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Vernon wedding expo connects brides and grooms to 29 vendors

Saturday’s event was the first time organizer Candace Sims brought a wedding expo to the Okanagan

Vernon’s Paddlewheel Hall was the place to be on Saturday for people planning to get hitched.

Candace Sims of Kootenay Wedding Co. hosted the Okanagan Wedding Expo at the hall on April 6, bringing 29 vendors of all sorts of wedding products together in one place for brides and grooms.

Products and services on offer included wedding dresses, wedding planners, DJs, florists, venues, sign-makers, beauty products and much more.

“The wedding industry is pretty big in the Okanagan so I like to get a lot of vendors in to actually sit there and speak with the clients and meet face to face,” Sims said at the event, which ran from noon to 5 p.m.

“There’s a whole bunch of different wedding-related vendors in the area that are here to just show off what they have.”

This is the third wedding expo that Sims has hosted and the first in the Okanagan. She said she’ll likely do another expo next year, possibly in a smaller Okanagan town.

Cindy Zaitsoff, owner of Rustic Paradise, had her homemade wedding signs for sale at the expo.

Her business started 11 years ago when she made signs for her daughter’s wedding.

“It was a hobby that turned into a passion,” Zaitsoff said.

“I think (the expo) is a great way for brides to see all of the vendors in one place,” she added. “I’m just happy to be here and I love making brides’ dreams come true.”

As many as 150 people attended the expo, which Sims said was a great turnout.

READ MORE: ‘Match made in heaven’: Vernon hosting Okanagan Wedding Expo

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Brendan Shykora

About the Author: Brendan Shykora

I started as a carrier at the age of 8. In 2019 graduated from the Master of Journalism program at Carleton University.
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