WEDDINGS/CELEBRATIONS; Fern Berman, Faith Middleton (Published 2002)

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Fern Berman and Faith Middleton are to celebrate their relationship with a commitment ceremony today at Le Cirque 2000 in Manhattan. The Rev. Bruce Clements, a retired minister of the United Church of Christ, will officiate with Cantor Ellen L. Stettner.

Ms. Berman (above, left) is 43 and owns a Manhattan public relations firm bearing her name. Her clients, mainly in the food and hospitality industries, include Le Cirque 2000. She graduated with an associate's degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is a daughter of Rosanne Price of Boynton Beach, Fla., and Robert Berman of Jupiter, Fla.

Ms. Middleton, 54, is the host of two interview programs on Connecticut Public Radio in New Haven, ''The Faith Middleton Show,'' a program about art, culture and politics, and ''The Food Schmooze,'' featuring chefs, home cooks and other food authorities. She graduated from Eastern Connecticut State University. She is a daughter of the late Sarah Middleton and the late James Middleton, who lived in Hartford.

Ms. Berman and Ms. Middleton met in April at Thomas Henkelmann, a restaurant at the Homestead Inn in Greenwich, Conn. Ostensibly they and three other women had gathered for a business meeting. Ms. Berman is the restaurant's publicist, and Ms. Middleton was planning a feature on it for ''Food Schmooze.''

But unknown to Ms. Middleton, the meeting had been arranged by a mutual friend, who, Ms. Middleton later learned, harbored a ''secret hope that we would click.''

Ms. Berman, though, was cold to the friend's suggestion. ''Blind dates with an audience are weird,'' she remembered thinking.