經濟不景氣 美新人流行在殯儀館辦婚禮

Paulita and Tony Flores took their wedding vows in December in an elegant rotunda with marble floors amid glimmering chandeliers and a bubbling fountain.

It didn't bother them that a room down the hall showcased caskets and urns. Or that the building was surrounded by a large cemetery with 100,000 gravestones on 60 acres. Or that on other days, the facility hosts something a lot more somber — funerals.

The Flores' wedding at the Community Life Center at Washington Park East Cemetery here illustrates a growing trend.

Across the USA, funeral homes are building and marketing such centers as not just a place to mourn the dead but as sites for events celebrating the living, including weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, holiday parties and proms.

The lure? It is often less expensive; there is greater availability; and the settings — inside and outside — can be nothing short of wedding-picture perfect.

Flanner & Buchanan Funeral Centers opened the $10 million Community Life Center in 2001, but it had a slow start. As recently as 2009, it hosted just 10 weddings. Then Carla Fletcher took over as special events coordinator in March. The center now holds a dozen events each month and has nearly every Friday, Saturday and Sunday booked this year, including 99 weddings, as well as bookings that stretch into 2012, she says.

"The place wasn't being utilized because people had tunnel vision," says Fletcher, who also often plays the part of wedding planner for the couples. "They thought since it was a funeral home, they (couldn't) sell it. But I don't see a funeral home; I see an events center."

The idea of getting married in a funeral home wasn't much of a hurdle to overcome, says Paulita Flores, 21.

"At first, when I pulled up and saw it was a funeral home, it did concern me," she admitted. "But when we walked in and saw everything, it was overwhelming. I fell in love and thought it was the perfect place. It was breathtaking, so it (the funeral home aspect) didn't cross my mind again."

In a 2010 association survey, almost 10% of the 627 funeral home owners who responded said they owned or offered a community or family center in addition to traditional funeral facilities.

去年12月，寶莉塔和託尼•弗洛雷斯在一家殯儀館舉辦了婚禮。雅緻的圓形大廳裏鋪着大理石地面，枝形吊燈上泛着微光，噴泉汩汩作響。

大廳另一端的房間裏陳列着棺材和骨灰盒；殯儀館所在的60英畝大型墓地裏埋有10萬座墓碑；在其餘的日子裏，這裏會用於舉辦非常悲涼的葬禮。但這對新人對此毫不在意。

弗洛雷斯夫婦在華盛頓公園東區公墓的社區生活中心舉辦的這場婚禮代表了一種新的流行趨勢。

在全美，殯儀館正在建設並大力推廣類似場所，不單能爲逝者舉辦葬禮，還能爲在世的人們舉辦婚宴、生日聚會、週年紀念、節日派對、和正式舞會等活動。

優勢呢？比如費用低廉、容易預訂、內外場景佈置比婚禮場面的完美效果毫不遜色。

“弗蘭納和布坎南”殯葬中心在2001年投資1000萬美元建設了社區活動中心，但最初它並不受歡迎。直到2009年，這裏僅舉辦過10場婚禮。此後，卡拉•弗萊徹在3月出任特別活動協調員。她表示，目前該中心每個月都要舉辦12場活動，今年所有的週五到週日都被預訂一空，包括99場婚禮。有些預訂一直排到了2012年。

弗萊徹說：“過去這個場所沒有得到利用，因爲人們受到舊觀念的束縛。大家認爲既然這是殯儀館，那麼就不能幹別的賺錢。但我不認爲這是殯儀館，我把它當作活動中心。”弗萊徹還常爲新人擔任婚禮策劃師。

21歲的寶莉塔•弗洛雷斯說：“在殯儀館舉行婚禮沒那麼想不通。”

她坦承道：“最開始，當我停下車，看到這是殯儀館時，心裏確實挺犯嘀咕的。但我們走進來後，看到了所有的佈置，太令人折服了。我愛上了這裏，覺得這是舉辦婚禮的理想場所。非常激動人心，所以我就不再惦記這裏是殯儀館這回事了。”

殯葬協會2010年開展的調查顯示，在參加調查的627家殯儀館中，近10%除了傳統的殯儀服務外，還提供社區中心或家庭中心的功能。

Vocabulary:

rotunda: a round building, esp. one with a dome（圓形建築，圓形大廳）

chandelier: an ornamental hanging light with branches and holders for several candles or bulbs（枝形吊燈，樹枝形裝飾燈）

prom: a formal dance, esp. one held by a high school or college class at the end of an academic year（正式舞會）

tunnel vision: an extremely narrow or prejudiced outlook; narrow-mindedness（視野狹隘，井蛙之見）