Future brides and grooms were able to get some expert advice when they tie the knot at the annual wedding expo.
Thousands attended the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce 23rd annual Wedding Wishes Formal Fair at the Valhalla Inn on Sunday. One of the largest wedding expo in the city featured cakes, dresses and other wedding arrangements.
Jessica Kaye went to the expo with her maid of honour, bride’s maids and future sister-in-law. Kaye and her fiancée, Mike Robinson planned to have their wedding sometime in September 2013. With so much time before the big day, Kaye looked around at the expo to see what she could do to make her perfect wedding come true.
“I’m really bad at planning things so I’m hoping everyone here can help me out so I can go home and sort everything out,” Kaye said. “My ideal wedding would be something not too big with lots of friends and family and really pretty.”
Kaye said she hoped to find a photographer while at the expo.
Not far from the fashion runway, Harbourview Catering, formally La Dolce Vita, had their booth set up with pictures and samples of various baking.
Catering Manager Giovanna Notarbartolo has made cakes for weddings for more than 10 years. She has had plenty of experience as a baker and a chief when she worked at the Italian Cultural Centre.
She said all her cakes are made from scratch and individually tailored to the wedding’s theme.
“When the brides’ book their cakes, I talk to them, they give their ideas and we`ll create a cake that matches the theme of their weddings,” Notarbartolo said. “It’s not difficult to match the theme. I’ve been doing this for 14 years and I’ve done a lot of weddings. I use to do 134 weddings a year. So I have a lot of experience.”
Notarbartolo said there’s been a few chances over the years for what brides and grooms want for their wedding cake. More people have asked for cakes with fondant icing that’s used to decorate or sculpt pastries as well as cupcakes.
She said she likes the changes because it allows her to make different cupcakes every time.
“This is a passion,” she said. “I never went to school. Everything comes natural. I think of something and then I create.”
Nancy Milani, show manager, said the expo gives everyone a one-stop-shop location to look at all wedding needs. She said the fashion shows as well as the draw for the $10,000 wedding package always brings in a large crowd to the show.
“This is just an absolute fun filled day for brides or brides to be,” Milani said. “There’s almost a 100 exhibitors. Over the last few years, we’ve seen up to 300 brides come out on this day. We also draw from Northwestern Ontario and the region because they don’t have as many businesses related to weddings so we do see a lot of regional people. It’s good for the businesses and for the brides it’s one-stop-shopping.”
The wedding expo is scheduled to wrap up at 4:30 p.m.
