By Michele Jurek, Toledo Free Press Staff Writer

With so many websites dedicated to planning weddings and creating unforgettable events, and so many bridal shows featuring all the latest styles, it would be easy for a bride to become overwhelmed when planning the big day.

Local experts in the wedding business provided some insight as to what trends brides may most want to keep in mind as they plan their 2015 event.

According to Lia Colapietro, a custom floral designer in the Toledo area, flower crowns have become a big trend recently.

“Big, over-the-top flower crowns started showing up last season. They are a romantic or fun touch for the right bride,” Colapietro said. “I recently outfitted a future bride with a floral crown for her engagement photos.”

The top accessory she creates is the bouquet, and another trend she loves is the statement ribbon. Bouquets accented with long, flowing trails of specialty ribbons in silks, velvets and more are gaining popularity, Colapietro said.

Asymmetrical and flowing bouquets are also becoming popular, and lately she has been designing floral cuffs for the mothers of the bride and groom.

“They are a nice twist on a traditional corsage,” she said.

Another trend, which Colapietro hopes will stick around for a long time, is sustainability.  She grows some of her own flowers and loves adding an accent of locally grown foliage to make an arrangement really stand out.

“Brides are very savvy about checking out trends on various websites,” Colapietro said. “There are many sites out there devoted to inspiration. Because we live in a smaller city, you see a lot of the same trends rolling out for a season or two. I would love to see more focus on color trends and then see how a couple can pull together flowers and decor to reflect their own personality.”

Brides are also starting to bring color into their wedding gowns, said Jeanne Fairchild, owner of Atlas Bridal Shop in Toledo. Ivory and champagne are popular colors and some brides are now asking for blush pink.

Fairchild said lace is popular and it is the shop’s most requested fabric. Backs are getting lower and lower on the gowns, she said. All silhouettes are popular, from slim fit and flares to large tulle ball gowns. Many of the ball gowns Atlas is selling have interesting skirts, such as sparkle tulle and ruffles. Beaded belts are very popular and can be worn with every silhouette. Designers are showing long fitted lace sleeves for spring 2015.

Manufacturers are starting to show headbands, but Fairchild is not sure that Atlas will regularly sell the look quite yet. The shop has purchased a few that can be worn either across  the forehead or on the top of the head.

“Brides looking for a formal gown with a train can expect gowns to start at $900 and go up from there,” Fairchild said. “Informal gowns without trains can be found in the $200 to $500 range.”

As for bridesmaids’ dresses, Atlas is selling a lot of floor-length chiffon and cocktail length with all-over lace. More and more brides are choosing a color, but letting each maid choose her own gown, which is beneficial to the bridesmaid because each girl can choose a style that flatters her figure and suits her personal style.

Bridesmaids can expect to pay between $150 and $220 at Atlas for their gowns, Fairchild said.

“Participating in a wedding can be very expensive,” she said. “There’s the gown, shoes, personal prep the day of the wedding (hair, makeup, nails), shower gift, wedding gift, and possible travel expenses. When asked to be in a wedding, you aren’t just saying ‘Yes to the dress.’”

Jenny Dever of Toledo, who is planning her wedding for June 6, said trends didn’t even enter her mind when she was picking out her dress and accessories. Some of her friends that were getting married were going with vintage styles, but she felt they did not look right on her. She had her mind set on a white, mermaid-style dress, but inadvertently ended up choosing something that is trending — she fell in love with an ivory lace ball gown with a tulle skirt.

“I didn’t even realize the dress wasn’t white until someone told me, and I had to compare it to the white one before I could even believe it,” she said.  “The color and style aren’t what I had planned at all, but you never know what you like for sure until you try it on.”

Jason Kelley and Laura Spiess met while working at a pizza parlor in 2010. Nearly five years later, they are the brains behind JL Entertainment and bookthatdj.com.

They are also in the middle of planning their own wedding.

“I’ve found that we’re more picky because we see the same things over and over,” Kelley said. “The biggest thing was finding a venue. We don’t want to have our wedding at a place where we’ve worked at.

“It’s stressful any way you look at it,” he said. “Planning a wedding is stressful.”

After the pizza place where they worked closed, the couple began planning open-mic sessions, karaoke and comedy contests with their business, JL Entertainment. During this time, Spiess got certified as a wedding planner.

Eventually, the couple began managing and handling the booking for Graystone Banquet Hall in Perrysburg.

“That became our place of business, I guess,” Kelley said. “The great thing is we live across the street.”

The two collaborate using their individual skills: Kelley likes to work with people and Spiess dives into the small details of their business.

The couple has a panel made of dry erase boards they hang in their living room and call their “Brain Board.”

JL Entertainment, which bookthatdj.com was launched through in 2011, offers professional sound and event planning. Other options include a photo booth, chair covers and, coming soon, a catering service.

In 2013, Kelley was voted best disc jockey in Toledo in a local poll.

“I don’t necessarily consider myself the best DJ in Toledo. There [are] a lot of great DJs,” he said. “But I do love that all the people that know me and appreciate me went out and voiced their opinion.”

Kelley said there’s never a dull moment when he DJs weddings. His energy is directly correlated to the energy from the crowd.

“You have multiple age groups, multiple types of people, multiple vibes throughout the entire evening,” he said. “It’s the DJ’s job to provide a backdrop for that and create energy.  … I feed off of people’s energy, whether they’re having a good time or a bad time.”

Kelley said he tends to tune out songs he doesn’t like when seeking that energy.

“I like when people are happy and, at the end of the day, that’s what makes me happy,” he said. “I’m not listening to the music; I’m feeling the vibe and watching the people.”

Kelley said he has a lot of fun with his profession, but admits it is hard work. In 2014, the company, which has about 20 employees, DJed almost 400 weddings, a number Kelley said he wants to double in 2015.

“I get up early in the morning and go to bed late at night,” he said. “It’s constant, constant, constant work.”

For more information, visit

bookthatdj.com. Kelley can also be seen at Bar Louie, 4105 Levis Commons Blvd., every Saturday night.

Laura Brown, the scribe behind Signature Scribe & Silhouettes, picked up the calligraphy pen several years ago but has had no formal training in handwriting.

What began as a way to make a little cash as a stay-at-home mom evolved into a business creating hand-lettered wedding invitations, menus and books as well as everything from a die-cast firetruck for her friends’ children to a family tree.

She officially opened Signature Scribe & Silhouettes last spring, but has been writing calligraphy — or as Brown likes to call it, “vintage handwriting” — for the past four or five years.

She said the wedding invitation is one of the most important aspects of the wedding — one that brides often put off until the last minute. The bulk of her business is being there for brides who have a million other things to do besides those pesky envelopes and invitations.

“People forget sometimes that the invitation is a peek at showing what the event is going to be like,” Brown said. “Brides worry about first impressions. This gives people a little hint of what’s to come, and I think brides would want that little extra touch of class.”

Brown’s lettering is not the gothic style that “you can barely read,” she said. She calls her style “old-fashioned.”

Not a lot of people are in the business. When she started out, she had to research companies in Ann Arbor, Detroit and Cleveland. “There’s not a whole lot out there,” she said.

She doesn’t advertise and relies mostly on word of mouth, Facebook and wedding shows. She attended a budget bridal expo a couple of years ago, and said the experience blew her mind.

“People just love it,” Brown said. “People want to stand and watch me. They are oohing and ahhing. Everybody likes pretty things. [I realized] if I write everyone’s names, then they would probably keep that. So I took my pen and ink and notecards and when a bride would come by, I’d write their names for them. It goes up on the fridge and everybody says ‘Who did that for you?’ So when it comes time for invitations, they’ll think of me.”

Mardelle Shaffer hired Brown for her invitations, signs, menus and more for her September wedding. She had nothing but complimentary things to say about the finished product.

“We were really pleased with everything,” Shaffer said. “It really helped step up the look of everything for my wedding. It made it more classy and elegant,  especially for the invitations that set the tone for your wedding.”

Some brides like to put a special twist on the invitation and add a wax seal. One of Brown’s clients used a seal and it worked perfectly, she said.

Brown said she is trying to grow her small business but still needs the flexibility to care for her husband and children, ages 1 and 4.

As she builds her wedding clients, she has been doing other side jobs, including a family tree, the lyrics to a song and a baby book.

“I definitely have room for a lot of growth,” Brown said. “The funny thing is you watch someone do calligraphy, it’s very slow. It’s almost like drawing. I want it to come out like I’m handwriting. It doesn’t take me nearly as long as you would think.”

Brown enjoys Renaissance weddings and believes that’s her market. She’s also there for the bride who “doesn’t want to mess around with the envelopes.”

“You know you have a bunch of other stuff to do and I can have it for you in a couple weeks,” Brown said.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/signaturescribe or www.etsy.com/shop/signaturescribe.

When she became owner of Atlas Bridal Shop, Jeanne Fairchild knew she would have the position for a long time. Years later, she still has no retirement plan in place.

“I truly enjoy coming to work every day,” she said. “There’s not a morning that I get up and … don’t feel like going to work. I genuinely love it.”

Atlas Bridal Shop, 4895 Monroe St., was opened in 1927 by Anna and John Szaroleta. It specializes in bridal gowns and dresses for bridesmaids and flower girls, as well as mothers’ gowns.

In the beginning, the store featured original gowns made by the owner who dreamed of turning it into a family business. Anna even sent her son, Chet, to school to be a pattern maker before he was drafted into the U.S. Army, Fairchild said.

“When he came back from the Army, he actually wanted to be a doctor but she said no,” Fairchild said.

The shop was originally on Lagrange Street and had a cutting room in a lower level. Customers would choose a design and Chet would make it.

Chet and his wife Dorothy eventually took over the shop from his parents before Fairchild, who is not related, took over in the 1980s. At the time, Fairchild was going into nursing, which she balanced with managing the shop for a short time with the help of two of Chet’s daughters, Lorrie Lewandowski and Lynn Szaroleta.

“I gave up nursing and haven’t looked back,” she said.

Fairchild became the sole owner more than a decade ago, a move she was confident she could handle after learning from the previous owners.

“I was surrounded by the family so I was never afraid,” she said. “Dorothy and Chet have both passed away now [but] I just feel like I try to run the business like I want to make those two proud. I have so much respect for them.”

Fairchild said the values and vision of the shop are the same today as they were almost 90 years ago.

A big part of the business is the interaction between Fairchild and the future brides.

“I love getting to know each girl. I love to hear her story. I love to hear how she met her fiancé, where she’s getting married, what makes her wedding unique,” she said. “I’m genuinely interested in these girls.”

Today, the shop includes dresses by designers including Allure Bridals, Sottero & Midgely, Maggie Sottero, Alfred Angelo, Bill Levkoff and, Fairchild’s favorite, Mori Lee.

“We’ve carried them forever; we have one of their earliest account numbers,” she said. “They’re reasonably priced, they’re well-made and their style is very versatile.”

In addition to wedding attire, Atlas Bridal Shop also sells dresses for proms. Blue by Atlas Bridal Shop will open within the next couple of weeks in order for teenagers to prepare for one of their junior and  senior years’ biggest events.

This is the fourth year the seasonal shop has been catering to the needs of local high school students.

Blue by Atlas Bridal will be open  until May and will open again for homecoming in the fall. For more information, visit bluebyatlasbridal.com.

Fairchild said her employees feel like family. There are 16 long-term employees working at the shop. The operations supervisor, Tiffany Strock, has been with the company for half her life; she began working there part-time when she was 16.

“Working here is like working with your family; we’re like a big, happy family,” Strock said.

There are also two seamstresses who have been with the company for more than three decades.

“We know a lot of everyone’s personal business, whether we want to or not,” head seamstress Jo Hafner said. “But it’s nice because if you have any type of family problems or something dramatic, everyone sticks together.”

Fairchild agreed.

“I have the greatest bunch of people working for me and it’s very much like a family; we’re very much involved in each other’s lives and, because of that, we work as a team,” she said.