Columbia Basin Bridal Expo offers good place to plan a wedding

CBH Columbia Basin Herald Local News

by Royal Register Editor & Ted Escobar
| February 12, 2013 5:00 AM

MOSES LAKE - If you are considering a wedding this year, one event to help your planning is the Columbia Basin Bridal Expo set for Feb. 23.

The Columbia Basin Bridal Expo begins at 11 a.m. and close around 4 p.m. It will be held at the ATEC building at Big Bend Community College, 7662 Chanute St. NE.

Growing from its inception, the Bridal Expo has had to move once and may need to move again. It started at the Moses Lake Event Center and moved to the ATEC five years ago.

"It's the biggest bridal show in central Washington," said host Bob Richardson, advertising director for the Columbia Basin Herald, prime sponsor of the expo.

"It has become very popular," he added. "Brides need to bring their mothers, sisters, bridesmaids and friends."

Richardson expects more than 50 vendors whose businesses are wedding-related. There will be numerous high school girls modeling wedding gowns and bridesmaid dresses in two separate fashion shows.

"There will be something for everyone," Richardson. "We'll have florists, cake decorators, site decorators, DJs, real estate agents, photographers and more."

A new vendor this year will be Moses Lake Mayor Bill Ecret, general manager of KDRM AM&FM and owner of Ecret Entertainment.

Ecret is a dual threat entertainer - a wedding singer and/or DJ. He plays guitar and has been entertaining for 20 years. He's done a lot of work at the college.

"I do all genres. If they need hip-hop, I can do that," he said.

Donna Jensen, owner of Classy & Crazy Cakes, will be back for her third year. She plans to display eight wedding cakes spanning two booths. She did five last year.

"We get most of our wedding business through this fair," she said.

Surprisingly, she said, some brides choose crazy cakes. The most popular from her shop is one that appears to be falling over. Popular birthday cakes feature the Seattle Seahawks and Dallas Cowboys.

Jensen, whose been baking professionally since the age of 16, says she can make "anything anybody can dream up." She's made sports cars, tow trucks and animals.

Another of the returning vendors is D&Z Events. Led by Jessie Dominguez, this company decorates churches and wedding halls.

The work done by Dominguez, his wife Amy and their good friends and partners Gabby and Ernie Zamora, drew raves last year. That work took about six hours. It may take more than a day this year.

There will be two chuppahs at the entrance to the Expo. There will be several tables with different wedding settings.

There will be two decorated stages and backdrop draping behind all vendor booths, and there will be special LED up-lighting. The colors will change with the music.

"We love doing Expo," Dominguez said. "It's one of our dreams. We really transform the room. It leads to a lot of phone calls, lots of contact."