VERO BEACH — Future brides filled the historic Heritage Center Sunday for the annual Treasure Coast Bridal Expo. The afternoon began with the Expo portion at the Heritage Center, followed by a Fashion Show across the street at the Courthouse Executive Center, another delightful venue for receptions.
The event is a fundraiser for Vero Heritage Inc., which manages the Heritage Center and its adjoining Citrus Museum. Long recognized as a popular wedding venue, the spacious room was lined with an assortment of vendors, each offering suggestions to help brides create their ultimate dream wedding.
“We decided to limit it to 25 vendors this year,” said event chair Gina Wattles. “We have a good variety, but we have lots more room for people to move around.”
As an extra special incentive to visit with everybody, brides who had their program checked off by all the vendors were entered into a grand prize drawing for a cruise package worth more than $3,000 which was donated by event sponsor Jill Venturi of CruiseOne.
Each bride-to-be was also given goodie bags overflowing with discounts and gift certificates, chocolates, and a long-stemmed red rose, donated by local businesses.
The lovely Jean Leifhelm, crowned Miss Hibiscus at the Heritage Center in 2008, was doing double duty at the event – getting ideas for her own wedding and modeling a number of gowns in the fashion show.
Her wedding is still two years away, but Leifhelm said, “I’ve got the dress; the most important part. We’re still in the beginning stages because we want to save up as much as possible; it’s so expensive.”
Susan Hunt, Indian River County Chamber of Commerce director of tourism was promoting the area in general with the destination wedding website she created last year, www.ComeDiscoverLove.com. Hunt said she believes this is the only Chamber on the east coast to have such a website.
“It’s a great niche market for us,” explained Hunt. “We have so many beautiful locations and wedding oriented businesses here.”
Treating guests to a taste of their gastronomic goodies, Culinary Capers servers strolled through the crowd, passing a delicious selection of assorted crostini and teriyaki beef skewers, and Carnival Confections offered slices of an elegant multi-layered wedding cake.
Attorney Lisa Thompson said she was “pretty much done,” but wanted to make sure she hadn’t missed anything for her upcoming wedding, which took just four months to plan.
“I’m a first time bride at 45; it’s exciting,” laughed Thompson. After viewing the myriad of selections available she added, “I’m glad we did this in a short window.”
Across the street at the Courthouse Executive Center, Bridal Suite South and Island Formals presented an enormous selection of sumptuous bridal gowns and stunning jewel-toned evening dresses modeled by poised volunteers. Debonair men in tuxedos and formal attire escorted the ladies, who had each been artfully coiffed and made up by Jan Mason of Visage Hair and Nail Design.
The Heritage Center, a focal point for many of the city’s downtown public events, is managed by the non-profit Vero Heritage Inc. Rentals of the building and fundraisers such as the Bridal Expo are its major sources of income.