Wedding

Alexandra Deutsch said her groom looked "hot" on their wedding day, a compliment unlikely to be heard in the halls of the William Paca House 250 years ago. At the historic Annapolis home Saturday, Kyle Cunningham indeed looked dashing as he dramatically appeared from behind the shrubbery and escorted her down the garden lane wearing a beaver felt hat, a sea-blue silk jacket and black breeches. While every bride plans her wedding day down to the last pin in her hair, Deutsch, the curator of the Paca House, reached back to its liveliest days to create her period wedding, with perfect attention to the dress, customs and manners of the day. But their union was infused with 21st-century touches.

On June 19, in an article about a local couple featured on a Maryland Public Television program, Joel Newport was incorrectly identified. The Evening Sun regrets the error.At the wedding of Angelique A. Pefinis and Joel Newport, guest Ben Wattenberg had trouble keeping his professional cool. The wedding was too much fun. "He was so excited, he must have kissed me five times!" Ms. Pefinis-Newport says.The wedding, which took place in Baltimore in November 1990, is featured in "The First Universal Nation," tonight's episode of "Ben Wattenberg: Trends in the Nineties" on Maryland Public Television.

The Drews included something old, borrowed and blue in their wedding finery, but they avoided anything new.The Hampstead couple wore Civil War attire rented from the Costume Shoppe in Westminster."

ABOUT A MONTH before she got married, Alexis Higgins, 29, who works at a New York communications agency, was talking about the cost of weddings. She spoke not from the perspective of a bride but that of a seasoned guest and bridesmaid. Attending a wedding is not as simple as witnessing the happy couple say "I do," she mused. There are engagement toasts, bridal showers and bachelorette parties - each with their own gifts or bill to pay if you help put on the event. From the presents, to the dresses and hotels - and more gifts - Higgins has dedicated thousands of dollars to her friends' nuptials.

Weddings, whose price tags this column tracks from time to time, are being downsized in the cautious '90s.More American couples are avoiding the "royal wedding" mentality of the lavish '80s. If you take a look at the scandal sheets, the actual royal weddings didn't wind up all that &L successful anyway."The average number of wedding guests has fallen from 200 in the late 1980s to 171 this year, reflecting financial concerns and a desire to be more discriminating about individuals you include in this important event," said Barbara Tober, editor in chief of Bride's & Your New Home Magazine, formerly known as Bride's.

While some couples take a sober look at wedding costs and factor them into their overall financial plan, most do not, financial planners and wedding consultants said. How to decide on a budget that reflects what you truly value about the big day? Talk to the major players, such as immediate family members, and communicate what's most important about the event, said Sandra Bragar, a certified financial planner in San Francisco. "Whether it's a wedding, a new child or any big life event, I always try to have clients sit down and figure out the objectives before we set any budgets," Bragar said.

People responding to wedding invitations this summer should not be surprised if they're asked how they want to pay: check or charge? Engaged couples are tossing traditional registries faster than bouquets, asking for cash instead of Cuisinarts. Some lovebirds set up money registries, looking for "donations" to help defray the costs of the wedding or a mortgage, while others solicit cash for honeymoon expenses. Nader Khoury and his fiancee are pioneers in the money-for-marriage movement.

If you're planning a June wedding, May is the month for signing contracts, mailing invitations, picking up the bride's and bridesmaids' gowns, making final arrangements with the caterer, florist and reception hall, packing for the honeymoon and meeting with the photographer.In short, if you're going to change your mind, now is the time to do it.I had lunch recently with a friend who replaced "Oh Promise Me" with "Hit the Road, Jack" six years after her wedding.She admitted that she'd had real doubts about her husband-to-be a month before the Big Day, but thought it was too late to say, "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off!"

HAVANA -- The Palacio de los Matrimonios was once a casino, an elegant venue for the games of chance that made Havana fast and famous in the 1950s. The people in the palace are still gambling folk. They are brides and grooms.Every 15 minutes, the wedding roulette spins.Here are Lizette Dias and William Molinet -- she in chiffon, he in white linen -- waiting in the wedding queue. When their names are called, they ascend marble steps to pass Greco-Roman statuettes and a bouquet of plastic flowers.

The good old days are gone, boys. It's not enough anymore to pop the question, ride out the engagement, then appear at the altar all goo-goo eyed and suave in your penguin suit. The times, they are a-changin'. Just ask Scott Geesey. He's researched photographers, hired musicians and made the hotel reservations for his August wedding to Catey Galatola. "It was definitely a mutual endeavor," says Geesey, 37, a lawyer at the U.S. House of Representatives. So mutual, in fact, that Geesey broke out of the macho mold and chose the couple's china, sort of. The couple, who live in Odenton, were having trouble finding something they liked until Geesey stumbled onto the winner.