Saturday night's bridal brouhaha at a Holiday Inn in Ross involving a pair of newlyweds may seem headed, at least in the short run, for daytime TV trash talk or late-night jesting on Leno or Letterman.

In the long run, even the Shaler couple may one day be able to laugh about their inauspicious start to married life. Goodness knows plenty of other people were laughing yesterday -- if they weren't expressing shock or dismay.

"Oh, wow," said Brad Davis, who lives next door to David M. Wielechowski and Christa Vattimo. "I heard something about a wedding brawl on the news. That was them?"

The dueling Wielechowskis -- he's a Richland dentist, she's his assistant -- spent their wedding night in the Allegheny County Jail on simple assault, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct charges after fighting each other hours after their wedding vows and injuring two others who tried to break up the row. Neither could be reached for comment yesterday.

Mr. Davis said he hasn't spoken more than a few words to the couple since moving next door to them in August.

"They seem like very nice people who maybe got overtaken by the stresses of life," Mr. Davis said, noting that "Roto-Rooter has been digging up their front lawn, which is all torn up. That would stress out anyone."

The incident made national headlines, but such wedding night violence is not as uncommon as people might think.

On April 5, a Port Chester, N.Y., couple spent their wedding night in jail for fighting with their reception musicians. On the very same night, another newlywed couple in Vallejo, Calif., also landed in the slammer -- after being Tasered by police for resisting arrest when their wedding reception got out of hand. Last year, a Spokane, Wash., bride got to spend her wedding night in jail for shoving her mother.

Then there are the tragedies. On April 26, 2003, Lori Ann Spangler, a 35-year old mother of two, was beaten and shot by her 34-year-old husband, Frank W. Shope II, on their wedding night in Mill Hall, Clinton County. Mr. Shope then committed suicide.

"The more common and lethal violence related to weddings typically involves an ex-husband who kills his former spouse and sometimes her new husband on or right before their wedding day," said Judy Yupcavage, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

While some marital melees might make for amusing reading, it's all too familiar a story to those who work in domestic violence prevention.

"There are a couple of things we can take away from this," said Janet Scott, associate executive director of the Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh.

"First, domestic violence happens in all socioeconomic groups, even among professionals. Secondly, people should not try to intervene, they should just call the police. And thirdly, it's not all that uncommon for violence in a marriage to begin on a wedding night. There's the perceived ownership from the husband to the wife, he's married her, she's his property now and he has permission to do that."

For those couples without serious abuse issues but who nonetheless fall victim to a one-time spasm of violence fueled by alcohol and high emotion, there's a lesson to be learned from this episode and others like it, says wedding trends expert Marita Wesely-Clough of Hallmark Cards Inc.

"I'm sensing a new trend here, and that's a big need for the wedding 'minder,' either a person who is hired or a relative whose job it is to keep an eye on more volatile members of the wedding party," she said.

Few in the local wedding business could recall any similar incidents deteriorating into violence. "We've had a few groom-less or bride-less receptions because someone drank too much and had to lie down," said Heather McDowell, who books bridal parties for the Priory's Great Hall on the North Side.

"Part of why you hire a planner is so that none of this stuff happens," added Henriette Clark, a Monroeville-based wedding planner.

She would know.

Years ago, at one event, "the groom's old girlfriend decided to show up. My assistant knew something was up right off the bat and was able to head off the girlfriend outside of the reception hall, where I confronted her. I had no idea what her intention was, but I knew she wasn't coming in and messing up my bride's day. It was the only time in my life I thought I might get beat up.

"Something happens at almost every wedding. You just need to very calmly and quietly take care of it. It doesn't need to be a production."