Expos
Continued from Page 27
overwhelmed by the wealth of choices before them that her words
weren’t sinking in.

To remedy that, she decided to show them what JL Original
Designs could do instead. She began making bouquets and
bringing them, a backdrop and a photographer to the expos so
brides-to-be could get pictures of themselves with some of her
company’s creations.

It worked.

“We started to see a lot more people come back to us because
we started that rapport with them,” she said.

Having a good rapport with your event planner is necessary to
having your big event come off with as few headaches as possible.

That’s why Merida Alexander, whose Events by Merida is based
in Morrisville, said you should make sure the event planner you
choose is personable, which event expos can give you a chance to do.

Alexander also recommends making sure your event planner
has a history of working on events like the one you want to
throw. “It’s pretty easy to tell from photos sometimes whether or not
they’re familiar with your traditions,” Alexander said. “You
don’t want to hire a planner who has no idea how a Jewish
wedding works.”
If you want to find someone who knows how a mitzvah works,
you can attend one or both of the two mitzvah expos scheduled
for April 2.

Mitzvah Expo is being put on by JL Original Designs to show-
case the Sheraton Bucks County in Langhorne, where it is being
28 MARCH 23, 2017
Having a good rapport with your event planner
is necessary to having your big event come
off with as few headaches as possible.

omgimages/iStock/Thinkstock.com held. It also will feature JL Original Designs (obviously) and
vendors that Lawn and/or the hotel management have extensive
experience working with.

“It’s a smaller show,” Lawn said, and not meant to compete with
Mitzvah Palooza.

“In fact,” she said, “I know several families attending both.”
Mitzvah Palooza is at the Chubb Hotel & Conference Center in
Lafayette Hill. Its other two sponsors are Garces Group, the
Philadelphia-based restaurant operator and caterer; and EBE, a
Philadelphia event-planning company that now employs 14
bands, 10 mitzvah and party masters of ceremony, 12 wedding
and special events DJs, and 16 club-style party DJs.

Other vendors who provide such services as event decor, cakes
and photography will be there, too, but the event won’t be just
three hours of attendees browsing around. Instead, it will be struc-
tured like a mitzvah.

“We try to give you the party experience in a condensed
amount of time,” said Tara Buchanan, EBE’s lighting and produc-
tion director/event planner.

After a cocktail hour that gives people time to look at the
vendors, EBE will choose a young volunteer and have him do a
grand entrance, then show attendees how one of its mitzvahs
would flow.

“It’s informative and fun and also you get an idea of the differ-
ent MCs that we have,” Buchanan said.

If you plan on going to one of the mitzvah expos, you might
want to get there early. Buchanan said people start planning mitz-
vahs two or three years in advance.

One reason is just to get ideas. Even if you and your child know
what you want the theme to be, mitzvah expos are a good place to
see different types of decor, invitation styles and the like.

Additionally, while the area has plenty of venues that can host
mitzvahs, if you want to do something unusual, you’ll need one
that can accommodate it.

To make sure you get it, you should book it a year or two ahead
of time, as others might have interest in it too, said Randi Martin,
the chief event planner of Trilogy Event Design in Hatboro.

The same is true of DJs or bands.

“Entertainment is also something that’s going to be a high
priority for everybody else,” Martin said. l
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