006. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

Seller: Marvin and Margaret Bush
Asking price: $2.9 million
Details: Another member of the Bush family is moving on. George W. Bush's low-profile baby brother and his wife just listed their Beaux-Arts Colonial (four bedrooms, five baths, sunroom, guesthouse) in Alexandria near Belle Haven Country Club. Headed to Texas? Nah. Sources tell us the couple, who have two grown children, are downsizing to a Rosslyn condo and will be spending more time in their Florida house.

Karl Rove, 2010. (AP Photo/Savannah Morning News, John Carrington)

Karl Rove, chatting up George Will during the Nationals game Monday night. The former White House deputy chief of staff stopped by the columnist/baseball fanatic's seat to say hello, then stuck around to talk while the Cubs creamed the Nats 9-1. Both men hit the road before the seventh inning.

David Cameron and his wife Samantha two days before the birth of their daughter. (Ben Birchall/AFP/Getty Images)

• Born: A daughter to British Prime Minister David Cameron, 43, and his wife, Samantha, 39, Tuesday. The baby, due next month, made an early appearance while the family was vacationing in southern England. "It all happened very, very quickly," David Cameron told reporters outside the hospital. He said that mother and baby are doing well, and his wife is already studying local names: "It was very exciting having a baby in Cornwall, so we'll have to have something Cornish." The newest Downing Street baby joins siblings Nancy, 6, and Arthur, 4; their older brother, Ivan, died last year.

• Divorcing: Cheryl Hines and her husband of eight years, producer-manager Paul Young. The actress, who co-stars with Larry David on "Curb Your Enthusiasm," filed papers in L.A. last month. The couple have a 6-year-old daughter.

Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky on their wedding day. (Barbara Kinney/Getty Images)

There's low-key. And then there's ... well, hate to say it: boring.

The Obama family vacation on Martha's Vineyard -- their second summer on the Massachusetts island -- is shaping up to be a snoozer for all the other Vineyard VIPs. The president popped up to buy books Friday with his daughters and play golf, but the first family has spent each and every evening cloistered in their temporary digs, Blue Heron Farm in Chilmark.

So far, there have been no dinners with Vernon Jordan, nor with Sen. John Kerry, who has a place close by in Nantucket. POTUS passed on a Friday night dance party with Larry David and Bill Murray and skipped a Saturday fundraiser for Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, hosted by senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett and with guests such as BET's Debra Lee and Harvard professors Charles Ogletree and Henry Louis Gates Jr., reports the Boston Globe.

Yawn. Suddenly, it looks like the blingy Hamptons might be the place to be.

Bill Clinton has been hanging around Sag Harbor, so A-listers descended on the Hamptons in New York on Sunday for his 64th birthday bash. The party was held at the home of longtime aide Doug Band and co-hosted by Hillary Rodham Clinton; guests included Paul McCartney, Katie Couric, Jimmy Buffett, Vera Wang, Christie Brinkley and Matt Lauer, reports the New York Post. On Clinton's actual birthday, Aug. 19, McCartney called him to sing (what else?) "When I'm Sixty-Four."

And since the Clintons are stealing all the limelight this summer, expect further hoopla when new bride Chelsea makes her first post-wedding public appearance Saturday, along with her proud dad, in Bridgehampton for a 60-minute indoor bike ride (yes, spinning for charity!) to benefit the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.

Update: Looks like the president finally got cabin fever. On Monday night he and the first lady braved a nasty storm---gale force winds and heavy rain---for a two-hour dinner with Chicago friends Eric and Cheryl Whitaker and Valerie Jarrett at the Sweet Life Cafe, a French-American restaurant in Oak Bluffs.

Art Smith on "Top Chef." (David Giesbrecht/Bravo/NBCUPB via AP Images)

Back in July, celebrity chef Art Smith and his fiancé, artist Jesus Salgueiro, offered companies a chance to sponsor guest gift bags at their wedding. That meant donating 350 ritzy goodies, plus paying a fee -- with a portion of the proceeds going to Common Threads, Smith's favorite charity. All for a good cause, right?

Smith and Salgueiro tied the knot Saturday; so how much did their nuptials rake in? "So far, we've received $21,800," says Linda Novick O'Keefe, the charity's executive director. "We're expecting more to come in the next few days, even weeks."

The guest list included Moby (who DJ'ed), Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, interior designer Nate Berkus. ... but not Smith's best-bud and former employer, Oprah. According to O'Keefe, the talk-show guru spent the weekend at the funeral for the mother of her partner, Stedman Graham.

2004 "American Idol" winner Fantasia Barrino. (Sherwood/NBC NewsWire via AP)

• "America Idol" winner Fantasia Barrino says her overdose two weeks ago was a suicide attempt. "I just wanted out," she told VH1. "I knew exactly what I was doing. You can't accidentally take a whole bottle of pills." Barrino, 26, said she was overwhelmed with personal problems, including an affair with a married man. And not that we're cynical or anything, but her third album comes out this week.

• Bristol Palin, 19, is mending her broken heart on the speaker's circuit -- at $14,000 a pop. The teen mom will be paid to speak in Louisville next month at a benefit for Lifehouse, a home for single mothers, reports the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Kevin Costner, 2010. (AP/Susan Walsh)

Actor/director/oil-spill-cleanup-machine magnate Kevin Costner lunching with friends at Occidental Grill & Seafood on Monday. Ordered the crab soup and halibut; his mission in the District is as yet unclear.

Tiger Woods, 2010. ( ImagStuart Franklin/Getty Images)

Divorced: Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren Monday in Florida. The golf great, 34, and his wife of six years, 30, finalized their split in Bay County Circuit Court in Panama City, reports People.

"We are sad that our marriage is over and we wish each other the very best for the future," the couple said in a statement released by Nordegren's law firm. "While we are no longer married, we are the parents of two wonderful children and their happiness has been, and will always be, of paramount importance to both of us." The couple has two children, Sam Alexis, 3, and Charlie Axel, 1.

Yeah, but the big question---how much money did she get----remains a mystery. Details of the settlement were not disclosed, although sources tell the magazine a prenuptial agreement was renegotiated after Wood's sex scandal became public. Various media reports say Nordegren will receive at least $100 million.

Welcome back to "The Real Housewives of D.C." -- the episode in which the 'Wives promote their friends' and loved ones' projects, not just their own, before a national audience -- and our weekly recap, analysis and fact-checking. But first, a note about last week's episode, where we failed to note the first key example of local business back-scratching, because it was just a little too subtle...