On the wall behind Weddings & More owners Garry (left) and Sharon Alderman are wedding photos that Garry has taken. He and two of their children shoot weddings.
Photo by E.L. Conley
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RIVERVIEW — When Sharon and Garry Alderman married in 1969, it was a simple wedding.
Nearly 38 years later, they're still thinking about weddings.
The Trenton residents have owned Weddings & More, 17090 Fort St., for a little more than 13 years.
"We try to have everything but the dress," Sharon said.
They don't have tuxedos or limousine services, either, but just about anything else a prospective bride and groom could want is wedged into Weddings & More, which is in the middle of the strip mall on the southwest corner of the Fort Street/Pennsylvania Road/Trenton Road intersection.
It all started out of Garry's photo studio. He eventually started only shooting weddings and opened a storefront, and the Aldermans started to stock wedding supplies. The current storefront (they've moved once) is next door to where Sharon bought her wedding dress.
The Aldermans — who have four children and three grandchildren (a fourth is on the way) — removed the photo studio, though Garry and two of their children, Sheri and Brad Alderman, still photograph weddings while Sharon minds the shop. Garry's wedding photo of Brad hangs on the wall behind the cash register, and other photos of his are on the walls, too.
Garry said that he shoots about 35 weddings a year, and the three of them combine to shoot between 80 and 100 annually.
Among the items the Aldermans have in stock are shoes, slips, jewelry, tiaras, veils, flower-girl and christening dresses, gifts for attendants, cards for parents and attendants, favors, cake tops, car pompoms, wedding planners and invitations, which can be ordered at a 25 percent discount out of several catalogs.
"It's unusual for even the Internet to beat our prices," said Sharon, who said that she and Garry scour the Internet and bridal shows to compare prices and get ideas for items to sell.
The Aldermans also can put couples in contact with vendors who videotape weddings, bake cakes, decorate reception halls, design silk flowers and chocolate fountains and provide disc jockey services. The prospective bride and groom can meet the vendors at Weddings & More or elsewhere.
Sharon said that it's neat to share the excitement of the pending big day with couples, and it's nice to see them in the community, too.
"We'll remember a face," she said. "We have a lot of nice customers."
Those customers have sent lots of word-of-mouth customers to Weddings & More.
"That does make you feel good, especially nowadays for a small business," Sharon said. "Thirteen years — it makes us proud we've done that."
Once an engaged couple has the wedding and reception sites reserved, the next stop is Weddings & More. It takes two weeks from the time that invitations are ordered to when they arrive.
The Aldermans often see couples (most often bride-elects) several times before the wedding, and even have had them stop at the store on the wedding day to buy anything they might have forgotten.
There are two advantages to visiting a store like Weddings & More vs. ordering from the Internet, Garry said: Customers can draw from the Aldermans' experience, and ...
"Here, you get to touch and feel (items)," he said. "There are no surprises."
Two of the Aldermans' children are married, and Sharon and Garry played a big role in the planning.
"We did just about everything through here," Sharon said.
"The boys got married, but the girls had fun shopping," Garry added with a chuckle.
The Aldermans' goal for Weddings & More is to continue to find new products at good prices — and to help couples have nice wedding days.
If the bride has her perfect dress, Weddings & More can help with just about anything else.
Garry (left) and Sharon Alderman have owned Weddings & More, 17090 Fort St., Riverview, for a little more than 13 years.
Photo by E.L. Conley
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Weddings & More
17090 Fort St.
Riverview
OWNERS: Garry and Sharon Alderman of Trenton.
SERVICES: Everything related to weddings except wedding/bridesmaid dresses, tuxedos and limousines.
FOUNDED: 1994.
HOURS: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays; 1 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays; noon to 4 p.m. Sundays.
INFO: Call 1-734-284-6420.
