Wedding wonderland

The bi-annual Lynchburg Bridal Expo, hosted by Capture It Events, will be held Sunday, Feb. 12 at the Holiday Inn located in downtown Lynchburg. This will be the fifth consecutive year for the expo.

Kim Jennings owns and runs Capture It Events out of her home in Forest, Va. This multi-faceted company includes both wedding photography and Lynchburg Shows, through which the bridal expo is hosted.

“This year our theme is kind of a wedding winter wonderland,” Jennings said.

Over 65 wedding vendors will set up to show what they have to offer – from photography to food to music selection – in the ballroom of the hotel. The local event planning service Love is in the Air will decorate the foyer, where the vendors with the biggest “wow factor” will be displayed, according to Jennings.

“We will have live bride models. We’ll have a harpist for part of it, and a violinist for the other part,” Jennings said.

Not only will vendors display their services to brides-to-be, but many will also donate door prizes to be given out near the end of the event. In all, there should be around 20 door prizes. According to Jennings, these will probably include things like free engagement photography sessions, jewelry sets and a veil from a bridal shop.

The biggest giveaway, which will be announced around 3:45 p.m., is an all-inclusive honeymoon to a resort in Mexico donated by the travel agency Travel Lovers.

“It’s a fabulous resort,” Jennings said. “It’s the same honeymoon they’ve been giving away for probably three years now. The brides really love it.”

To qualify for the door prizes, entrants must stay for the entire show.

Jennings expects somewhere between 100 and 130 brides to attend the event, which she says is the more popular of the two that are put on each year.

“A lot of brides get engaged at Christmas, New Years or around Valentine’s Day,” Jennings said. “Typically this is our busier show.”

This year, Jennings included a wedding budget guide to the event’s program. She thinks this new addition will be beneficial to brides who may not be fully prepared to plan a wedding. This guide will give standard price ranges for wedding aspects such as photography, music and food.

“Some brides will have no clue about a wedding budget,” Jennings said. “We’re hoping that the insert is going to give them a little bit of guidance.”

This will be the first time the Lynchburg Bridal Expo will be held during the months of February and August. Jennings said she made the change after she noticed the trends of other bridal shows hosting events in the earlier months.

“Typically we’ve been doing the bridal shows in March and October,” Jennings said.

Included in the long list of participating vendors are Hill City Bride, Father’s Table Catering, Mary Kay, Stone Blue Productions and many others. A full list of vendors can be found at the Lynchburg Shows website.

The cost of admission to the Lynchburg Bridal Expo is $5. The event will be held from noon to 4 p.m. at 601 Main St.