New Toowoomba wedding industry breakfast to act as ‘catalyst’ for sector shake-up, say organisers

Legendary cake-maker Mary Reid saw how badly the local wedding industry was affected by Covid-19, which is why she’s helping to launch a new breakfast which will revamp the sector.

Excited for a special wedding industry breakfast at The Oaks are (from left) Jake Murray, Oaks Toowoomba manager, Trudi Bartlett, Regional Development Australia and Mary Reid. Picture: Nev Madsen.

Legendary cake-maker Mary Reid saw how badly the local wedding industry was affected by Covid-19.

“In the past 12 months, we have seen hundreds of small vendors go to the wall, at anational andregional level,” she said.

“I know 15 of my top cakers have gone to the wall.”

It’s why the award-winning decorator is helping to bring a new event to town which she hopes will revamp the sector and unleash its full potential.

Ms Reid is on the committee for the Wedding Industry and Business Leaders breakfast to be held at The Oaks Hotel on July 9 from 6.30am.

The event will feature a speech from ABIA Weddings Australia’s managing director Natasha O’Meara, who is using it to launch a national wedding e-platform.

Ms Reid said Ms O’Meara had partnered with local entrepreneur Kim Cahill, who was also launching a platform on her toowoombadarlingdowns.com.au site, which would place all small industry operators in one place.

“The fact this lady chose a local small business operator to collaborate with is a significant boost in confidence for wedding venues,” she said.

“The fact that she’s launching in a regional centre and prepared to take the story of Toowoomba’s wedding vendors to other states in Australia says a lot about the quality of the vendors here.”

Ms Reid said the industry needed to evolve beyond traditional ways to showcase vendors and embrace a future that was bothe digitally-focused and collaborative in nature.

“This initiative is going to inspire significant opportunities for this region, and what Natasha is putting forward are some incredible strategies for the industry,” she said.

“We couldn’t ask for anything better in a post-Covid environment.

“Expos are not going to be the way of the future – social media, online marketing and sales will be the way.”

Also on the committee is Regional Development Australia’s local director Trudi Bartlett who said the local wedding sector could be an economic powerhouse.

“The flow-on effect of having people come to attend weddings is not just the dollars spent on that wedding, it’s what those visitors then spend on in the region,” she said.

“Really, what we’re hoping is that this event is a catalyst to get those that are in the wedding industry and those that value-add to start working together.”

Ms Cahill said Ms O’Meara’s decision to launch her initiative in Toowoomba could not be understated.

“To have someone of Natasha’s calibre from a prestigious organisation is a coup that will reap benefits for the region as it becomes one of the nation’s quality wedding destination packages,” she said.

To buy tickets, head to toowoombatickets.com.au.