Nobody wants to be fighting with the fiancée about coming up with a down payment just before the wedding. After all, couples have more important worries -- like whether their table linens match the reception hall's bougainvillea.

With that in mind, a Midwest lender suggested to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that it help couples raise house money the same way they accumulate dishes they'll never use. The idea stuck, and HUD introduced its Bridal Registry Account program in October 1996. Borrowers can set up bank accounts that guests, relatives and others can deposit money into for use toward Federal Housing Administration, or FHA, mortgages.

"It's a wonderful idea and anytime somebody sort of takes the ball and runs with it, we get a new spurt," says HUD spokesman Lemar Wooley. "It's the regular FHA loan; it's just a new sort of innovative method of accumulating the down payment."

Though the government agency doesn't break out how many loans have been obtained through the bridal program, FHA borrowing remains a popular choice for mortgage hunters. Indeed, 404,064 such loans were originated in the first quarter of 1999 alone. They generally require customers to come up with 3 percent down out of their own pocket, but an unrestricted gift from friends or family qualifies, too. As a result, setting up the registry program wasn't that tough.

All FHA-approved lenders can offer gift accounts as they see fit, but they typically act like traditional savings accounts. Because most couples get them at the same financial institutions they borrow from, the closing process goes a little smoother too.

"We've had banks that have been as innovative as to give brochures and the like to couples that are getting married so they can make their friends aware of them," Wooley says. "I've also heard of instances where banks are sending acknowledgments to the couple saying 'XYZ has placed a deposit in your bridal registry account'" so they can send thank you cards to the right people.

"Everybody is marketing it their own way."

Interested blushing brides and bashful grooms can get more information and find participating lenders by calling 1-800-CALLFHA (225-5342).