More than 1,000 brides-to-be converged on the 17th annual Southern New England Bridal Expo to get ideas and prices on wedding gowns, wedding photographers, wedding cakes and every other imaginable detail that would make their special day one to remember.
“We’ve got florists, wedding-gown shops, jewelry, makeup artists, photographers, caterers and even a chiropractor in case your back goes out on your wedding day,” said Gail DeFelice, sales director for the show, as she cited just a few of the businesses occupying roughly 140 exhibition booths.
“As one bride said, we covered everything she thought she needed, plus some things she hadn’t thought of.”
By lunch time, the daylong expo had already drawn about 840 participants — mostly brides, their moms, their attendants and a smattering of grooms.
The event featured two fashion shows with lean models swathed in creamy dresses walking the runway, while the audience scrutinized necklines, hemlines and yards of billowy satin.
“Gowns start at about $1,500 and the average is about $5,000,” said Carol Harris of Warwick as she and her daughter, Kerri Barone, watched the fashion show, commenting knowingly on the designers.
Months of prepping for Barone’s August wedding has made Harris an expert, she said, describing the planning process as time-consuming as a second job.
“We started planning in June 2010 and one of the first things we did was secure her venue,” she said of her daughter’s wedding, which will be held at the Hyatt Regency on Goat Island in Newport and will feature a theme of lavender and a lot of sparkle.
In keeping with a trend that was apparent at the expo, Harris said her daughter went with a light cream-colored gown rather than stark white.
“That’s what we’re seeing,” Debi D’Iorio, coordinator of the expo fashion show. “We’re seeing a lot of off-white, ecru, light gold.”
Harris said that a wedding with all the trappings can easily cost about $15,000 and, from the variety of services and accouterments being offered by exposition vendors, it didn’t look difficult to surpass that amount.
Giant limousines that were actually gussied up sport-utility vehicles were parked near the rear of the room. Hotels and caterers had tables decorated with crystal and linens on display while they attracted spectators with platters of delicacies. There were also towering wedding cakes with cascades of marzipan flowers, ice sculptures and a chocolate fountain.
Wedding bands were playing in the background and a couple from the Arthur Murray Dance Studio was twirling effortlessly around the carpeted entry hall.
Limousines are no longer just transportation, they’re part of the celebration, said Gabriela Fernandes, co-owner of Salon Salon Limousine. Also, brides and grooms now prefer traveling together with the entire wedding party, so the vehicles of choice are usually luxury, extra-long models from SUVs or customized buses.
“This is popular,” she said pointing to the company’s 45-foot long vanilla-colored Cadillac Escalade which has an opulent interior that includes long leather seats, wood trim, recessed lighting and TVs in the floor.
“You need to be organized if you’re going to plan a wedding,” Harris said, noting that she and her daughter made sure that the bride’s gown was chosen more than a year in advance. “I knew it was right immediately,” Harris said. “I said, ‘We’ll take it’, before I even asked the price.