Is the task of planning your wedding growing tedious? Perhaps it’s time to mix in a little speed-dating.
A group of local businesses plans to combine these seemingly incompatible activities next Saturday at It’s A Wedding . . . Event. Scheduled for the Holiday Inn 67th Street, the evening function will provide prospective brides and grooms with information about wedding-related products and services.
Brian Rypstra, who operates The Framing Nook, said It’s A Wedding . . . Event will be a gala with formal attire and a lavish decor. Guests will be seated at tables, where they’ll be served hors d’oeuvres and entertained by models dressed in wedding wear.
Throughout the evening, representatives of the sponsoring businesses will briefly visit tables on a rotational basis, said Rypstra. Those businesses range from bridal and formal wear shops to photographers and a wedding commissioner.
“Everything wedding-related,” he said.
Traditionally, said Rypstra, businesses that serve the wedding market have relied on trade shows to connect with prospective customers. Those behind It’s A Wedding . . . Event wanted a more entertaining alternative.
“We wanted to make it more fun and less sales; and more of what people really need to know.”
The business people making the rounds will be acting more as consultants than salespeople, he suggested.
Attending the event will be Heidi Dennis, producer and associate editor of Bridal Fantasy Magazine; and Gay Derk, president of Derks Fine Group of Companies, which includes Bridal Fantasy Magazine, a trade show division, and men’s and formal wear divisions.
“There are going to be some pretty important people there,” said Rypstra.
A fun casino is planned for later in the evening, with a variety of prizes up for grabs.
Tickets are $20 a person, with all proceeds going to Family Services of Central Alberta. As of Wednesday, said Rypstra, 160 of the 240 available spots had been spoken for.
The participating businesses are covering all costs, he said, with the Holiday Inn donating its facilities.
Additional information can be found online at www.itsawedding.ca.
hrichards@www.reddeeradvocate.com
— copyright Red Deer Advocate