Home| Wedding Businesses Make Pages of National Glossies |
| Written by BETSY COHEN of the Missoulian | |
| Monday, 08 June 2009 | |
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In the 2009 spring/summer issues of the premier national bridal magazines - Town & Country Weddings and In Style Weddings - three local talents grace the pages. Featured in both magazines are the gorgeously crafted wedding cakes of long-time Missoula baker Margaret Ambrose-Barton. The sumptuous gourmet country-French fare of downtown Missoula's Pearl Cafe & Bakery, where Ambrose-Barton does her baking, is highlighted in Town & Country Weddings, and the design and organizational talents of Jennifer Horsley, a Missoula wedding planner and owner of Habitat Floral Studio and Events, make the pages of In Style Weddings. The national exposure is both welcomed and a bit humbling, Ambrose-Barton said. “It's a nice reward after 20 years of work,” she said while making a chardonnay layer cake with passion-fruit filling and buttercream frosting in the Pearl Cafe kitchen on Sunday. “To be so recognized is exciting in some ways - and it was a real honor for me - but there are a lot of talented people in this area who also deserve a lot of credit.” Talent and ambience abound in Montana, which is why Big Sky Country weddings are booming - and getting attention, Horsley said. “Montana is becoming a destination place to get married,” she said. “A good portion of our clients are out of state who hire me to help them plan because it is so much cheaper than for them to fly in and out several times. “A lot of the brides I work with live in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and they choose Montana to get married because it's beautiful and it is considerably less expensive for them to get married here.” By way of comparison, Horsley said an “average wedding” in San Francisco costs about $75,000 and in Montana, the same wedding for those California brides costs about $35,000. “The average wedding last year was about $35,000, with catering, flowers, venue and coordinating services,” Horsley explained. “And the average wedding in Missoula for people who live here is around $25,000.” Despite a national recession, the wedding business isn't taking a pause down the aisle here in Missoula. “We are seeing more quality and less quantity in terms of purchases this year,” said Doreen Breza, owner of Beautiful Weddings Bridal and Evening Wear in downtown Missoula. The emerging trend this year: elegant, conservative and sleek, not poofy Cinderella-inspired ballgowns. “The price range for the majority of our gowns are $900 and up,” Breza said. “The most expensive gown is around $3,000 - and we sell those without hesitation. “My Polomas are flying out the door, and those are high-end dresses.” What is playing out in the dressing room this season is also playing out in the kitchen. Last fall, local catering companies initially wondered how their season would unfold this summer when the stock market crashed and unemployment began to climb. “Catering becomes really competitive in economically challenging times because it's one of the first things people do without,” said Beth Higgins, owner of Two Sisters Catering, which operates out of the Florence Building. “But we are up by 20 percent this year.” Although they aren't seeing the huge parties as they have in the past, like Breza's experience, Two Sisters is being hired for smaller, higher-end parties. “We are seeing that people are spending the same total amount, but it is for fewer people so they are getting more bang for their buck,” Higgins said. “Instead of the big-big wedding, where people spend $12 a person, I am seeing more parties in the $20 to $25-a-plate category.” “We are very busy,” said Horsley, adding, the wedding business is alive and well in Montana. “It's the trend overall.” “There's definitely a lot more activity now in all the years I've been doing this,” Ambrose-Barton said. “And there are wedding planners all over the state now who do high-end weddings for people who live in the big cities. “It's very exciting,” she said. “But to do weddings is very stressful.” The pressure is enormous, especially when Montana's summer temperatures can hit 100 degrees or more, and the tiered $1,000 cake Ambrose-Barton has made to feed 300 people - which took a week to bake, assemble and decorate - could melt or collapse if not carefully constructed or attended to. “Everything has to be perfect because it's a really special day,” she said. “And it is really fun. I like the creative part of it all, and meeting the brides. It's a lot of work for a wonderful occasion.” |
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