By BTL Staff
DETROIT – The 2016 BTL Ultimate LGBT Wedding and Anniversary Expo will be moving to the MotorCity Casino Hotel March 20, 2016. The event will be spread out over the huge ballroom facility and incorporate Sound Board, where a professionally produced fashion show and other entertainment will be staged.
"We are excited to partner with Between The Lines on this lovely event," said Irene Lignos, Director of Conference and Catering Sales. "We are prepared to do whatever it takes to assist with decor, lighting, cutting-edge audio visual and our expertly crafted banquet services to make this a truly memorable event."
BTL's same-sex wedding expo started in 2012 at the Detroit Marriott Livonia with 30 vendors and about 100 attendees. Each year the Expo grew in vendors, attendees and sophistication with entertainment and larger fashion shows. In 2014 the event moved to the Southfield Civic Pavilion, a much larger space that allowed for up to 100 vendors and staging for an expanded fashion show. The 2015 Expo, also at the Southfield Civic Pavilion, had sold out vendor spaces, record attendance and included workshops, demonstrations and lively entertainment.
The U.S. Supreme Court's historic decision June 26 granting full marriage equality nationally has galvanized the wedding industry. A recent Williams Institute study shows that same-sex weddings in Michigan could pump as much as $53.2 million into Michigan's economy, and that over 7,300 same-sex couples are poised to marry in Michigan within the next year.
"We have been swamped by the interest in the LGBT Wedding Expo," said Jan Stevenson, co-publisher of BTL and organizer of the Expo each year. "Businesses offering wedding related services want to exhibit, other businesses just want to be somehow involved to show their support. It is really wonderful to see how excited everyone is about marriage equality. It is also a fantastic opportunity for jewelers, dress makers, venues, florists, invitation makers, caterers, bakers – every service that goes into a wedding – to develop an entirely new market."
Moving to the MotorCity Casino Hotel gives organizers a chance to greatly expand and enhance the Expo, with more room for vendor space and one of the most technologically advanced conference and theater facilities in Detroit. Planners are coming up with ideas for fashion show staging, entertainment and event enhancements that are only possible in such an advanced facility.
"The MotorCity Casino Hotel has been fantastic to work with so far," said Stevenson. "They are making the full capacity of the facility available to us – it is overwhelming how much we can do there."
The 2016 LGBT Wedding and Anniversary Expo will be at the MotorCity conference facility which has its own marqueed entrance. Abundant free, secure parking is available right outside the conference facilities, so attendees can drive right up to the Expo entrance and park for free. The MotorCity Hotel is offering a special Expo room rate package for those who want to stay Saturday or Sunday night and enjoy the luxury accommodations, restaurants, spa, fitness and business centers and – of course – the gaming.
