Atlantic Wedding Showcase offers virtual connection for viewers, vendors
After a year that wiped out nearly all weddings and events, Nova Scotia wedding industry professionals are bouncing back thanks to a virtual take on a classic event.
The Atlantic Wedding Showcase was among the first events cancelled in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Nova Scotia, but it is making its 2021 comeback on April 25 and is set to reach more people than ever thanks to virtual technology.
Showcase owner and Sky’s the Limit wedding and events planner Stephanie Brown says this virtual showcase will connect viewers with vendors and let people know the wedding industry is back and ready to help make their wedding dreams come true.
“For me, this is all about supporting local and connecting clients with couples looking to get married. It’s showing everybody this big industry is full of amazing, creative brains,” says Brown.
CONNECTING VENDORS WITH VIEWERS
The showcase has been around for nearly three decades and was purchased by Brown in November 2019, just a few months before COVID-19 arrived in March 2020.
Brown’s big plans for spring and fall shows were dashed due to the pandemic. This spurred Brown to find a solution for the 2021 spring.
“I knew I had to do something to be there for the industry. I have this platform to support local business, creative minds and makers, so I started planning a virtual show,” she says.
Brown soon joined forces with showcase host and Halifax blogger Kayla Short and virtual producers Atlantic
Live Stream to create a virtual showcase for vendors to partake in and viewers to watch virtually from home.
Showcase tickets are $10 and available for purchase until April 24. Viewers can access vendor interviews, master classes and a fashion show on April 25, and any time they’d like to view after, which Short says is a unique access that in-person attendees never had before.
“The virtual event was designed to make it feel like it would in person — we asked questions someone at in-person event would ask,” says Short.
The showcase will feature all kinds of wedding industry vendors like photographers, cupcake designers, macrame artists, food businesses of all kinds and more, as well as its fashion show, gown presentation, master makeup classes and even a stationery workshop.
There are a ton of vendors to explore and so much to learn, according to Short.
“It was amazing to chat with all the local businesses and to learn about them. I think we’re really lucky in Nova Scotia with so many crafters, makers and so much creativity,” says Short. “That $10 goes far for those local businesses who are definitely struggling now.”
WEDDING BOOM COMING SOON
Brown knew it was vital that the showcase go ahead this spring and support its wedding industry vendors, all of whom have faced one of the most difficult years on record for the event planning industry.
This is also why she ensured participating was low-cost for vendors and why tickets were set at $10. Brown says this will help vendors connect with more viewers — potentially even more than the in-person event, as people from across Canada buy tickets to watch.
She says viewers’ tickets will also guarantee them access to the virtual showcase even after the event, with direct links to vendors’ social channels also included.
“We want the audience to get to know the people behind the brands. It’s a humanizing experience when they get to know people and that, in turn, connects them as potential clients,” says Brown.
Brown hopes the main takeaway for viewers is that they get to know each vendor personally through the one-onone interviews and feel at ease when thinking of the prospect of planning a wedding.
She also says this showcase will help get people back into their wedding mindsets — something she says can’t happen soon enough, with her prediction of a wedding boom coming in 2022, 2023 and beyond.
“There’s the customer base who are biting at the bit – they’ve been waiting until things got better to have the giant wedding they always dreamed of. Going forward, it’ll be huge – I don’t think anyone will be hurting for business,” she says.