k ■ <' %r. J* ^_ Melissa McReynolds Daily Nebraskan Millie Becker, owner of Creative Weddings & Floral Designs, creates “wedding cakes designed to your wishes.” Iomance touches flowers and cakes Details mark trend toward elegance I Sara Bauder ff Reporter Elegance and extravagance seem >e what couples are looking for in dding cakes and flowers. Millie Becker, designer and owner Creative Weddings & Floral De ns, 70th and Vine streets, said the id is toward anything that is more reme and more extravagant. An important part of that trend is or. Becker said that red and black the most popular colors for wed “ The red and black have just taken :r this summer,” she said. “Peach I teal arc still popular, too.” Becker said that while some brides 1 plan a pink or blue wedding, se colors have been seen so often t brides have been shying away m them. With the changes in color comes a mge in the size of the wedding ;e. Becker said couples often order re cake than the number of recep fi guests would require. “They want the cake to be for >w,” Becker said. “They want them >e as big as they can gel them, with kinds of elaborate details.” vSomcof those details include stair ys, bridges, fountains, flowers with I ights wound between them, molded sugar bells, hand-tied satin bows and icing rosebuds, Becker said. Although the ideas brides have for their cakes do not usually throw Becker off, she said she was sur prised by one recent request to in corporate caged birds in a cake’s design. Becker has never worked caged birds into a cake design be fore, but said she thinks it will work. Rather than the traditional bride and-groom figurines for cake tops, many couples want the more “cutesy” Precious Moments cake tops or imitations of them. These often depict a child-like couple in wedding attire, Becker said. Some couples wan*, flowers on top of their cakes instead of figu rines, but Becker said that trend is not predominant among her cus tomers. Susie Coppock, owner of Susie’s Floral Shoppe, 1401 N. 66 St., said tradition is back in wedding flow ers. She said brides are looking for elegant, cascading bouquets of white gardenias, roses or stephanotis. Although some brides want to hold a colorful bouquet, Coppock said the color often looks too splashy and draws the eye away from the bride and to the bouquet. “A soft color in the flowers gives a glow to the bride and projects a total look,” she said. With the bride holding a white bouquet, most attendants carry bright colors in their flowers, Coppock said. Red, emerald green, teal, peach and black-and-white are the most popular colors for weddings, and flower col ors are just as vivid. “The brides will hold the white and then let their colors stand out with the attendants,” she said. Flowers for the groom should match the bride’s bouquet, according to Coppock. The largest boutonniere should be worn by the groom, with ushers and fathers having smaller ones to coordinate with the wedding col ors, she said. Rowers for the ceremony and reception sites vary depending on the location and budget of the w edding. “A lot depends on the church,” Coppock said. “If it’s large, we usu ally start with an altar bouquet and a tall arrangement that can be taken to the reception site.” Coppock said one way couples can save money on flowers is to make sure flowers can be used at both the ceremony and reception. A long, low arrangement often ~See CAKES on 11 ■ Attitude Continued from Page 2 sue higher educations beyond the undergraduate level may have a slightly higher divorce rate. But generally, Johnson said, people with a college degree have a lower divorce rate be cause their jobs are less stress ful and more satisfying In addi tion, college-educated couples often are exposed to more people and more situations. But Johnson said the divorce rate will remain high. Johnson attributes this to the fact that Americans won’t stay married unless they can find personal happiness. Most people place more im portance (Mi the married rela tionship than they do on friends, family, etc. Couples need to realize be fore they marry that the romance and sexual attraction will de cline. ' Once people realize that the relationship is going to change during the course of the mcr riage, Johnson said they can work through their problems. WE'RE FIGHTING FOR NOUR LIFE £ American Heart Association v Nebraska Affiliate oo-o-OO'G OO-OO-O-O-p-p ; '7-m • > • .V>. t %/*■" 1 the • Chop » / Shop i , •, . | >4 The Wedding .; / ! t ./l;-' of v/N \ (S,-. Your Dreams /( ? K\ 0 I” • - i *' l \ • The Chop Shop can give you the look you want ; • whether it's your wedding day or just an ordinary ( j day. Call for an appointment or walk in. ; • • Clock Tower Plaza 489-8352 70th & A ... , L. 0 ^.« ,r. • Z - b-O-o- 1.0.0.O.O Love doesn’t conquer; real happiness stems from common decency Few have the chance to see their parents marry. At the tender age of 20, I, along with my sister and her husband, six brothers, five of whom are married, and all their children, watched my folks pledge a life of love. It was a nice Catholic service; the church was filled with friends and members of the congregation. They promised to love each other, for richer or poorer, in good times and bad, in sickness and in health ... Lisa Donovan All these requirements for the sake of love. All this for love. Love. Many things have been written about love. “Love conquers all,” and “Love knows no bounds,” and, of course, the famous song by the J. Geils Band, “Love Stinks.” Love and commitment, barefoot and pregnant, tied down to one per son for the rest of your natural life, washing his underwear, him washing my underwear (even worse), him wearing my underwear. Too poor to buy underwear. One can contemplate many things at those nice, long, Catholic services. Anyway, Mom looked at my wrinkled and balding 66-year-old father standing next to her. “Ido.” Dad looked at Mom, silting there in her wheelchair, worn from 19 years of battling multiple sclerosis and 3£ years of motherhood. “Ido.” Only 45 minutes until church was out. It was the first time I saw Mom as a fellow woman, not the person who I made cry for dining ‘n’ dashing at the local country club. This was not the woman who said you’ll never find a man if you eat like that. She was right. And she had found a person who made her happy. The priest went into a fire and brimstone spiel about how people in this day and age don’t know what it means to be committed. That money and material goods h. ve gotten in the way of real happiness. My parents were a symbol to all couples of love and endurance... and happiness. The happiness of having eight children. The happiness of watching your eldest son graduate from col lege. The happiness of being called by the high school attendance office because “your son wasn’t in home room again today.” This is all a part of love, the priest rambled on. A few of my friends think it’s strange and even sad when I bring up the fact that I don’t believe in love. It is not some bitter conclusion that is derived from several failed pseudo relationships. Or perhaps it is. I would like to think that one of the most profound authors of the 20th century, Kurt Vonnegut, helped me mold my belief about love in his book, “Slapstick.” At least it’s a good pickup line. “I have had some experiences with love, or think 1 have, anyway, al See DONOVAN on 10 yTg'g~BTnrowrroirrnrrrinnrs I EXCELLENT-AFFORDABLE 3 O Wedding Photography I BLOMGREN & BARGER ? PHOTOGRAPHY \ 141 S. 9th 435-3553 \ luLft Q.fl-SLgJLgJLg- Let s celebrate 20 \ ears uith Bj i savings up to } 20% OFF on all bridal sows and headpieces. Wm\ ) bridesmaid'borders and many more ^ specials throughout the store. [ 72nd & Cass { (345 N. 72nd) \ r^-2^- 554-8522