The Latest Word in Wedding Options
Thinking of getting married?
Picture yourself tying the knot on the front steps of a 92-year-old, two-story ranch house set amid the landscaped remnants of a pioneer citrus grove.
How about taking the plunge with a romantic Bavarian village as the nuptial backdrop?
Or maybe you’d like to recite your wedding vows at sea?
The historic George Key Ranch in Placentia, Old World shopping center in Huntington Beach and a chartered boat provided by The Cannery restaurant in Newport Beach are just a few of the wedding and reception location possibilities listed in the Orange County edition of “J. Williams & Sons’ Wedding Guide and Directory” ($12.95).
The 178-page reference guide lists more than 200 reception and wedding sites, in addition to offering a comprehensive directory of wedding products and services in Orange County.
“There’s a lot in the book if you want to do something different than have a wedding at the Hilton. We try to have something for everybody,” said W. Vito Lanuti, president and author of the “Wedding Guide and Directory.”
The wedding handbook debuted in February and Lanuti is currently updating information for the next issue of the Orange County edition, which is scheduled for publication in the fall.
The idea for the directory grew out of the experience Lanuti’s partner, Ken Kukuda, the former publisher of South Coast Sportfishing, had in planning his own wedding in Newport Beach two year ago.
“He found out it was difficult to get all this information,” Lanuti said. “The bottom line is he said there ought to be a book with all of this in it.”
The potential market is certainly there. More than 25,000 weddings are held in Orange County each year, according to Lanuti. And with an average of $15,000 spent on each wedding, he said efficient planning is essential.
But, Lanuti said, planning the wedding of your dreams can be a time-consuming and often frustrating experience.
“If you were to sit down and call each individual place, it would just take a long time to do that,” he said. “And you might not call every place. You’re going to get tired of calling. This way makes it very easy to look at 200 ceremony and reception facilities.”
As Lanuti sees it, there’s nothing quite like the “Wedding Guide and Directory.”
“I’d say we’re unique from the standpoint that we provide specific information on what these reception facilities offer,” said Lanuti, who spent a year gathering information for the Orange County edition. “There are lots of wedding publications around, but they have articles on flowers and rings. . . . Nobody gets down to the hard facts of the dollars and cents and that’s what we focus on.
“In this day and age you’ve got basically two people working. This is going to save them a lot of time in finding places and evaluating the places they want to go to. In addition to that, places would be evaluated that may be never considered before. Not all these places are easy to find.”
The book is divided into two sections.
The white-page section provides a comprehensive listing of locations for ceremony, reception and rehearsal dinner facilities. Included are details on room capacity, availability, food-service prices, deposit fees and special features.
The yellow page section is a directory of wedding products and services--everything from bakers, caterers and gown shops to photographers, limousines and travel agents.
The directory also offers a wedding planning timetable, which explains what arrangements need to be made in the months and weeks before the wedding. There’s even marriage license information and a list of duties for the maid of honor, best man and other wedding participants.
And for those who don’t have the time or inclination to have their wedding on a country estate in the Tustin Hills or at the oceanfront Portofino Beach Hotel in Newport Beach, Lanuti lists more than two dozen wedding chapels in Las Vegas.
“The key word behind the whole book,” he said, “is just to be very comprehensive.”
A “Wedding Guide and Directory” covering the South Bay-Long Beach-Whittier area is planned for publication in the fall and, Lanuti said, plans call for expanding throughout Southern California by the summer of 1992.
The Orange County edition of the book is available at B. Dalton Booksellers, Brentanos and Waldenbooks throughout Orange County or through the mail by calling (714) 724-1246.
Book Signing: Gregory Benford (“Beyond the Fall of Night”) will autograph his book from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at Book Carnival, 870 N. Tustin Ave., Orange.
NEA Controversy: The current National Endowment for the Arts controversy and related issues will be discussed at 8 p.m. tonight in the Huntington Beach Civic Center, 2000 Main St. Free.
Guest speakers will include video installation artist Bill Viola, who recently testified before a congressional subcommittee on the reauthorization of the NEA; Michael Hudson, vice president and general counsel for People for the American Way; and Jeffrey Chester, a political and media consultant specializing in public interest campaigns. Also: Poets Linda Waite, Thomas Rush and Anne Braeff.
The event has been organized by the Orange County Committee of the Long Beach/Orange County Coalition for the Freedom of Expression, an organization of artists, arts administrators, educators, writers, performers and concerned citizens dedicated to the preservation of diversity of thought and artistic freedom.
For more information, call (714) 960-9147.
Poets Reading: Poets Blair Allen and Maria Haeri will read at the Poets Reading meeting at 8 p.m. Saturday at Fullerton Museum Center, 301 N. Pomona Ave., Fullerton. $3.
Round Table: Donald Spoto (“Madcap: The Life of Preston Sturges”), Macdonald Harris (“Hemingway’s Suitcase”) and Bob Thomas (“Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner”) will speak at the Round Table West author-luncheon at noon July 19 at the Balboa Bay Club, 1221 W. Coast Highway, Newport Beach. $30. For reservations, call (213) 256-7977.