NATCHEZ &045; Weddings are big business for Natchez &045; not only in June but the year around. In recent years, Natchez has secured its place in what travel and tourism professionals refer to as the

&uot;destination&uot; wedding niche.

Lani Riches, owner with her husband, Ron, of Monmouth Plantation, said the brides and grooms traveling to Natchez to marry and bringing family and friends along with them are big boosts to the area economy.

&uot;It’s wonderful for our economy,&uot; said Riches. &uot;They shop, eat in our restaurants, walk our streets, sometimes get private guides, rent horse-drawn carriages and the trolley &045; all kinds of people are being blessed by this.&uot;

Like Monmouth, Dunleith Plantation also hosts out-of-town weddings the year around. &uot;About 70 percent of our weddings are from out of town,&uot; said Rene Adams, assistant manager at the historic inn. &uot;And it has a tremendous economic impact.&uot;

Many businesses benefit, Adams said. Those include tuxedo rental shops, beauty shops, photographers, cake makers, flower shops, musicians, for example.

At The Flower Shop, co-owner Ted Dillon said of the 80 weddings he worked on in 2004, three-fourths of them were brides and grooms from other cities.

&uot;Last weekend, we had four weddings. Three of them were destination weddings &045; from Shreveport, Jackson and California. The week before there was one from Chicago.&uot;

Dillon said only those who deal directly with the wedding business have a grasp of the impact on the economy. &uot;I know they make a big impact on my shop. Next week we have

wedding at Cedar Grove for a bride from Little Rock.&uot;

Natchez is the kind of setting many brides seek, said Ruthie Coy, president of the Pilgrimage Garden Club. Club properties Stanton Hall, Longwood and the Carriage House Restaurant benefit from weddings.

&uot;Weddings have a huge impact on Stanton Hall and the Carriage House,&uot; Coy said. &uot;Bringing events like weddings there is a significant way of increasing funds to help preserve our properties.&uot;

Weddings are a &uot;wonderful use of Stanton Hall. And it’s nice to see it come alive at those times.&uot;

This week the club hired Nicole McSwain to become events coordinator. She will help to market the properties for weddings as well as other special occasions.

McSwain, who recently moved to Natchez with her husband, Russ, and her sister had a business together in Knoxville, Tenn., that catered to the same kinds of clients. &uot;I’m excited to be working with the garden club,&uot; she said. &uot;I really want to market the properties.&uot;

In addition to the privately owned properties, city properties also benefit from weddings, said Walter Tipton, Natchez director of tourism.

&uot;It’s a fair amount of business for us,&uot; he said, referring to rentals of the Natchez Convention Center and Natchez Community Center, both downtown properties. &uot;We have a wedding reception every week, and about 60 percent of them are from out of town.&uot;

Some of the out-of-towners are Natchez natives who now live in other cities and want to return to their hometown for the wedding and reception, he said. &uot;We had 150 people last Saturday at the Community Center.&uot;

Bridal parties who come to Natchez are getting what Tipton calls &uot;value plus.&uot;

&uot;You can’t create a setting like Natchez. You can’t capture anywhere else a bride standing in front of Dunleith,&uot; Tipton said. &uot;And the quality of our caterers and wonderful support from the small time environment can provide an upscale event.&uot;

Weddings have the same impact as a convention, Tipton said. And visitors who come for weddings have no problem figuring out what they should do or where they should go.

&uot;Weddings are a niche that the Convention and Visitors Bureau markets to,&uot; he said. &uot;We go to wedding shows and partner with Van’s Photography, King of Hearts Tuxedo, Moreton’s Flowerland and Edna’s Cakes. We have partnered with Dunleith and Cheryl Morace (wedding consultant).&uot;

Lani Riches at Monmouth said the ease of a Natchez wedding on the wedding party provides better memories for the out-of-towners. Further, she believes destination-type weddings are appealing in other ways.

&uot;Your guests become dear friends. You bond. It becomes more than just a six-hour experience,&uot; she said. &uot;And the people who really adore you will find the way to be there for you. The most important thing we give them is the memory.&uot;

In fact, Monmouth has many repeat visits from couples who married there, Riches said. Some come to celebrate anniversaries.

Rene Adams at Dunleith said weddings can have up to a $60,000 impact on the community, including overnight stays, food, entertainment and other spending by the wedding party.

&uot;And it’s something Natchez does well. People keep coming back. And weddings have spin-offs to help everyone,&uot; she said.