Calgary wedding businesses are gearing up for the summer season by closely watching the upcoming royal wedding.
At Anne Peterson's Flowers, staff debate what flowers Kate Middleton will carry down the aisle. "I think it's going to be all white classic flowers like gardenia," Elli Jespersen says. "Brides will be asking for whatever Kate's going to be having in her bouquet or have something similar."
At Shoe Craze, customers are crazy for shoes. The manager expects it to get even crazier after April 29th. "I think it's going to bring more business in and I think people will be excited to see what Kate's wearing so they can get it as well," says Laura Halabi.
The focus on the bride-to-be and her hat fetish has already boosted sales of fancy headgear. Mo Fraser of Zsa Zsa's Hat Salon says that what Kate wears will be giving the green light to what everyone else can wear.
Wedding planners say the upcoming royal nuptials will set wedding trends for years to come. "I think that brides are really going to be saying ‘Kate Middleton looked pretty great walking down that big aisle at the church'. Let's focus back on the ceremony versus everything being focused on the reception again," says Ciara Daykin, CEO of Firefly Occasions.
While no one knows yet what Kate's dress will look like, bridal experts agree it's bound to raise the bar for gowns to come.
"It's the essence of ‘you've got a princess in the making'. You've got an idea that sets the tone for young girls' dreams," says Evalina Schmidtke of Evalina Couture.
Let's not forget there's a man involved here too.
Men's formalwear locations say what Will wears will also set trends. But it won't be men showing up wanting to copy the king-to-be. "Never it'll be a bride saying – "I saw William wearing this and I want you to wear this at our wedding," Marh Bagherpour of Dirk's Formal Wear said.
The royal couple ties the knot on April 29th.
