From Fashions to Reluctant Fiances at Expo

Instead of watching the Packers and Cowboys vie for a Super Bowl spot Sunday, potential groom Tim Jordan found himself at the Ventura County Wedding Expo taking in a bridal fashion show.

Talk about an early test for marital bliss.

“I’m actually tied down to this chair,” the Santa Barbara resident said.

Jordan was in the minority Sunday at the semiannual event held at the Ventura County Fairgrounds.

Hundreds of brides-to-be, their mothers and sisters--and, yes, a few prospective grooms--comparison-shopped from among 50 vendors selling everything from formal wear to balloons in a 20,000-square-foot exhibit hall. With peak wedding months looming, it’s time to decide if the bride will arrive at church in the family Ford or a Rolls-Royce, or if reception guests should be served pasta or prime rib.

“We’re getting new ideas all the time,” local resident Marianne Barrinuevo said. “Everything is all in one place.”

But whether the virtual wedding supermarket made planning for that would-be perfect day any easier was debatable. For some, the choices were overwhelming.

“I’m in shock,” said Barbara Carbone of Ventura. “I don’t know where to start.”

Perhaps it’s just as well that daughter Jennifer’s wedding date isn’t until February 1997.

“We want to do this now so we won’t be stressed at the last minute,” she said. “We want to be happy and relaxed.”

Others came to see what the happy, relaxed and fashionably dressed bride is wearing in 1996.

Gold, hunter green, navy blue, and black and white are in, said Amy Vega and Elaine Torres of Bridal Traditions of Oxnard. Dusty mauve and baby blue are out. Sleeveless silk wedding gowns and bridesmaid’s dresses are in. Frilly, lacy satins are out.

“The Bo Peep look--it’s gone,” Torres said. “Elegance is in.”

But for Jordan, elegance wasn’t on his mind so much as the football score. But his wedding day probably won’t clash with any big games.

“She’s a football fan too,” he said of girlfriend Blanca Hernandez.