å£I)C fa>os!)utgf<m pm
Jonathan B. Gilbert and Leslie Anne Byers look forward to their wedding in June with romance tempered by realism about the state of the economy.</br></br>Ahead of them lies a stripped-down financial future, the product of hard times growing harder that already have had an impact on the coupleÛªs wedding plans.</br></br>Among other things, it means choosing a pattern in silver plate instead of silver, shopping for the best deal on an engagement ring and writing off the notion of home ownership and kids for the near future.</br></br>Byers and Gilbert are typical of hundreds of thousands of other Americans who have come to understand the state of the economy in terms more meaningful than figures on changes in the wholesale price index or the Federal Reserve discount rate.</br></br>For them, the combination of grinding inflation and shrinking credit means smaller wedding bouquets, higher-priced photos and delight in being able to save enough for an off-season honeymoon on an island near Barbados. For the future it means a strict commitment to living within their meansÛÓapproxi- ÛÏYou just learn to live witn what you haveÛÓespecially each other,Û said Gilbert. ÛÏThat sounds like such mush, but itÛªs true.Û