Photo submitted to the Times Observer Vendors display their services and wares during a previous Bridal Expo in Warren. This year’s event will be Sunday, Jan. 27 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Conewango Club, Market St., Warren. Tickets are $5 per person at the door.

If 2019 has you planning to tie the knot, your nerves may be frayed as you grapple with any loose ends.

Whether planning the big day has left you at the end of your rope or swinging high above the clouds, you won’t want to skip a special event this weekend.

Bridal Expo 2019 will be Sunday, Jan. 27 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Conewango Club, 201 Market St., Warren. Tickets are $5 at the door.

The event, held in the club’s ballroom, will feature approximately 20 vendors that provide services and items that can add the perfect touch to a wedding and/or reception.

Sunday’s expo gives brides, relatives and members of the bridal party the opportunity to meet those vendors, sample their offerings and even take advantage of some discounts all in one location, according to Joshua Archer, the club’s general manager.

“It’s an important day,” Archer said in regards to planning a wedding and reception. “The expo gives local people the chance to meet vendors face to face. It’s good to see what they have to offer in person.”

When it comes to planning a wedding and reception, the options have come a long way from the standard flavor of cake or swan-shaped ice sculpture cooling the punch bowl.

Most couples still request cakes for their reception, according to Jennifer Minski, owner of Fifth Avenue Cake Design in Warren. While small cutting cakes and cupcakes are sometimes preferred for a more laid-back reception, Minski thinks most guests expect to see a cake.

“There has also been some recent interest in individual cheesecake dessert bars,” Minski said. “This has been a great alternative for those who (gasp!) don’t enjoy cake.”

Even if a bride chooses to stick with cake, the days of chocolate and vanilla have “totally gone out the window,” she said. Her shop offers about 50 different flavors of cupcakes. “Most translate well into cake format,” she said.

Flavors aren’t the only changes that take the cake. Minski has had some pretty distinctive requests as far as the style of cake that couples want to celebrate their nuptials.

“Probably the most challenging wedding cake I was asked to create was for two engineers employed by Cummins,” she said. “They asked me to carve an edible engine block for the reception, along with a cupcake display served on a crankshaft cupcake tower.”

“It was a challenge and took quite a bit of research, but was well worth the effort,” she said. “I hear people are still talking about it.”

Wedding guests also tend to talk about personalized ice sculptures chosen by some couples for their reception, according to Bill Sandusky. He and his wife own Erie Ice Works. Sunday will be the first expo his company has attended in this area.

Like Minski, he has seen requests for sculptures evolve throughout the years. “Years back it was always a swan or heart that couples asked for,” he said. “Now we use a CNC machine. It’s pretty high-tech.”

Sandusky said carvings of Mr. and Mrs. are popular as well as the wedding date. “We can even duplicate an invitation or name,” he said.

Other vendors scheduled to attend Sunday’s expo include entertainment providers, photographers and venue providers, as well as many others.

The Bridal Expo is sponsored by the Warren Times Observer.