This wedding is brought to you by …

Free wedding! I'm sure that got your attention.

Since we all know that there's no such thing as a free lunch, is the possibility of taking a sponsor-paid trip down the aisle fact or fairytale?

For Dave Kerpen and Carrie Fisher, their recent dream wedding was both.

Flowers? Free.

Wedding bands? Free.

Opportunity to have their chuppah placed over home plate at a professional ballpark? Free.

Bridal gown, bridesmaids dresses, tuxedos for groomsmen, wedding cake. Free, free, free, free.

While the Kerpens, savvy marketing professionals who live in New York City, probably could have put together a cookie-cutter wedding at no cost, accommodating their personal preferences did have a price. In the spirit of full disclosure, the event that celebrated their merger might better be described as deeply discounted.

Their July 2006 wedding took place immediately following a baseball game at KeySpan Park, home of the Brooklyn Cyclones, a New York Mets minor league affiliate. Both avid baseball fans, the Kerpens had their ceremony at home plate, with more than a dozen members of the wedding party on the field and hundreds of invited guests in the stands. At the conclusion, the couple walked under an arch of baseball bats held up by Cyclones players. Thousands of fans who attended the game stayed to witness the momentous occasion and wish the happy couple well.

The gorgeous chuppah, which must have seemed 100-feet wide when shown on the huge video scoreboard, was supplied by MP Artworks of Sarasota, Fla. Sponsors also provided lots of other goods and services in exchange for the publicity. Among the items the Kerpens paid for was transportation for their officiant, Rabbi Mayer Perelmuter, spiritual leader of their synagogue, Reform Temple of Forest Hills. Since the rabbi did not charge a fee, the Kerpens made a donation to the temple.

Speaking of donations, if you think the Kerpen-Fisher wedding was a grab-all-you-can-for-free and get-to-keep-all-of-the-gifts event, think again. Even before sponsors were secured, the Kerpens decided to share their good fortune and big day in a most charitable way.

"We pledged 10 percent of all sponsor cash funds as well as monetary gifts from guests. When The Shops at Atlas Park [a new shopping center in Glendale, N.Y.] stepped up with a major donation, we pledged a minimum of $10,000 to the David Wright Foundation for multiple sclerosis programs," Kerpen said. (David Wright is the all-star third baseman of the New York Mets.)

Sponsored weddings go way back to biblical times. Although Don Pardo was not present to announce all of the promotional goodies Adam and Eve got when they made things official, it is said that the Sponsor of us all acted as officiant gratis — and supplied the venue, veggies, fruits, flowers and even the fancy fig leaves, honeymoon haut couture.

Jump ahead to the 1950s. I vaguely remember watching my neighbor's son's Jewish wedding on television. The love story of Robert, a career soldier recently returned from Korea, and his sweetheart, a girl he met in Italy during World War II, was rich. They, on the other hand, were not. The NBC show "Bride and Groom" and its sponsors gave them a free wedding, honeymoon and lovely parting gifts.

Since I wanted to know more about those sponsored weddings on TV, I decided to do a little research and then asked a rabbi, a very special rabbi whose parents tied the knot in front of countless home viewers in 1952, courtesy of CBS. Yes, CBS. The show moved to NBC in 1957.

"My late parents, Eddie and Ellen (Fischel) Carter, were married on the 'Bride and Groom' show on August 7, 1952. Rabbi Miller officiated and John Nelson was the emcee," said Rabbi Suzanne H. Carter, chaplain of the Delray Beach police and fire departments and executive director of Tzedakah House, an organization that serves the needs of South Florida's unaffiliated Jewish communities and interfaith families.

"I suspect they were chosen due to their backgrounds — Dad was a concentration camp survivor and Mom was a refugee from Nazi Germany. They both told their stories of their coming to the United States on the show.

"Their wedding was sponsored by CBS, which subsequently sent them to Canada for a honeymoon. Like most young couples in 1952, they were penniless, so a red card table, four chairs, a toaster and mixer were added to their gifts."

Since then, many couples have been married in front of TV's glaring lights and prying eyes at little or no cost.

In the early 1980s, tears of joy ran down my cheeks as I watched a beautiful Jewish wedding on David Letterman's old morning show. Two years ago, a Jewish groom and his bride won a televised wedding in a Food Network competition. Many other shows and their business partners have periodically offered an all-expenses-paid wedding as a grand prize in a contest. With a bit of searching on the Web, your chance to enter a wedding giveaway might be just a click away.

For any naysayers who bristle at the thought of commercializing such a sacred event, don't have a sponsored wedding. But, we do live in an ad age, a dollar-driven society that puts a price on everything. So if you're creative and don't mind doing some work (sponsors are not about to break down your door to furnish you with freebies), why not take advantage of this entrepreneurial potential?

As consumers, we have to pay for products and services. Those who provide these things have to pay to put their name out there, where it will be seen. When we all get together, everyone wins.

If you look around any sizeable town, you'll probably find a business sponsor's name on a stadium, arena, office building or concert hall. Even Little League fields have gigantic signs on the outfield fences advertising local sponsors. And, whether we like it or not, commercial messages always seem to find their way into weddings. Have you ever been to a reception where the band or DJ's name wasn't prominently displayed? I haven't.

Since I grew up in a home where Passover seders followed the script of the ever-present Maxwell House haggadahs, I guess seeing a company's name at a Jewish celebration never really bothered me. So a tastefully placed card indicating that the flowers were courtesy of a local florist or a small sign next to some trays of puff pastry and mini-apple turnovers definitely would not offend me.

We've all worn designer duds and carried bags sporting company names, initials or logos — and paid a hefty price for the privilege. If having the wedding of your dreams requires you to look outside the box to round up some sponsors, why not?




Online tips

If you decide to give it a go, there is a lot of helpful material online.

For starters, check out Oprah's archived account of a sponsored wedding at oprah.com/tows/pastshows/tows_2000/tows_past_20000428_f.jhtml.

Then go to weddings.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Sponsored_Weddings,

where most of your concerns will be addressed. Tips about setting up a wedding Web site, a must for sponsor-seeking couples, and more can be found at ajc.com/news/content/celebrations/wedding/stories/0905/08sponsors.html And for additional information about how the Kerpen-Fisher wedding was planned and presented, visit their Web site, ourfieldofdreams.us.