THE GOODS : First Comes Love, Then Comes the Web Site

If you have a bit of spare time while at the giant Consumer Electronics Show that begins here today, you might want to run down the street from the convention center and get married.

But no need to make an uninformed decision--there are numerous sites on the World Wide Web devoted to the subject of weddings. You can get plenty of information on traditional, ethnic and New Age nuptials, and even get the lowdown on the famed Vegas wedding chapels.

On its site, the Little Church of the West plays the historical card by proudly proclaiming that it has hosted the celebrity marriages of Zsa Zsa Gabor and George Saunders, Betty Grable and Harry James and most recently, Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere (it fails to mention that all these marriages ended in divorce court).

The Chapel of Love, also on the Strip, headlines its page with a quote from a travel writer who called it “probably the most tasteful wedding chapel in Las Vegas.” Meanwhile, the Las Vegas Wedding Gardens, with its “actual waterfall,” has to settle for being “the most unique chapel in Las Vegas.”

For information on a more traditional ceremony and setting, a good place to start is Weddings Online (https://weddings-online.com/), which provides links to a wide variety of sites, many of which seem to exist only to sell you products and services.

But a few of these sites are not only truly helpful, they’re also educational. One of the most informative is African Wedding Guide (https://www.melanet.com/melanet/wedding/wed.html), sponsored by Melanet, an online group that maintains several sites about the African American community.

The wedding guide starts off with a discussion by psychologists Darlene and Derek Hopson, who encourage a couple to consider the use of African traditions and symbols, but caution that they should not feel pressured to do so. “As black folks, we are not monolithic,” the Hopsons write. “. . . We must respect each other’s differences and not be critical, accusatory or attacking.”

The site goes on to give practical advice on the costs of African wedding outfits, musicians and foods. It also explains wedding symbols (wheat for fertility, a shield for the sanctity of the home), includes some sample programs and translates “The Lord’s Prayer” into Swahili.

Gay weddings are also represented on the Web, even though they are not, at this point, recognized as having legal status in the United States. The information offered ranges from the political to the campy.

On one page (https://www.nether.net/rod/html/sub/marriage/books.html) are reports on the battle in Hawaii, where the state Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional a law banning same-sex marriages. In the wake of that decision, a state commission has recommended gay couples be allowed to legally marry in Hawaii or at least be given “domestic partnership” legal status.

On the lighter side is Maui Magical Weddings (https://www.maui.net/randm/mmw.html/), which bills itself as “Hawaii’s first lesbian and gay wedding service” and advertises numerous package deals. There are several pictures included on the site, including one of two men in a beach setting wearing only leis and skimpy bathing suits as they take their vows.

Not exactly the “most tasteful” attire for a wedding, but with the cavernous Las Vegas Convention Center about to open its doors to thousands of exhibits--each, it seems, with its own digital sound system pumped up loud--that island beach setting looks like a far better spot for a wedding than the self-proclaimed Entertainment Capital of the World.

* Cyburbia’s e-mail address is David.Colker@latimes.com.