Shopping for the perfect wedding day: Businesses help couples make their ceremonies special

Sunday, January 28, 2007 2:11 AM CST

Shopping for the perfect wedding day

Businesses help couples make their ceremonies special

BY MICHAEL BURKE

Journal Times

RACINE - The place to be Saturday for engaged couples and wedding-related businesses was Festival Hall. There, thousands of people came to see the latest in wedding gowns, photography, transportation and more.

In some cases, old was new. A good example was photo booths from Scrapbooks, a Phoenix-based, nationwide business that depends on a 1950 technology. The company has acquired roughly 50 of the original photo booths, the kind that produce strips of four black and white photos.

Although refurbished, the booths still use the original technology and each one still contains a small photo lab. For $1,700, the company places one of the booths at the reception hall for guests to use, free of charge, to their hearts' content.

Company salesman Quinn Chovanec said the booths are a big hit at receptions. He said that, invariably, "there's a line" to get into the booth.

"A lot of times you'll find there's a crowd; you'll have more people around this than the dance floor," he said.

The wedding guests get to take their photos home, Chovanec said. But they're also encouraged to donate a few to a scrapbook and record their good wishes for the newlyweds there. The bride and groom keep the scrapbook.

Although the number of photo booths is limited, Chovanec said, "we haven't had to turn down a party yet."

More for fun than money

The Racine-based firm Strings was there to sell another form of entertainment: Classical music for weddings and receptions. Company owner Heather Broadbent, a violinist, also is one-half of the String Divas with partner Julia Hornberger, a cellist.

Whenever they cannot perform as the String Divas, or the customer wants a soloist, trio or quartet, Strings supplies the contract musicians, Broadbent said.

She said Strings grew out of some dissatisfying musical performances the two had when paired with musicians with lesser training. Broadbent, 32, and Hornberger, 37, both have degrees in musical performance and Broadbent only hires well-trained colleagues for weddings.

They provide music as desired including wedding prelude music, selections during the ceremony and sometimes during the reception's cocktail hour.

"I think we do it more for fun" than money, Broadbent said. "It's just a pleasure and we love playing at any time."

Wedding-cake boutique

Ann Byrd, sole owner of Kenosha-based Bridal Cakes By Ann, calls her business a "wedding-cake boutique." She said she's been in the bakery business since 1975 but has been doing wedding cakes exclusively for the past 10 years.

"It's more challenging," Byrd said. "Every bride wants something different."

And "different" described her cakes - such as a table centerpiece cake shaped like a large die, which serves eight to 10 people. Another, larger one also had a casino gambling theme, featuring poker chips and playing cards. It was called "Viva Las Vegas," and was intentionally leaning at the top.

"It's out of shape because marriage is a gamble," Byrd said.

The cakes range from $2.50 to $5.00 per serving, and Byrd said her company is able to supply up to 500 cakes each year.

The Bridal Show resumes at 11 a.m. today at Festival Hall.

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