Wooden bouquets among the attractions at cultural trust’s wedding expo in Greensburg

Wedding bouquets designed by Grace Stickle never wilt. They are all made of wood.

Struggling to find affordable fresh flowers for her own wedding, Stickle learned to make the unique bouquets. Friends and family began asking her to make their wedding flowers, and Stickle Stems was born.

Bouquets of the more common variety were on display along with long white dresses and intricately decorated cookie tiers at the Greensburg Garden & Civic Center on Sunday afternoon.

The Old Salem Road building played host to the Westmoreland Cultural Trust’s second annual Wedding Expo, connecting local couples to 53 vendors’ wares and services for their big day — ranging from formalwear and florists to caterers and DJs.

Stickle presented a table lined with vibrantly colored bouquets and corsages.

Based in Washington County’s Washington Township, Stickle Stems has been in business for five years. Stickle said brides are drawn to the wooden design for its cost efficiency and sustainability.

“A lot of brides are really conscious (of) one, cost and also sustainability. The idea of purchasing fresh flowers — while they’re gorgeous and stunning, most of them do get tossed at the end of the event,” she said.

“You do preserve a bridal bouquet, but that also requires you to either overnight it or preserve it, which is, again, an additional cost. So these are really nice because you keep them.”

That’s what drew Sophia Frye to select wooden flowers for her upcoming wedding in July.

Frye, 27, of Ligonier attended the expo with her sister and maid of honor, Lily Frye, in search of the two final pieces of her wedding puzzle — a cake and a DJ.

“I only just got engaged in October, so it’s been a short period of time to plan for. Actually, everything kind of just fell into my lap, which was exciting,” Frye said. “The hardest thing to find was hair and makeup, but, other than that, everything’s been pretty smooth. So I figured everything being in one place (at the expo) would be somewhat helpful.”

Vendors on trends

For Stickle, boho-style bouquets and flowers for black and white themed weddings have been popular recently. But saturated fall colors never seem to go out of style.

“I definitely want to engage with newly engaged couples or anyone looking,” said Stickle, who was notified of the expo by one of her clients. “It’s always nice to hear what designs are kind of in style or what people are gearing toward, because it changes so rapidly.”

Formalwear store owner Penny Heinnickel has noticed a similar trend in bridal gowns.

Though features like a basque waist, corset top and lace and crochet styles are trendy among modern brides, each of Heinnickel’s clients seem to have a different dream dress in mind.

“Brides are so different. We’ll have a dress, and I’ll be like, ‘We’re never going to sell that dress,’ and, two weeks later, someone comes in and buys that dress,” she said. “It’s just everyone has such different tastes. That’s what’s so fun about it.”

Heinnickel co-owns Adorn’d bridal shop with her friend, Tara Bernat. The duo started the business in June 2023 in Leechburg before moving into a former coal company building in Loyalhanna Township’s Slickville neighborhood in September.

Adorn’d has more than 800 bridal gowns, tuxedos and homecoming and prom dresses available for purchase. It seeks to emulate the experience of TLC’s “Say Yes to the Dress” for Westmoreland County residents.

This was the shop’s first time displaying at the expo, Heinnickel said.

“There’s a lot of brides that just don’t even know that we’re there,” she said. “There’s plenty of other good bridal shops around, but we just want to be one of them.”

Expo fills gap

About 350 people attended the expo last year, said Stephanie Reilly, manager of the Greensburg Garden & Civic Center.

“There wasn’t something like that in this area,” Reilly said, “and I thought it was a great way to bring attention to this space for weddings.”

The center hosts about 35 weddings per year, Reilly said — anywhere from the front lawn outside to the banquet rooms to the auditorium stage on the right side of the building.

“Not many people know this building exists, and we just celebrated our 55th anniversary in October,” Reilly said. “So we’re just reminding people that we’re here.”