Expo helps brides find options, make contacts

Sharon Bergfeld (left) and Julia Glas examine the beading on a veil at the Northern Illinois Bridal Expo on Sunday. Bergfeld and Glas were at the expo to help plan the October 2010 wedding of Bergfeld’s daughter to Glas’s son. Dana Herra – dherra@daily-chronicle.com

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DeKALB – Tatum Haag of DeKalb was eager Sunday to touch, see and taste her way around the fifth annual Northern Illinois Bridal Expo at Northern Illinois University.

“Everything I’ve looked at has been online so far,” the bride-to-be said as she touched a gown on display at the booth for Bridal Shoppe by Ruth, a DeKalb business. “I’m excited about the fashion show. I know kind of what my price point is, but now I can see the actual dresses and how they move.”

Like many of the brides at the expo, Haag became engaged over the holidays. Though she’s not getting married until October of next year, she and her fiance are already having their rings sized, and they know they’ll be married outdoors in a St. Charles park, she said.

“We’re paying for this a little at a time,” she said. “This is a great chance to touch and feel and get business cards and sign up for everything.”

There were 54 vendors at Sunday’s show, director Karen Villano said, including venues, bakeries, photographers and even a portable toilet rental. The expo began at the request of vendors, she said, and is particularly important to vendors during tough economic times.

“Vendors like it because they get a lot of bang for their buck,” Villano said, noting that the expo was expected to draw about 1,500 attendees or more. “For a lot of vendors, it really helps keep them in business.”

The expo also offers vendors something traditional advertising can’t, said Cathryn Fieberg of Wheeling bakery Patisserie: samples.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to put our cakes before people not only for looks, but more importantly, to taste,” Fieberg said as she cut slices from a sample cake.

Photographer Noel Davis said it was also a chance to put his business, Noel Davis Photo-graphy, which is relatively new in Sycamore, in front of a large audience at one time.

“We’re based in Chicago and recently in Sycamore, and out here, with everything being so spread apart, this is a great way to get everyone together in one place,” he said.

For many brides-to-be, the expo was a chance to get ideas, make contacts and just spend a little quality time. Jaymee Terry of Hinckley was gathering information with her mother, Heidi Terry, and sister, Madison Terry.

“We’re excited for her,” Heidi Terry said. “It is overwhelming, but this helps us all to see what’s out there and get some good ideas.”