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Vendors unite to give brides what they want
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THE BIG DAY: Laurie Dagan, owner of the The Flower Garden Florist and Events by Laurie, works on a wedding reception display in her Warren store. Dagan recently founded the Wedding Network, a local organization for wedding vendors. For more information, go to www.mvweddings.net.
By ASHLEY LUTHERN
It costs an average of $25,000 to have a 400-guest wedding locally, said the founder of the Mahoning Valley Wedding Network.
WARREN — It’s the biggest party that you’ll ever throw for yourself: a wedding.
“This is really all about a huge celebration, and we’re going to help you do it,” said Lori Dubasik, owner of Evaline’s Bridal Boutique, which has been in downtown Warren for more than 55 years.
The “we” that she’s speaking of is the Mahoning Valley Wedding Network, a local organization of wedding vendors that includes everything from photographers to florists.
“We’re with you from when you say ‘I will’ to ‘I do,’” Dubasik said of the comprehensiveness of the group.
The Wedding Network was created in June and has grown to include 15 businesses.
Founder Laurie Dagan, who also owns The Flower Garden Florist in Warren, said that the network will benefit local businesses and their clients.
“The whole idea is for wedding vendors to get to know each other so that we can all give qualified referrals to people that we trust,” Dagan said.
The network is not the first organized effort to have businesses work together in the Valley, but it is the first time that businesses in the wedding industry are coming together officially, she said.
The group’s Web site, www.mvweddings.net, is set to launch today. When visitors go to the site, a list of members will appear, divided by business type and then individual businesses are listed alphabetically. Each business has a short history and link to its own Web site.
Even though Dagan came up with the idea for the Wedding Network, her florist shop is not advertised higher than any other florist.
“There is more than enough business to go around,” she said. “This network is to help people new to the wedding business learn from professionals and for the established businesses to learn new trends from each other.”
Youngstown has a strong tradition of family weddings and even couples who have left the area return to get married, leaving no shortage of wedding work, said Tom Gregory, owner of Gregoryfilms Inc., who said that with 42 weddings, 2008 has been his busiest year.
“I’ve filmed many weddings in churches where three generations of a family have gotten married,” Gregory said. “The economy might not be the best, but people in Youngstown still want big, family weddings.”
Another reason couples return to Youngstown to get married is the affordable cost of a local ceremony.
“It costs an average of $25,000 to have a wedding here with about 400 guests,” Dagan said. “You could double or triple that if the wedding’s in a bigger city like New York or Atlanta.”
The Wedding Network not only will help couples find the best vendors for their wedding and let those vendors exchange ideas at its monthly meetings, but it will also keep business local.
“So many times brides go online and usually the things that they end up with have Cleveland or Pittsburgh addresses,” Dagan said. “We want them to know that we have plenty of quality vendors here in the Mahoning Valley.”
Gregory said that he once filmed a wedding reception that had a deejay from Cleveland.
“When I asked the bride why she didn’t choose someone local, she said that she had tried one place in town and that they were booked and this was all she could find,” Gregory said.
It’s that type of situation that the Wedding Network will eliminate, Dagan said.
The network does charge a fee for businesses to join. Membership dues are $25 per year, to pay for Web site hosting and maintenance, and meetings are held on the fourth Monday of every month at 6 p.m. The location of the meetings changes depending on which business is hosting it.
Businesses that are interested in joining should contact Dagan at (330) 469-9974.