8 weddings, 4 wild days, but just one Father Guido

It makes sense, in a nonsensical sort of way, that the courtship that began in front of the Jimi Hendrix statue on Capitol Hill - the result of a personals ad titled "John Cleese and Nick Rhodes Ruined My Life" - would end in front of Father Guido Sarducci.

After all, who better to wed Laurell Haapanen to her answer to Adam Ant - British fiance Tony Lupton - than the irreverent, chain-smoking priest made famous on "Saturday Night Live" by comedian Don Novello?

That the man marrying eight couples at Bumbershoot this year is, in fact, a figment of Novello's imagination is just the frosting on this highly - 30 feet high, to be exact - unconventional wedding cake stage.

One couple will enter the ceremony on horseback. Another met through a pagan newspaper. Still another will renew their vows after meeting online and marrying last year in a no-frills courthouse ceremony.

The couples were selected from 30 applicants who wrote letters to Bumbershoot organizers asking to be married by Sarducci.

The eight ceremonies will be spread out over four days - two weddings a day - starting Friday afternoon on the International Fountain Lawn. There will be grandmas (serving punch and cake), a mariachi band (providing the soundtrack) and strangers (lots of them).

And there will be, of course, Novello, whose Sarducci routine has included stints as a gossip columnist and rock-music critic for the "Vatican Enquirer." He is also a licensed minister in the state of Washington.

His advice for the couples?

"When the minister says, `Is there anybody here who has a reason these two should not be wed?' the bride shouldn't turn around and look. You just look straight ahead and keep your fingers crossed."

Haapanen, who says she is a huge fan of Sarducci, might have more trouble keeping her eyes off the good father.

"I was just so giddy (to be chosen)," said Haapanen, 26, who bought lace-up white Doc Marten boots for the occasion, which she will pair with a white dress from Sears. "My mom, my dad, we all love Father Guido with a passion. They were like, `Do we get pictures with him?' "

Haapanen met her fiance, Tony Lupton, three years ago in front of the Hendrix statue on Capitol Hill after he answered her personals ad seeking a man with a British accent. Lupton is being a good sport about the whole thing, Haapanen said.

"You know British people. Unless you're Rod Stewart, most British people would try to avoid the spotlight as much as possible."

Still, Lupton will indulge his bride's wishes to "dress him up in rock star's clothing" by donning leather pants and a "pirate-y ruffled shirt" for the ceremony.

Others plan to go a more traditional route - if anything about this shindig could be called traditional.

Jim Stacey, a magician, will wear a black tuxedo. His fiancee, Imelda Santos Sta. Maria - whom he met through an international dating service - has "a lovely white dress from The Bon."

This will be Sarducci's second appearance on the Bumbershoot wedding stage. The first was in 1994, when he married nine couples on a slightly smaller stage (at least four of the nine are still married; the other five couldn't be reached).

"It's like a show or whatever but most people are really into it," Novello said. "I really do feel the emotion of it, which is kind of nice and refreshing. I was surprised by that last time."

Gary and Susan Tarmina of Tacoma were married by Sarducci on Sept. 4, 1994, exactly 13 years after they fell in love at Bumbershoot on their second date. It's not quite as easy as it looks, Susan says.

"I took one look at the wedding cake stage and got stage fright," she said. "I went right back to when I was in grade school . . . I was petrified."

A pre-wedding pep talk from Sarducci helped calm her jitters, and she climbed on stage wearing a sash from her family's Scottish clan and orchids in her hair. All she could see was a sea of heads.

Stage fright aside, Susan says she'd do it again in a second.

"It was just the most fun, and people still talk about it. They say it was the most surreal, strange, fun wedding they'd ever been to."