This month's column touches on a precaution to minimize tragedy striking your wedding: The link between public wedding announcement and grateful thieves.

Traditionally, thieves have used dates given in newspapers' death notices and wedding announcements to discover when particular houses would likely be unoccupied. These homes then became targeted as "invitations" to robberies. And the advent of wedding websites and registries has merely enhanced public awareness of empty home sites on particulars dates.

Such announcements offer tantalizing baits for robbers. Even if precise addresses are not directly given out by you, potential thieves might still "google" names and general locations found in newspapers and web announcements to come up with home information for you, your immediate families, and possibly even guests. A notice to the effect that a couple will wed on March 19, 2009 signals an open house for thievery at the bride's, the groom's, both sets of parents, as well as the homes of a collection of relatives and friends.

Then there's an announcement of the reception's location on that date. The latter has become a concern, since some thieves in recent years have brazenly just come in and swiped the gifts. It's a problem, seemingly, to the point of some couples now hiring security to oversee the gift-table, which is often in a room separate from the actual reception party.

Just exercise some caution and consider these possibilities before your public postings (newspapers, web) of information that just might compromise the security of anyone involved in your wedding. Public announcements might satisfy your desire to shout your happy news from the rooftops, but weigh that against the risk factor in doing so.