Book helps couples plan wedding destination

GUILFORD, Conn. -- Many couples planning a destination wedding look for a lush Caribbean island or serene Mexican beach for their big event, but a new book called "100 Best U.S. Wedding Destinations" says you don't have to leave the country to tie the knot in a beautiful setting.

Author Kathryn Gabriel Loving's list ranges from Pearson's Pond Bed & Breakfast in Juneau, Alaska, where proprietor Diane Pearson can arrange a wedding ceremony on a nearby glacier, to Tavern on the Green, in Manhattan's Central Park. There's also the famed Thorncrown Chapel, a 48-foot-tall light-filled church with a view of the Ozarks in Eureka Springs, Ark.; the Luckenbach Dancehall in Texas, and the seaside Hotel del Coronado, a national historic landmark in San Diego, Calif.

Beach resorts, like the Princeville on Kaui, Hawaii, are listed, along with historic New England inns like Asticou in Maine, near Acadia National Park. Other choices range from the Chapel of Love in the Mall of America in Minnesota, conveniently located in a place where it's easy to shop for everything you'll need to get married, to the Little Chapel of the Flowers in Vegas, which the author describes as surprisingly elegant. Or, consider the Casa Rondena Winery, in Albuquerque, N.M., or the (Thomas) Edison and (Henry) Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers, Fla.

Loving's criteria for destinations included a picturesque setting; a comprehensive range of vendors, lodging and wedding-planning services; and a location that's easy to reach and that offers plenty of things for guests to do before and after the wedding party.

Besides providing details on amenities, services and costs, Loving also offers advice and rationales for taking a wedding out of town. Among her assertions is that destination weddings can actually be cheaper than a hometown bash because the number of guests typically drops and the trappings can be downsized.