Expo offers help planning for special celebrations

Are you going to tie the knot?

You can get help planning for that at the Wedding, Quinceañera & Celebrations Expo on Saturday at the Yuma Civic Center.

Planning a quinceañera for a daughter? You can get help with that at the expo.

Are you getting ready for some other occasion? A celebration of a renewal of vows, maybe? Or anniversary party? A bachelor or bachelorette party? A celebration of a milestone birthday?

Whatever special event you have in mind, you can get help with the details at the Wedding, Quinceañera & Celebrations Expo.

The annual expo brings together wedding planners, photographers, caterers, DJs and any other vendors you need to help you have a successful shindig.

Produced this year by the Yuma Sun, the expo takes place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Yuma Civic Center, 1440 W. Desert Hills Drive.

Vendors will be set up inside at individual booths where the public can find out about and even contract for the products and services they provide.

Among other vendors slated to be present are gyms and fitness trainers, florists, jewelers, cosmetologist, hair stylists spas, limousine services, security services, food trucks, hotels and honeymoon venues.

In theory, in the time you spend at Saturday’s expo you can take care of all of preparations for an upcoming special occasion.

“We look forward to providing services to everyone for their upcoming special events,” says Stephanie Daniels, events manager for the Yuma Sun. “It’s a one-stop shop that will put people in touch with all the services they need for their events. We are excited and looking forward to having the expo as our first in-person event in 2021.”

But the expo isn’t all about doing business with vendors. The schedule of events includes fun activities, such as two runway fashion shows: one to show off wedding dresses and the second to model quinceanera dresses.

There will also be a “Nearlywed Game,” patterned after the long-popular game show “The Newlywed Game.” Soon-to-be married couples attending the expo will be picked out as contestants for prizes in the game.

Entertainment will also include a local bartender who will present some ideas for drinks to serve at special occasions.

For the first time this year, the expo features a longtime tradition from the South – a cake pull, in which ribbons with fortunes have been baked into the layers of a wedding cake. At the wedding reception, single ladies each are given an opportunity to pull a ribbon – and fortune – from the cake.

And there will be a Hunt for Prince Charming scavenger hunt, plus dance routines at the expo.

Major sponsors for Saturday’s Wedding, Quinceanera & Celebrations Expo are Sand & Stone Fine Jewelers, Gateway Mortgage and Code Boutique Formal Gowns & Tuxedos.

Admission to the expo is a $5 pass, which can be pre-purchased at the Yuma Sun, 2055 Arizona Ave., or purchased at the door the day of the event. Those who come to the newspaper beforehand can take advance of a two-for-one offer – buy one pass and get one free.

Event organizers and vendors will observe Centers for Disease Control guidelines for preventing the spread of COVID-19, and the public is asked to wear masks anytime social distancing is not possible.