Couples still strong on marriage, planning perfect weddings

Michelle A. Davidson, 34, met her husband-to-be online.

Timothy Liponis, 26, and his fiancée, Catherine Shi, 24, met at a Clark University Halloween party for graduate students: He dressed up as Korean pop star Psy, of Gangnam Style fame, and Ms. Shi was a pirate.

Lauren M. Hassett, 24, was proposed to on Christmas morning, when her fiancé, whom she first met in seventh grade, popped out from a 6-foot wrapped box and presented her with a ring hidden on a tree ornament.

Love was in the air Saturday at the Worcester Bridal Show Expo at the DCU Center. The show, which also runs 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, highlights wedding venues, photographers, florists, bakers, honeymoon destinations, wedding fashions and just about everything else a couple might want for their big day.

With all the expense — the sky is the limit on wedding budgets — and planning that goes into saying "I do," the brides and grooms who talked with a reporter still believed that marriage was the way to go when you find the right person.

"Yes, it's a paper, but there's true love behind it. So let's make it official," said Ms. Davidson, a medical assistant who lives in Worcester.

Her fiancé, who is in the Air Force, is from Quincy, so the couple is planning a wedding and reception July 28 at a destination convenient for both families, which she hopes will be the Billerica Country Club, if their visit goes smoothly.

Ms. Davidson said she hadn't really set a budget.

"We'll make it work," she said. "I think the wedding day is the big day."

Mr. Liponis said he and Ms. Shi, who live together in Worcester, love each other a lot and have shared good times and difficult times.

"We've gone through everything," he said. "I feel we have a connection that no one else can replace."

The couple is planning an Oct. 3 wedding at the Lenox Club in Lenox, near where Mr. Laponis grew up.

They will travel to China in spring for two weeks to visit Ms. Shi's family.

Ms. Shi said most of her friends in China were getting married because, unlike in the United States, it's something that's expected by age 25. Weddings are major productions, complete with masters of ceremonies narrating the walk down the aisle.

"In China, weddings are a show," she said. "This isn't going to be a show."

Mr. Liponis and Ms. Shi have set a rough budget of less than $20,000 for their wedding, which both families will help cover. The couple said they would likely pay for the honeymoon and possibly the photographer.

A former journalist with a master's degree in professional communication, Ms. Shi said, "We have pretty high standards for photographers."

Ms. Hassett, a graduate student in public affairs at Brown University in Providence, originally from Oxford, has just started the wedding planning with her sister, mother and other relatives.

She and her fiancé, a Webster native studying at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland for a master's degree in financial mathematics, are hoping for a November 2016 wedding.

Ms. Hassett said she hadn't really thought about a budget yet, but she and her fiancé have made preliminary guest lists.

Her sister and cousins have made a Pinterest board to share wedding dress, cake and gift ideas.

"It's fun because everyone's excited," Ms. Hassett said. "We're chipping away at it."

picture: sheindressau.com

Despite increasing lifestyle options, the case for marriage remains strong.

A review published recently by the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests there really is a cause-and-effect relationship between marriage and happiness. Married people were more satisfied with their lives, regardless of how happy they were before marriage, according to authors John F. Helliwell and Shawn Grover. And the happiest are those who married their best friend.

Arlene and Arthur Tatro of Spencer, a husband-and-wife justice of the peace team, said at the Expo that business was booming.

"This year it's triple what it was last year," Mr. Tatro said.

He attributed the popularity of the justice of the peace service to more couples wanting to have the wedding ceremony and reception in one place.

The state regulates basic costs for justices of the peace to officiate, at $100 for an in-town wedding and $150 for out of town, Mr. Tatro said.

But that service could last just seconds.

He and his wife usually spend eight to 10 hours to organize, handle the bureaucratic details and perform or assist in the actual civil wedding ceremony. Mr. Tatro said the average cost ends up around $375, but varies widely.

"We're very detail oriented," he said. "Our job is to take as much pressure and stress off of them (the couple) as possible."

The Tatros offer 170 different options for weddings.

Mr. Tatro recalled the most unusual wedding he performed was on horseback, in Charlton.

The trend toward all-in-one weddings was evident throughout the exhibition hall.

Yvonne Caole, sales and marketing manager at the Beechwood Hotel in Worcester, said the venue hosts an average of 40 weddings a year, drawing couples looking to have wedding, reception, rehearsal dinner and possibly post-wedding brunch and luxury overnight accommodations at one site.

"It's really the full destination event," she said.

But all-in-one doesn't mean cookie cutter.

The Bean Counter Bakery in Worcester and Shrewsbury offered samples of creative wedding concoctions, including a stacked wedding cake with an intricate covering of edible lace.

"Vintage is big," said owner Alice Lombardi of Holden and Sturbridge. "We specialize in traditional cakes with old-world charm but contemporary flair."

Ms. Lombardi said cupcakes are still popular because people liked individual servings, but 75 percent of her customers choose a more traditional cake.

Each cake is designed based on the couple's colors, flavor and style preferences and, most of all, personality.

"It's important that their cake reflects them," Ms. Lombardi said.

Ms. Lombardi, who trained as an industrial engineer and worked as a cost and productivity analyst at Worcester hospitals before turning to baking, works with a team of 40 pastry chefs now to craft the delicacies.

And for a different kind of bridal shower, there's plenty beyond the traditional games and bouquet of ribbons.

Brush-It-Off paint and sip bar in Sturbridge was offering wedding parties an evening of guided painting of wine bottles or canvas, with wine, beer or nonalcoholic refreshments.

"It's step by step," said Jessica Morgan, daughter of Brush-It-Off's owner. "You just walk away with the painting."

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