DOWN WITH THE BRIDAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX!

The cost of the average (average!) wedding has fallen (fallen!) to just over $20,000. That's more than $800 an hour for a 24-hour day. Is this rude to mention when we're talking about someone's most (most?) important day?

Get real.

That's the attitude of "Something New," an "independent wedding fair" alternative to the wedding mega-fairs that are impersonal, high-pressure, unimaginative and unnecessarily opulent. If you need a visual cue, consider the flier adorned with a bride gesturing with her ring finger in a manner often associated with a more centralized digit. And that would symbolize something blue?

"Something New" springs from the Independent Wedding Association, a group of Twin Cities wedding vendors who meet slightly edgier criteria than your usual pearls-and-petals practitioners. From its website: "We embrace vendors who do things out of the ordinary, and brides and grooms who aren't content to have their day determined by the wedding industry's current whims." (Did someone say butterfly release?)

Its first indie fair is Feb. 6 at the FIVE Event Center, 2917 Bryant Av. S. in Minneapolis. Advance tickets are $10 ($15 at the door). Details are at www.independentwedding.com.

Founder Becca Dilley, a wedding photographer who refers to "industrialized weddings," said many fairs charge vendors high participation fees, which then are passed on to clients. Dilley said "Something New" fees are deliberately low to keep the pressure tactics at the same level.

After all, the vows don't say, "Till debt do us part."

KIM ODE