Where are the weddings and other hot topics

Readers are asking what happened to the wedding and engagement announcements in the Life & Arts section.

  First of all, they have not been dropped. Rather, they were moved in January to a new feature called Celebrations, which runs Sunday in the Spotlight section.

Traditionally in the first quarter of the year, there are very few weddings. The reason? Weather and the season of Lent.

Wedding and engagement announcements are a paid service now, but we've checked our records and there have been about the same number of announcements published so far this year compared to last year. In other words, there weren't many either year.

From May to October, the big wedding season, you will see the many happy faces of local brides and grooms on our pages.

Now, back to that other pressing issue:  Sabres commemorative medallions: We will be getting more albums, and you will be able to order them with the same coupon used for ordering the medallions that local stores ran out of. The coupon will be published in The News on April 18 and April 19.

Also: Thanks to Libby56 for the comments she made on this blog. She's right, I do take a lot of complaints, criticism and angry comments each day, not just on the blog but also on The News' Reader Hotline. And they don't pay me enough!

As for Libby56's question about the steps required to sign in for blog comments, most Web sites require some type of registration. It helps cut down on spam and offers other necessary protections.

We'd like to see more comments on all The News' blogs, and we're hoping that registering won't inhibit people from commenting.

   

Comments

[Cara Fletcher]

I prefer not to publish an anouncement for my wedding.This is something that concerns only myself my fiancee and our closest people.I don't support such anouncements for weddings.

[AdelleX]

I know that my best friend recently skipped posting her wedding announcement because of the new fee charged. For her, it wasn't so much the *cost*, per se, but it was a matter of principle. I'm sure, though, that the new fee will certainly cut down on wedding and engagement announcements.

And I didn't realize that there is now a charge to publish *obituararies* (the first I'd heard of this was/is from the poster above). Is this true? If so, that is *definitely* wrong, wrong, wrong! I'd rather pay more for my subscription (or have advertisers pitch in an extra dime or two) than to have an obit bill sent to some poor, grieveing family member of the departed. :-( Obits should certainly be a service provided gratis by a town's one and only major newspaper.

[Dave]

I still find it unconscionable that the News, or any paper, chargs for weddings and obits. The comings and goings (no pun intended) of our friends and neighborsare news at the most besic, immediate level. And to charge for them is a slap in teh face to your readers. What's next, billing for letters to the editor or 'honor roll' submissions?