Referral Library Loves to Help Couples Tying Knot

Just recently, the staff at Wedding Dreams Library was asked a question it had never heard before: “Where can I rent a little boy to be a ring bearer for my wedding? I really want one, and I have no one to ask.” (Answer below.)

The free referral library has been in business for 12 years and has helped 17,000 couples fill service or product requests for their special day. Staff members thought they had heard them all, what with appeals for a wedding party of wild animals bedecked with floral wreaths, and for a Halloween-themed wedding party garbed in monster costumes and tied with chains as it clanked down the aisle in a smoke-filled room.

These accouterments--and many more--are covered in the more than 70 categories of services in the referral library. You can get information on everything from preserving the bridal bouquet to bagpipe players. Couples receive a portfolio filled with ideas on the ceremony, reception locations and honeymoon planning. Etiquette and setting a budget are always high on the list for those who are overwhelmed by the whole thing, says owner Millie Annenberg.

“It’s a $40-billion industry,” says Annenberg, who claims to be the Ralph Nader of the wedding world, trying to warn unsuspecting couples of scams.

The bargain here is that no matter how many trips the bride and groom make to the library, there’s never a charge and they don’t even need an appointment. In the adjacent bridal salon, the prices are quite reasonable, with wedding gowns ranging from $500 to $700 and bridesmaids’ dresses $120 to $220. Last-minute steaming of gowns and dresses--for which many salons charge $50 to $65--is another free service.

As for the ring bearer, Annenberg claims it is poor etiquette to have anyone in the wedding party who is not a friend or relative of the bride or groom, so this was one request not filled.

Wedding Dreams, 20969 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills. Library: (818) 587-3440. Store: (818) 587-3443.

Weekend Supersale: Through March 13, there are some specials at Woodland Hills Camera that will cut the regular prices by a good measure. Compact Olympus binoculars are down to $55 from $99, and Mead 230 telescopes start at $119 instead of $199. You can cover that upcoming wedding with a new Canon video camera with a color viewfinder and stabilizer for $369.95, not the usual $499. 5348 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Woodland Hills. (818) 347-2220.

* Also, Edward Weston Fine Art Galleries--publishers, distributors and collectors for more than 40 years--have lost their lease and are liquidating thousands of works of art, including many limited edition lithographs, at 50% to 90% off. Picasso, Chagall, Miro, Dali, Peter Max--too many to list, many of which are framed. To insure a complete liquidation before Weston becomes a private art dealer, auctions are being scheduled for today, Saturday and Sunday and March 12, 13 and 14.

19355 Business Center Drive, Northridge. (818) 885-1044.