Third annual wedding expo returning to Strathmore

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Strathmore’s third annual wedding expo will be taking place at the Legacy Barn, April 28, expanding on the success of its previous two iterations. 

Daniel Wiewel, owner of MaxSPL Music, and event coordinator for the expo, said the event will be free to enter and is family friendly, welcoming anybody who wants to explore the expo.

He added the event has been experiencing noticeable growth as it continues to host, particularly in the realm of attending vendors. 

“We are getting quite a bit of interest from a larger variety of vendors as we have grown. For example, I have got four different DJ companies coming, where in previous years, I was the only one there,” he said. “We are getting the word out, and I have heard the majority of new vendors that I have coming this year all heard about it through word of mouth from vendors from last year how much they liked coming out, and they were recommending it to other vendors.”

Wiewel explained on his part, there has been a learning curve to hosting a trade show, such as the value of attending vendors’ time. 

This led the expo to reducing from a two-day event, down to a singular day, which bartered more success in year two and a greater response from attending businesses.

“The big thing this year is the venue change. The Civic Centre is a great venue for a large variety of events, but the Legacy Farm Projects barn is definitively Strathmore,” said Wiewel. “It still has a lot of rustic charm, but it still has quite a bit of modern amenities and class to it that I think is really (well suited) to this type of event … partnering with them on this has been very beneficial.”

Similarly topical, the Legacy Barn itself is no stranger to being utilized as a wedding venue. 

Wiewel added the Legacy Barn was happy to welcome other wedding venues to the expo, rather than maintaining any sort of exclusivity. 

“They were happy to open their doors to other local venues because we have a strong belief … that Strathmore can be a hub for a lot of weddings that want that rural barn experience, but want to be close to amenities,” he said. “We are pretty blessed to have the amount of amazing venues nearby for a town of our size.”

Scott Silva, director of business development for the Legacy Farm Project, said their team is also working to increase the viability of the venue with the addition of heat to the barn, and on-site accessible washrooms. 

The idea being to allow for the utilization of the venue year-round, as well as to increase accessibility for patrons.