By Melissa Morgan

Transcript Features Editor

As the wedding season rolls in with a vengeance, local brides should know they don’t have to travel Interstate-35 to find some of the best ideas and deals to plan the wedding of their dreams.

Susan Potts, owner of Occasions in Norman, has arranged for a group of local wedding specialists to gather from noon to 4 p.m. today at Cobblestone Creek Golf Club, 1350 Cobblestone Creek Dr.

Called the “Tie the Knot” Club, she said its members will bring their full artillery of expertise regarding everything from wedding invitations to party favors brides need to know about before signing off on plans for their special day.

“Brides have so many decisions to make, and their time is very precious,” Potts said. “We want to help brides get the finest quality for all their wedding needs, and it is possible to do this right here in Norman.

“All of the ‘Tie the Knot’ Club members believe in personalized attention and service. This event should prove to be especially helpful because of the wealth of information that will be provided to the brides.”

Potts, who has owned the West Main Street wedding-planning store since August, began harvesting the idea for this event upon learning about local brides’ tendencies to travel long distances for items available in a 30-mile radius.

The idea grew into a concept as her plans to grow her store merged with the reality she and her “Tie the Knot” Club can bring local services to the brides.

“All of the time and expense of driving to OKC and Dallas could be avoided if brides were aware of what was available here,” Potts said.

“After mentioning this problem to other locally owned businesses, we agreed that we needed to get the word out about all of the fabulous wedding possibilities in Norman. I decided to recruit help and start marketing an event.”

One of the places she started was at Republic Bank and Trust, where Mariann Lawson, marketing and community relations officer, was more than happy to help.

“We thought it was a wonderful thing to be a part of and a wonderful thing for Norman,” she said. “The people who are part of this are all local businesses and they’re very service-oriented and service-driven types of businesses and we’re excited about the opportunity for more of those businesses to participate this fall.”

For Potts, Lawson and the rest of the “Tie the Knot” Club, the plan is to recruit more vendors after today’s event and immediately start planning for the fall affair.

“It’s only been about two months of planning for this first one,” Lawson said. “After this first one kind of gets wrapped up, I know that we’ve had a lot of other people show interest in wanting to participate as a vendor.”

For today’s festivities, vendors that have committed include Abbey Road Catering Inc., Amy Cakes, Copelin’s Office Center, Derma-Logic, Dreamcations Travel, DvProductions Inc., Dynamic Expressions, Lewis Jewelers, lollie’s beauty bar, Redbud Floral, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Shevaun Williams Wedding Portraiture, Shannon Ho Photography, The Homesteaders Real Estate, the international pantry, Tom’s Formal West and Weddings by Method Events.

“We started out with a small group who shared the vision, and it has grown to dozens of local business owners,” Potts said. “I am not aware of any other venue with the quality of local businesses that have joined ‘Tie the Knot.’ We have meetings planned to discuss how to make the next bridal fair offer even more services.

“We want brides to know that we care about their wedding. Personalized service is the ‘Tie the Knot’ difference.”

And to all those brides considering attending the event today, Potts had one piece of advice: Don’t forget to bring Mom!

Melissa Morgan

366-3544

lifestyles@normantranscript.com