Wedding Cake

Back in 1991, when Loretta Huslin was about to get married for the first time, she wanted a ceremony that would be quiet and romantic yet a bit offbeat. She wanted a Friday night wedding. Her family, her friends, even her fiance were appalled. Nobody got married on a weekday. So, as it turned out, neither did Loretta Huslin. Last December, when she married for the second time, she got the Friday wedding she wanted - and, to her relief, "everybody loved the idea," said Huslin, 29, a graphic designer from Hainesport, N.J. But the icing on the wedding cake was the cost.

"Them, too?" That's the disbelieving question I asked when Marilyn told me about some friends of ours whose marriage is falling apart. I don't know why I'm surprised; lately it seems like every couple we know is splitting up. My wife seems to take it in stride, better able than I to accept that these things happen. I guess I'm naive. Guess I've listened to too many love songs. Not that I can still hear them as I did when I was young. There is an edge of lamentation now that I didn't catch back then, a scrim of bitter sharpening the sweet.

Nothing brings back memories like an old wedding picture. When William Cox wants to reminisce, he has hundreds of photos to choose from. An industrial photographer, Cox spent many a Saturday afternoon at his side job - shooting weddings - before his retirement. Since suffering a stroke last year, his memory has been a little fuzzy. But when he looks at all those brides and grooms, decked out in frothy wedding outfits and smiling shyly at the camera, the memories start flooding back.

The festivities began with a solemn reading by a doughty Dixie matron of nuptial dos and don'ts, circa 1863: "A pig running in front of the bride is a sign of evil. " "Old shoes should be thrown at the bride to chase away misfortune. " "The bride should never bake her own cake. . . . " Not that anyone stood on ceremony at this event, a freewheeling retro-wedding where the bride wore green, the groom cut the cake with a saber, and half the guests dragged muskets across enemy lines just to attend.

Roger Moore, addressing the first World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploi-tation of Children yesterday in Stockholm, told of how a pedophile came on to him at a Cub Scouts trip when he was 8. "He sort of said I had nice knees, which I thought was a bit peculiar," the actor said. "I left the tent and I was sitting on a branch, and after a couple of minutes he came out and he made another suggestive remark about my anatomy. . . . He made a grab and I just rolled backwards over the branch and ran off. " Speaking as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, Moore, 68, said the incident influenced his decision to work for children's rights.

Henry Haller witnessed a significant period of American - and world - history from a unique perspective. For starters, his 22 years as White House executive chef gave him a longer view of events there than any of the five presidents - Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan - he served. Beyond that, in addition to satisfying five unique presidential palates, the Swiss-born chef survived five very different and demanding first ladies. That alone could fuel a talk show or two if the chef were any less a gentleman.

For 20 years, Mikki Viereck sang at weddings. Mothers always cried to her. "You sing, 'Daddy's Little Girl,' " they would sob. "Why don't you have a song for us?" You raise a boy, nurse him, diaper him, throw his muddy clothes in the washer, but when he weds, the mother of the groom becomes a wedding wallflower. This was a cruel fact that Mikki Viereck had come to know. Daddy got to dance with his little girl, but what about Mom? There was no wedding song for mothers and sons.

The wedding was going to be casual - a pig roast at the bride's Oxford home, with sunflowers. But on Sept. 23, Tamara Muenter will wed Craig Curry, a Texan, in a formal, Victorian affair at Wilmington's Bancroft Mansion with plenty of frills and lace, and a catered dinner for 120. The mansion, built in 1867 and situated behind the Delaware Art Museum, is the site of the second annual 1995 Designer Show Home, which opens tomorrow with the...

The Rev. Robert Collier had met Rufus and Katrina only two days before, but he knew the men in blue were not on the wedding guest list. "Excuse me, Reverend," Sgt. John Brooks said to Collier as he walked toward the altar of the Zion Baptist Church. "But I have a warrant for his (Rufus') arrest. You'll have to continue this another time. " With that, the cops marched the fugitive down the aisle without his bride - and stepped into a political controversy nastier than year-old wedding cake.

For those who remain saddened by the "Baby Richard" case, here is some advice. Think of it simply as a dispute over a piece of personal property and you might feel better. Let us imagine that about four or five years ago a cool swinger named Otto and one of his girlfriends break up. Otto moves out and leaves behind a putter. It doesn't seem important because Otto isn't a golfer. The former girlfriend gave him the putter as a gift. Several weeks later, Otto runs into the abandoned girlfriend and says: "Hello, cupcake, I been wondering, where's that putter of mine?"