FROM 'I WANT' TO 'I DO'.(Home furnishings has significant piece of wedding services industry business)

HFN: The Weekly Newspaper for the Home Furnishing Network, March, 2003 by Musselman, Faye

It sounds like a new reality show: You have 16 months to spend $120 billion. That's how long today's average couples will be engaged, and how much they will spend on their wedding and setting-up-housekeeping expenses. Home furnishings alone account for $13.4 billion of the tab, according to the Conde Nast Bridal Group's wedding survey.

"Couples are in a serious spending frenzy. This is a very concentrated time when they have a license to spend and create a home for themselves," said Antonia van der Meer, editor in chief of Modern Bride magazine.

While the number of weddings -- 2.3 million annually -- has not changed significantly in 20 years, almost everything about the traditional registry has. For one thing, everybody is doing it: 99 percent of...