Sudbury Bridal Show returns with a surprise ‘I do’

The Sudbury Bridal Show was back on Sunday after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hundreds of brides-to-be attended the event to check out dozens of vendors, which was celebrating its tenth anniversary.

The wedding industry, which was hit hard during the past two years due to various restrictions and protocols, has seen a surge in bookings.

Victoria Laderoute works for Dynamic Eventz, a company that organizes various events and the Sudbury Bridal Show.

She said event planners have been overrun this year with bookings.

“This season alone it was three years of weddings in two months. That’s what it felt like to us as a wedding vendor. Wedding vendors were exhausted,” she said.

She added that pre-pandemic, weddings were traditionally strictly held on weekends.

“People are having weddings on Wednesdays, Thursdays. They’re just getting them in because they want them,” Laderoute said.

“They’ve been waiting so long. They just want to be married. They want their wedding.”

She believes that there will be two seasons of backlogs to accommodate couples who had to cancel their weddings during the pandemic.

“It’s going to be busy for everyone, solidly for the next three years.”

Sudbury Steam Cleaners was a vendor at the bridal show, offering linens, alterations and complete a variety of other wedding-related jobs. They have operated out of the city for 100 years, and rely on weddings as a large part of their income.

Melissa Urso from the cleaners told CTV News their business has picked back up again.

“We have increased our amount of weddings. Even attending them. Everybody seems to be having a wedding or two each weekend,” she added.

The Bridal show also saw a surprise proposal. Andrew Pen popped the question on stage to his partner, Sylvie Gaudreau during a prize giveaway.

“I had no idea,” Gaudreau said tearfully.

“I thought I just won a prize!”

Pen said he was looking for an opportunity to propose.

‘I’ve wanted to propose for a long time and I just wanted to find the right time to do it,” he added.

The couple told CTV News they want to enjoy their engagement for now, and the wedding planning will come later.

In the meantime, the Sudbury Bridal Show will return to the United Steel Workers Hall in March 2023.