 The annual Bridal Expo in Bemidji has been helping couples plan their big day for 20 years now. Our own Sherelle Moore has a behind-the-scenes look at this year's event. You may have noticed a lot more engagement announcements on your social media feeds this month. That's because the end of holiday season is the beginning of wedding season. This is the largest bridal event in the area. Radio station has been putting this on forever. There's always been a bridal event for the past 20 years and we've always been involved in one form or another and I would say recently in the past 15 years we've taken the event to a more organized level. The annual bridal expo has been hosted at the Sanford Center for the past five years. It sees anywhere from 150 to 200 brides. They come from all over northern Minnesota and not just Bemidji. They range from Grand Forks to Duluth, International Falls, North Home, Bagley, Park Rapids, just really about a 50 to 70 mile radius of Bemidji. Brides and grooms come with family and friends to check out the latest trends in the wedding world from the local experts who know what they're talking about. These are your industry leaders in the bridal industry. They are here. They're going to take you all the way from the bachelorette party all the way through to the honeymoon. Now the bridal expo is the one-stop shop for all your wedding planning needs. This year there are over 40 vendors so you can find everything from dance lessons to catering. Different vendors for venues, photography, anything you can think of that has to do with wedding. What's great is that people can come, they can meet the people, they can get that report, they can see their products. You can dream up things that you didn't think even existed for weddings when you start planning so you can really get some good ideas all in one day. The one thing the expo is missing is the dresses, but that could change in the future along with a new date. We've been looking to have a major dress manufacturer in the event so we'll be looking to go to after Valentine's Day next year and have it the first Sunday after Valentine's Day and we know we're going to have some pretty big names involved with the event in the future. Reporting in Ramiji, Shawmore, Lakeland News. Organizers say 20% of the foot traffic this year was from grooms which is a big increase from previous years. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.