The past year has been tough on wedding and event planners. Opportunities to meet with clients face-to-face have been few and far between — a challenge increased by the limited events taking place due to the pandemic.
“Weddings are one of the only things that are happening within the events industry,” Infinity Events and Decor Owner Colleen Shalley said. “So, for all of us who are in the events industry, weddings are what’s keeping us going.”
Corrie Swallow, owner of LCD Productions, has also felt the effects of the pandemic.
However, during the industry’s downtime, he’s rented out a large retail space in the city and put on a pair of successful events; the 7 Deadly Sins Haunted House and a Christmas event called “Christmas at Grandma’s.”
With wedding season just around the corner, Swallow decided to make a third run with the space and created the Wedding Plaza, a wedding show where the public can meet with multiple event planners, DJs, photographers, and more to help plan their big day.
“The vendors that are here, they know their industry, they know what they’re allowed to do, what they’re not allowed to do, as far as COVID rules go,” Swallow said. “So, this is a great opportunity for people to see who’s all around, see who’s all happening, and what the newest trends are to go with during COVID.”
As beneficial as the show is to the public, who’ve been forced to do most planning online, it’s also those in-person interactions that make the Wedding Plaza equally as important to the vendors.
“We’re getting bookings (based) on our personalities, and not everything else,” Medita Media Owner Nawid Shirzai said. “It’s not about the equipment anymore, it’s about the personalities. Online, you’ll see a lot of different ads for everything, but that doesn’t really show you who’s going to be there. Where, if you interact with someone, you really get to feel them out.”
The show offers more than just a walkthrough to visit with vendors, but also features a comedy routine and fashion show.
Shirzai says the atmosphere has been welcoming even amongst vendors that would normally be in competition with him.
“This industry is so big, and as small as Saskatchewan is, it’s huge,” Shirzai explained. “If we all just helped each other we would all make good money, we would all have our names out there. This whole event is going to show that working together is the perfect thing to do in this industry.”
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