Somewhere between finding something old and something new, and tracking down something borrowed and something blue, there's an odd little item on bride-to-be Beth Merchant's list of things to do:
Ordering 130 copies of the 2008 Salem Visitors Map & Travel Guide.
The booklets are nuptial necessities, said Merchant, a New Hampshire native who lives in Baltimore but is planning an August wedding at Moraine Farm in Beverly. She's like many who plan to tuck the guides into welcome kits meant to help out-of-town guests navigate during the wedding weekend.
Brides started calling Destination Salem for the booklets in January, two months before the organization's executive director, Kate Fox, was ready to debut the 2008 version.
"I'd love it to come out a little bit earlier because consumers, when they call in February looking for a visitors' guide, they're not calling and saying 'Can I have last year's guide?' " Fox said.
Fox said the demand makes sense: The guides allow bridal couples to "pass the buck" of providing their guests with prewedding entertainment by giving visitors the ability to find their own fun.
Cambridge-based wedding coordinator Gabrielle Stone ordered 225 guides. "You usually put one in each bag," she said, "but you have a couple weddings in each town, so you go through quite a number."
ERIN AILWORTH
