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
SIMCHAS JEWISHEXPONENT.COM




Wedding Trends
FOR 2017
KEVIN WALKER | JE FEATURE
Top: SEASTOCK/iStock/Thinkstock.com
Like all big events, weddings move from one trend to another.

What was hot in 2014 is stone cold in 2017.

For this year, you can expect new trends to emerge and a few
from last year to keep going. The good news is that whatever
theme you pick for your big day, the Philadelphia area has a
diverse number of options from which to choose.

Everyone has their own idea about the best way to tie the knot.

However, some trends emerged in interviews with Philadelphia
wedding planners and designers.

They include:
• Art deco is in.

• Glam — art deco-style and otherwise — also is in.

• Country barn weddings remain popular with many.

• Many couples now focus on guest experience and appealing
to all five senses.

• Nontraditional has become the new traditional for many,
with couples looking to become trendsetters.

• That said, traditional is always in with some. That’s one
reason for the continued popularity of landmark buildings in
Philadelphia for weddings, including the National Museum
of American Jewish History.

• Also, donut walls. Your guests will thank you.

WHY WAIT?
If you’re thinking about getting married, that’s just an old tradition
that is fading fast in the modern world, right? Actually, no. Marriage
rates have stabilized in the last decade, according to statistics kept by
(of all departments) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The federal agency reports that since 2009, about 6.8 percent of
the population got married. That’s more than 2 million people a
year. In 2014, the last year for which numbers are currently avail-
able, it jumped to 6.9 percent, or 2.1 million people.

So if you are planning a wedding, you have a lot of company.

Wedding planners in the Philadelphia area said they receive a
steady stream of requests for planning, catering and designing
weddings. JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
“People have money to spend,” said Marlee Wilson with DFW
Event Design in Philadelphia. She noted that some of the recent
weddings have been larger than usual. An upcoming wedding in
Jersey City features 300 guests and is taking up most of the space
at the Hyatt Regency.

Couples are also moving fast.

Jennifer Supper, director of sales and special events for
Kaleidoscope Weddings in Wayne, said, “Short engagements are
in. I am hearing from people who want to get married in less than
six months.”
Another trend is appealing to all five senses, said Caitlin
Boshnack, wedding sales manager for the Garces Group in
Philadelphia. For example, she said, herbs might be included in floral
arrangements so “people can smell how beautiful it is as well as see it.”
HOMEMADE WEDDING TRENDS
One of the big trends emerging in Jewish weddings is the idea of
going homemade.

For example, Supper said for a recent wedding, the bride made
a homemade version of the chuppah covering into which she had
woven her grandmother’s scarves.

“In another one, the bride made a hand-sewn tallit out of yarn,
large enough to be a quilt on her and her husband’s bed after the
wedding,” Supper said.

There also have been changes in the ketubah, which tradition-
ally is done before the ceremony by two appointed witnesses. More
and more couples are choosing to have the ketubah signing during
the ceremony “so everyone can witness as opposed to before the
ceremony with a select few family members,” Supper said.

THE ROARING ’20S
Katie Robinson with DFW Event Design said while trends come
and go, one big one has emerged so far in 2017, a kind of “Great
Gatsby” feel for weddings.

SIMCHAS See Trends, Page 30
MARCH 23, 2017
29