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Evaline’s Bridal hosts show at Covelli Centre
Photo
Krystal Naples walks the runway modeling a wedding gown from Evaline’s Bridal shop of Warren during the bridal show at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown on Sunday afternoon.
By ELISE McKEOWN SKOLNICK
YOUNGSTOWN
Social-media websites such as Pinterest are changing the way brides plan their weddings, and that was apparent Sunday at Evaline’s Bridal’s annual show.
“It’s giving brides different inspirational ideas,” said Lori Dubasik, owner of Evaline’s Bridal in Warren. “Instead of looking at bridal magazines and tearing pages out, they’re ‘pinning’ pictures and making Pinterest boards, and coming in and showing you what their dreams are.”
Pinterest is a photo-sharing website that allows users to “pin” images to virtual bulletin boards. Users can browse other boards for images and “re-pin” images to their own boards.
“A lot of brides are on Pinterest, they’re on the Internet looking, and they pick themes up,” Dubasik said.
So for Sunday’s bridal show at the Covelli Centre, Dubasik displayed dresses in theme groupings such as a barn setting and a “Gatsby” display complete with a vintage car. A fashion show that was part of the event revolved around the themes.
Erika Smeyres of New Middletown just started planning her wedding. She and her fiance, Austin Haag, became engaged Christmas Eve. She attended the show with her 6-year-old cousin, Sierra Beiter of Canton, to look around and get ideas.
“It’s nice,” Smeyres said. “There’s a lot of people here.”
With so much to plan for the wedding, it’s overwhelming, she said, but she found a lot of useful information at the bridal show.
Beiter will be a junior bridesmaid in the wedding.
“I’ve never been one, and it’s going to be fun,” she said.
Beiter’s hoping for a pink dress, but Smeyres is leaning toward blue.
Friends Sarah Welch of Warren and Genevieve Woods of Newton Falls attended together, but had different goals.
Welch, who will marry George Raptis in August, has been planning her wedding for more than a year.
“There are some things that fell through,” she said.
She was looking for a florist and photographer.
Woods, on the other hand, has just begun planning her wedding. Engaged since November, she will marry Mike Warner in May.
They both said it was nice that they could sample desserts and visit other vendors without the need to make an appointment.
“You can get a lot done in one spot,” Woods said. “I kind of came here to get everything done in one day, so it’s kind of nice to have a lot of options in one shot.”
For example, she said, she was able to talk with more than one photographer at the show.
More than 40 vendors participated. Brides had a chance to win a free wedding gown from Evaline’s Bridal, as well as door prizes from the vendors.