Couples are still marching down the aisle and toward the cash register, but they're spending less on their ceremonies, taking destination weddings closer to home and showing reluctance to make large expenditures.

"A lot of vendors are saying brides are cutting back. People are (planning) smaller weddings, cutting back on food; some are just waiting it out," said Shane McMurray, chief executive officer of the Wedding Report, an industry researcher based in Tucson, Ariz.

More than 600 vendors responded to the report's state of the industry survey charting trends, sales expectations and consumer spending and more.

The vendors say the wedding industry is holding steady despite the struggling economy even as couples are spending less to celebrate their unions.

An estimated 2.2 million weddings will be performed in the United States this year, according to the report released this week.

Wedding-related businesses are reporting that their sales, consumer spending and the number of marrying couples have remained relatively unchanged in August compared with July.

In fact, projected spending in 2008, at $28,704 per wedding, according to the report, is nearly identical to the $28,732 per wedding spent in 2007.

Vendors, however, see an emerging trend as couples increasingly watch their checkbooks.

"It all comes down to the budget," said Darlene Henderson, owner of the Bridal Gallery in Citrus Heights.

After a drop in sales last year, business has picked up again. "It's been very steady for us. They're just spending a little less," she said.

Meanwhile, couples are also getting more creative, said Richard Markal, director of the Sacramento-based Association for Wedding Professionals International, a wedding industry trade group. More pairs are adding honeymoon registries to traditional gift registries, asking for hotel rooms, room upgrades, scuba diving or other lessons.

For Henderson's customers, simplicity and timing seem to be the keys to holding down costs. Many of her clients are choosing outdoor weddings over more formal indoor affairs, taking advantage of natural, lower-cost settings at the beach, garden or vineyard and purchasing simpler "destination" bridal dresses.

They include Linda Voong, a 28-year-old accountant from Elk Grove in for her first fitting, a delicate, fitted bead-and-lace sleeveless gown.

Her October ceremony will be outdoors, but with 600 guests. "It's going to be a huge wedding," she said. Still, she said, "I want it to be simple – not overwhelming or too dramatic."

Henderson's business is part of a $65 billion-plus U.S. wedding market. A slight increase to 2.3 million weddings in 2009 is projected, according to the Wedding Report.

But rising business costs in August from July were cited by more than half of the vendors surveyed by the Wedding Report, and McMurray hinted at slowing momentum as 2008 comes to a close.

"Overall, the wedding industry is in good shape," his report read, but "there has been some slowing."

McMurray said he expects the industry to perform better in 2009, saying a new president, a recovering dollar and lower oil prices could all be factors.

It's unclear how gay marriages have affected 2008's bottom line, both McMurray and Markal said, though a recent UCLA study projected that same-sex marriages would pour nearly $684 million into California's economy over the next three years.

Call The Bee's Darrell Smith, (916) 321-1040.