Marriage wows: When celebs tie the knot InStyle

Several decades later, long after a major blackout hit New York City, I still vividly remember a news story from that beloved elementary-school staple, the Weekly Reader.

The story went something like this: A little boy - call him Tommy - was walking home from music practice. Along the way, he picked up a stick and idly gave a utility pole a whack with it.

Coincidentally, at that moment Greater New York and a good swath of the Eastern Seaboard were plunged into darkness by a power substation mishap. Tommy was convinced he had created epic chaos.

The lofty heights of maturity allow us to laugh at childhood's self-absorption. But the truth is, that egocentric urge never leaves us altogether and can return during watershed events with a vengeance.

And that's why "The Fourth Annual Celebrity Weddings: InStyle" caught my eye.

Airing tonight from 8 to 9 on ABC, "Celebrity Weddings" is the kind of fluff TV critics turn their noses up at in order to concentrate on pithier fare - say, Nova's documentary on "The Vikings," broadcasting tomorrow at 8 on KCTS-TV.

Now, "The Vikings" clearly cried out for attention. It was bound to be visually magnificent and well-reported, not to mention pertinent to some Seattleites.

However, I have hit one of those watersheds in which Perfect Gowns! Sexy Shoes! Stunning Rings! Star Bridesmaids! call out more powerfully than a 26th season of mind-altering television.

Marriage is a pharmacopia of mind-altering everything. It's as if your brain's cartography is drastically remapped the day after the proposal, leaving behind a large continent marked "Wedding" and a bunch of insignificant island specks labeled "Job," "Pay Rent" and "Interest in Others."

Furthermore - confessions being the order of the day - InStyle magazine is a pet vice. Its unalloyed concentration on pretty things comes as something of a relief after the literary pretenses of Vanity Fair and the sheer density of The Nation.

So, notebook in hand, I popped in the "Celebrity Weddings" tape to see what helpful hints could be gleaned from the forces of InStyle. The Royal Air Force preparing its mission to Dresden never had as much concentration.

Although InStyle magazine focuses on twenty- to thirtysomething women, it has adapted to TV's demographic requirements with a broader span of pairings. Black, white, Latino, punky, pregnant, post-menopausal, those with kids, renewing their vows or trying again - the powerful message of "Celebrity Weddings" is that anybody getting married is entitled to a good time.

Well, the second most powerful message. InStyle didn't get to be a merchandising juggernaut by concentrating on humble backyard ceremonies and playful touches, unless the back yard in this case belongs to Raquel Welch and the playful touch is her stack of engagement rings totaling seven carats.

That isn't to say certain elements cannot be replicated on a humbler scale by you and me. Anyone can have a something-borrowed rosary sewn into the hem of her gown, though it may not be of antique crystal like the one Marisol Maldonado has for her wedding to Matchbox 20 lead singer Rob Thomas.

In fact, "Celebrity Weddings" has a core genius to it. The producers have selected not the most ostentatious affairs - Celine Dion and Rene Angelil being the consciously bizarre exception - but those at the careful intersection of splashiness and sincerity.

The humanity of the occasion also gets through, from Thomas' description of his wedding day as "untainted goodness" to Lela Rochon's praise of fiance Antoine Fuqua as the "first man who was man enough to be my man."

All this is as it should be. Most unexpectedly, "Celebrity Weddings" successfully enfolds its audience in that veil of great expectations we would all do well to revisit from time to time. Joy and foolishness get equal billing - a reassurance to those of us in the early throes of displaying both.

Kay McFadden's TV column runs Mondays and Fridays in Scene. She can be reached at 206-382-8888, or at kmcfadden@seattletimes.com.