Including personal style at wedding all in the

Oakland Tribune, Jan 29, 2004 by Jura Koncius, Washington Post

IF spring and summer are high season for weddings, winter is a whirlwind of wedding planning. A new book, "The Perfect Wedding Details" (Harper Resource, $29.95), appears at exactly the right moment for those in the midst of obsessing about bridal bouquets and rehearsal dinners.

Written by Maria McBride-Mellinger, an editor at Bride's magazine, the book specializes in ideas for adding small, personal touches to the elaborate production number that often is the modern wedding: step-by-step instructions for creating a carpet of petals for an open- air celebration, building a wedding cake canopy using mosquito netting and ribbons, or decorating the getaway car with a "Just Married" sign and a fringe of silver Mylar.

"I live weddings every day, that is my job," says McBride- Mellinger, who has 20 years' experience in the bridal business and has written four other books on the subject. She says she is continually impressed by how determined couples are to make the event memorable and personal.

"It's a life-affirming celebration, but it can be everything you want. There are no rules it has to conform to anymore. I have found that people are looking for ways to own their wedding so they have a more tangible connection to it."

About 44,000 weddings take place every weekend in this country, according to Conde Nast Bridal Infobank, and the average cost is $22,360, with much of that spent on the reception.

McBride-Mellinger has come up with dozens of inexpensive ideas to add to the festive spirit of the day, from the whimsical to the ultra stylish.

"To me, it doesn't matter if it's in a barn or in a back yard. You still want to pull the wedding together in a wonderful way. It's not about money but about the time you spend thinking about all the details and finding the right elements to create something wonderful."

The book shows how to design a signature cocktail, how to transform a standard-issue hotel candelabrum with grapevines and how to assemble an inexpensive summer seashell bouquet with hydrangea and beach grass.

In a twist on the good-luck tradition of throwing rice at the departing couple, the author has assembled 11 tossable alternatives such as birdseed, dried lavender, puffed hearts and fennel seeds and suggests ways to package them.

She has included details for making something her mother constructed for McBride-Mellinger's own wedding in Delaware in 1978: a garden lantern made of a wood dowel and sheets of cellophane available from photo supply stores. Her mother spent the summer making 100 of them.

"I learned more than a few things from my mom, especially the idea that life is a party and worth celebrating," says McBride-Mellinger, the oldest of 11 children.