For richer or poorer
State's wedding industry still strong in tough times
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Heidi Clark, who is modeling a wedding gown, throws a bouquet to brides-to-be at the Bridal Show held at the Holiday Inn in Rutland Town on Sunday. CASSANDRA HOTALING / RUTLAND HERALD |
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By STEPHANIE M. PETERS Herald Staff - Published: January 26, 2009
With mothers, bridesmaids and a few fiancés in tow, excited brides-to-be bustled about the Rutland Bridal Show at the Holiday Inn on Sunday, sampling cakes and entrees, chatting with DJs and photographers and eyeing wedding dresses being modeled around the showroom.
Amid so much excitement, it’s almost easy to forget the national recession that has otherwise ravaged other commercial industries.
According to Judy Risteff of the Vermont Wedding Association, the organization that plans Rutland’s and nine other shows in Vermont, New York and New Hampshire throughout the year, those economic woes haven’t trickled down to the wedding industry.
Sure guest lists are getting shorter, but otherwise couples are getting smarter about wedding planning by making indiscreet changes that won’t impact the quality of the day, Risteff said.
“We’re seeing a big hike in people attending these shows,” she said. She said couples are beginning to gather more information from a variety of vendors in the hope of finding a savings and “they know they can come here and save themselves 15 trips.”
Merchants present Sunday said that while business hasn’t slacked off, they have noticed some changes in how it’s being conducted.
“There are probably more Friday and Saturday weddings because people are looking to get services at a discount,” said Dave Cannon, owner of Elite Sounds Entertainment in Rutland. “Bookings for winter weddings also seem to be up because it’s the off-season, but rates are still going up and demand is high.”
Kathy Comstock, catering manager of East Creek Catering in Rutland, which does on-site catering ranging from backyard barbeque to filet mignon, said it seemed to her that there were more brides-to-be Sunday who were coming through without already having a caterer lined up.
“I’m very impressed with the turnout,” she said. “So many brides have said they really got a lot out of this room.”
One of the original merchants to organize a bridal show in Rutland, Jim McNeil of McNeil-Reedy in Rutland said that it’s “really hard to tell” what, if any, the long-term economic fallout will be because they’re still seeing a lot of 2009 and 2010 brides.
For him, these shows are a staple of their formalwear business — they do about three to four a year as well as private fashion shows in the community, he said.
“It’s a good match, customers and vendors all in the same location,” McNeil said.
In fact, the wedding industry has proved so stable that Risteff is now receiving inquires from nontraditional businesses who are trying to find a way to market themselves as part of the wedding picture, she said.
“I’ve never talked to so many vendor prospects in nine years as I have today,” she said.
Castleton native Kate Travers, 27, is set to be married in a backyard wedding on family land Oct. 10. In planning it she said she and her fiancé didn’t necessarily try to scrimp, but are saving money by having a pig-roast meal, enlisting musician family members and camping out on their wedding night.
Still, with those details already planned, Travers wanted to see what the bridal show had to offer.
“We came (to the bridal show) because we were sort of curious about local food vendors and the local catering options,” she said.
Averaging about a bridal show a month, the Vermont Wedding Associations’ next events will be Feb. 22 at the Sheraton Burlington Hotel and March 22 at the Middlebury Inn, according to Risteff.
Contact Stephanie M. Peters at stephanie.peters@rutlandherald.com.
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