Simple weddings: Get me to the courthouse on time

In L.A. County, civil wedding ceremonies performed in government buildings were up 17% in 2008 over 2007. Nationally, the number of couples marrying in civil, rather than religious, ceremonies in the first quarter of this year increased by 60% over the same period last year. according to Shane McMurray, CEO and founder of the wedding research firm the Wedding Report. "The increase in [civil] weddings really just says that people are quickening the ceremony process," said McMurray, who is based in Tucson. "Those types of ceremonies are certainly on the increase and I would have to say it has a lot to do with the economy."

So-called courthouse weddings have become so popular that Anja Winikka, editor of the Knot, is in the process of creating an entire section for them on the popular wedding-planning website. DailyCandy, the hip online destination for things to do, buy and see, launched a Weddings edition last week, and ideas for city hall weddings are beginning to get some play. Among the candy served up to the site's readers recently: The suggestion that couples getting married at New York's new City Hall chapel have their friends wait outside in a fleet of pedicabs to whisk them away to an after-party.

According to Dannielle Kyrillos, editor at large for DailyCandy, the pedicab idea is "fun, it's eco, it's resourceful and it's memorable, and those are all at the very fore of every bride's mind these days."

Or groom's.

Cutting back after job loss

"I was just laid off a couple weeks ago, but that wasn't going to stop me from getting married," said Robert Perea, who until late March worked for an aerospace manufacturer in Camarillo.

Dressed in a crisp gray suit, his brown eyes ringed with chic Armani glasses, Perea was holding the hand of his fiancee, Dorjpagam Gankhuyag, outside the Beverly Hills courthouse on a recent Thursday morning.

"We were planning to do something bigger, but the economy right now makes it kind of difficult," said Perea, 34. "We wanted to get married no matter what, so we decided to do it this way and then hold off on having a bigger wedding maybe later on."

Gankhuyag, 32, had picked up her lacy white dress and jacket the night before at the Sherman Oaks Galleria. Their wedding pictures and video were to be shot by family members. Perea planned to edit the video footage himself and make his own DVD.