Better Wed, Not In the Red
If only the bride and groom's nuptial arrangements would catch on and become the standard that the name of the town they wed in suggests.
Paul and Caragh Brooks got married in an orange-upholstered booth at a Taco Bell in Normal, Illinois. ''This is the way to go -- no stress,'' said the mother of the bride. The whole thing cost about $200, including the bride's $15 dress.
Just reading about this was such an antidote to having seen ''Bride Wars'' the night before, as unpleasant, unfunny and self-absorbed piece of movie misogyny as I've sat through in a long while -- two supposedly adult and competent women, a lawyer and a teacher, best friends since childhood, reduced to a corrosive catfight over their weddings.
This movie, a paean to excess and solipsism, comes out at precisely the time when such self-indulgence looks vulgar and clueless. The average American wedding costs $20,000. Nowadays you could move into a house with a down payment like that, and I think altar-bound couples may start to realize it.
The Taco Bell matrimonials, whose price tag lopped off two of those zeroes, are in perfect keeping with the spirit of ''now.'' And if I'd had to choose between being a guest at the Kate Hudson-Anne Hathaway gilded-lily-and-gilded-chairs ceremonies, and the one in the orange booth in Normal, Illinois, I'd take the fast-food ''I dos,'' which sound like it was a lot more fun -- even if I'd had to pay for my own quesadillas.
Photo: AP/Peter Kramer
