The end of the holiday season marks the onset of the spring wedding season for shops on the four-block Reading Bridal District and in Covington at a bridal zone along Madison Avenue near Seventh and West Pike streets.

"Many if not most engagements occur over Christmas, so January is always going to be a big month," said Patti Farrell, manager of Cincinnati Bride, a bridal salon and bridesmaid boutique at Benson Street and Jefferson Avenue in Reading.

"People want to see what's out there."

While many American retail sectors have struggled through recessions, spending slowdowns and multinational competitors, stores that focus on the wedding industry have found immunity from those trends. The wedding business is still big money.

"Couples tying the knot in America will spend $20 billion on wedding ceremonies and receptions, another $8 billion to $10 billion on honeymoons," said Shirit Kronzon, lecturer at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Then there's the $20 billion Kronzon estimates their guests spend on wedding presents.

And with a new 'tween generation of American consumers poised on the brink of matrimony, this sector expects continuing revenue traction in tiaras and tuxedoes, sweeping gowns and fragrant gardenias.

Since its founding in the mid-1980s, the Reading bridal district has evolved into a thriving sector of 38 businesses, including florists and cake makers.

There are also formalwear providers, photographers, disc jockeys and musicians.

And a $20,000 grant late last year from business incubator Hamilton County Development Co. is aimed at helping these businesses grow, according to Reading economic development director Linda Fitzgerald.

"We hope to determine exactly how many revenues are generated from this district each year," she said.

Directing even more brides-to-be - and certainly a would-be groom or two - to this retail zone is one thrust of the grant, which will help the district market itself.

Staving off competition from a burgeoning wedding district in Covington is another.

Norm Wasserman, an Amberley Village resident and managing partner of Cincinnati Bride, which has 12 employees, opened the store in 1998 because he saw shoppers increasingly avoiding mall stores for the small-town feel of a neighborhood business district.

"The trend around the country has been wedding-dress stores going into malls and then leaving the malls," he said.

"We've found Reading is centrally located, accessible to freeways, parking, and there's a big variety of stores - you can even buy wedding insurance."

MEANWHILE, IN COVINGTON...

South of the Ohio River in Covington, florist Inge Michalek and partner baker Peggy Mullenger pooled $30,000 to open Affordable Wedding Creations in May at 633 Madison Ave.

It is part of a wedding district along Madison Avenue, which includes a banquet hall, several gown showrooms and other wedding-service providers.

So far the wedding market in Covington has exceeded projections with 50 weddings since their opening and another 30 already planned for 2006.

"We expect to double the number of weddings we served last year," Michalek said. "We're counting on word-of-mouth and service."

Mothers, daughters, sisters and friends will drive hundreds of miles to shop for wedding services.

"Northern Indiana, Central Kentucky, Northern Ohio, West Virginia, even Minnesota - Reading has people driving in from all over," Farrell said.

In a shorter drive, bride-to-be Maureen Desmond, 24, came to Reading from Villa Hills.

"Everything was in one place. I came here because I'd heard of people having a bad experience with a national chain," Desmond said during a recent shopping trip with her mother, sister and family friend.

"But right now we're hungry and are going to find some place to eat. I can try the wedding gown on after that."

SPECIALTY SELLS

A block down West Benson Street in Reading, Melissa Ann Ridler, owner of Colourful Soles, was taking an order to dye a pair of shoes for Shirl Tritsch of Colerain Township, who will be in a friend's wedding in June.

She needed to make sure her shoes would match her dress, in a lavender tone called Victorian Lilac, and Ridler had located the perfect color for her.

Ridler bought the shop in September, redecorated it and now awaits the 2006 bridal season.

"We'll do 80 percent of our business in the first six months," she said. "And from what I've heard we expect a better-than-average season in 2006."

E-mail jeckberg@enquirer.com

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Coming this weekend:

What: Wendy's Bridal and Cincinnati Bride & Groom Planner bridal show.

When: Saturday and Sunday. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Where: Cinergy Center, downtown Cincinnati.

Cost: $10.

Exhibitors: More than 150 Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky wedding businesses.

More information and tickets: http://www.cincybride.com/ or (513) 984-1708.

If you plan on paying for a wedding any time soon, you'd better first get a home equity loan or perhaps a part-time job because these days weddings are not cheap.

Here's a quick breakdown of expenses, projected by the staff at Cincinnati Bride, a full-service bridal salon with nationally advertised brands of designer wedding and bridesmaid dresses:

Bridal attire and wedding party attire, including the flower girl - $2,000-$2,500.

Tuxedoes - $600.

Flowers for the church, wedding party and table at the reception hall - $1,500.

For an average wedding reception of 175 to 200 people, expect to pay $50 per person for food and drinks: about $10,000.

Limo - $600

Music DJ/live band - $700

Invitations - $300

Engagement ring and jewelry - $2,000.

Wedding cake - $500.

Honeymoon: The sky is the limit, but plan on $3,000 for a weeklong getaway.

"Add those numbers up, it's $15,000 to $20,000 in expenses with maybe $5,000 coming back as presents," said Norm Wasserman, managing partner of Cincinnati Bride.

"The point is that this is money that's generated and spent in the Cincinnati market. That's thousands of jobs."

Virtually every planned wedding has this much in common:

It's an emotional and spiritual ceremony surrounded by dollar signs.

Shirit Kronzon, lecturer at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and Andrew Ward, associate professor of psychology at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pa., are co-authors of Bargaining Bride (Career Press; 2006), a book about how to negotiate the lowest prices when planning a wedding.

Among their tips:

Meet with vendors but think of the meetings as question sessions:

"Always ask is there a better deal available, is there a discount, what specials are you offering right now?" Kronzon said.

Be sensitive to your tone and don't make any implicit threats to go elsewhere.

"Describe additional charges as puzzling and say something like 'another quote I had was considerably less,' " Ward said.

Beware of hidden charges, cake-cutting fees, corkage fees and alteration fees on a wedding gown.

"You might find a photographer who wants to tack on an extra fee for group photos," she said.

Don't bring people with you without assigning them specific roles, like playing the devil's advocate on prices.

Don't feel entrapped.

"As soon as you come into the wedding service provider environment, somebody is going to try to get you to spend more and more and more with additional food stations, larger photography package, a better gown," Ward said.

Don't forget about a ratification strategy.

"Say that you are not allowed to say yes until you check with someone else, and then say sorry they won't let me buy it at that price," Kronzon said.