By Jessica Isaacs | jessica@highcountrypress.com
Photos by Ken Ketchie
Brides and grooms showed up in droves to the Boone Mall on Sunday, many accompanied by friends and family, to check out this year’s High South Wedding Expo.
Couples planning to get married took a tour of some of the High Country’s best and most experienced wedding and special events professionals, sharing ideas and getting to know local vendors.
The expo was hosted by the High South Event Professionals — a network of experts who work to promote the area’s wedding and special events industry.
Florists, consultants, caterers, bakeries, photographers, musicians, stylists, jewelers, rental companies and more decked out their spaces with examples of their work for potential clients to see.
High South Wedding Expo
The annual expo allowed for many participating vendors and friends to catch up after a long winter, and gave some new folks a chance to get to know the local wedding and events community.
“It’s very important to me, because, being a new vendor, I’ve got to get the word out and to market myself. It’s good exposure,” said Kelly Carpenter of 16 Hands Farm, a new venue in West Jefferson. “It’s my very first expo so I didn’t know what to expect, but so far I’ve gotten a lot of good comments and leads. Meeting the other vendors has probably been as important for me as getting new brides to the farm.”
Proceeds from this year’s expo will directly support a Hayes School of Music scholarship fund at Appalachian State established in memory of Jordan Howell Hallmark, a 28-year-old musician who lost his life in October. The HSEP board elected to support this fund in honor of Hallmark and his mother, local baker and wedding pro JoAnn Hallmark.
“It really touched my family and meant a lot to us. Especially in my work community, it’s more like a family than it is like a group of competitive people in the industry,” JoAnn said. “When they called and told me I couldn’t talk.”
Several representatives of ASU’s music industries program, including professors who worked with Jordan, performed live music during the expo in his honor.
“It was wonderful and it would have meant so much to my son. He loved it up here, he worked hard to get into the music school and he absolutely loved it,” said JoAnn. “He loved all of the professors and the thought that this event is helping to raise money to give somebody else like Jordan an opportunity to have the experience he had at ASU … it gives me some joy.”
Visit jordanhallmark.org to contribute to the scholarship fund.
Check out some photos from the expo and visit highsouthevents.com for more information on HSEP and local vendors.
Head to highsouthweddings.com to see a digital copy of our sister publication, High South Weddings.
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