Love is in the air at the University of Wyoming.
The Laramie Sweetheart Bridal Expo hosted by Wyoming Weddings, LLC, was held at the UW Conference Center on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024 from noon to 4:00 p.m. and featured a variety of vendors for brides and grooms-to-be.
The venue lined the perimeter of the room with booths promoting their goods and services, from hair and makeup, to dresses, to entertainment and photography, just about every aspect of a wedding was covered.
“We’re just looking to see what options are here in Laramie, just because it’s kinda hard to find sometimes, but it’s nice to know there’s actual stuff that services Laramie rather than having everything done in Denver,” Natalie Simpson, a June 2025 bride-to-be and UW anthropology alumna said.
“If you go online and look to see what’s here in Laramie, there’s not a ton of options, so it’s really good to actually, physically see stuff that’s around here,” she said.
“Since the wedding is so far out, it feels good to be able to plan and kind of, conjecture, a little bit, and have some sort of idea of what kind of services we can get here in Laramie,” said Scott Collins, Simpson’s fiancé and UW sociology alumnus.
The event featured a fashion show with dresses from LKH Bridal & Formal of Laramie. There were also booths from out-of-state businesses looking to expand their clientele into Wyoming and spread the word about love.
This year’s wedding fashion relies heavily on the “clean and simple” look, and Wyoming doesn’t stray far from the trend.
“[Wyoming style is] not too dissimilar from Colorado, we’ve got a lot of nature lovers, people who like to be in the outdoors, there’s kind of a cross between florals, maybe some antique laces, as well as some simple clean dresses,” Ren Ringstad, an operations manager at LUV Bridal Denver said.
In addition to the dresses on display, there were some photography companies in attendance.
Ludwig Photography, which has been open for “118 years and counting,” according to their website, was at the event to recruit photography and printing clients.
“We are the oldest downtown business in Wyoming, and we’re also the oldest ongoing photography business in the nation. We opened in 1905,” said Demi Dusenberry, a retouching artist for the company. “We do real photographs on silver halide. Basically, it’s like the traditional methods of photography where you do photochemistry.”
Along with traditional photography, some new, trendy technology was being introduced to local Wyomingites. Aspen and Jeff Rech, owners of one of few 360 photo booths in Wyoming, were there to present the “newest, most modern version of a photo booth.”
“The whole concept is to have as much fun as possible,” Aspen Rech said. “They can have fun, they can dance, they can jiggle around and give us faces, blow kisses, pistol fingers. The thing is there’s not enough crazy! The more crazy, the better, because the video is better that way.”
This year, even though the expo for Laramie was held in February, attendees plan on celebrating their love year-round.
“I think February is a great time for love, especially with Valentine’s day, but I think love is all year round,” said LUV Bridal team lead, Josie Adsit.
“I don’t think that there should be a month for love, love is a lifelong thing,” Collins said. “I don’t think that love should be celebrated in a month, a day, a year, I think love should be celebrated all the time.”
