LIHU‘E — Susan Tai and Ivan Kaneko of Kalaheo came to the Bridal Expo last weekend to get ideas for planning their 2010 wedding.

“We wanted to check out the vendors because we want to spend our money locally even though you can get a lot of things cheaper from the Mainland and off-island,” Tai said.

The Road to New Beginnings Bridal Expo at the Hilton Kauai Beach Resort offered brides-to-be and their families a chance to meet with wedding photographers, florists, makeup artists, wedding cake samples, a fashion show by JM Formals and a ballroom dancing demonstration by Susie Ayers, all without having to purchase a plane ticket and travel to O‘ahu.

Mei Lin Poai of Kapa‘a came to see Robert’s Jewelry about a wedding ring for her fiance Kahuwila Kanakaole of Keaukaha, Hawai‘i.

“It’s stressful to get vendors from off-island,” Poai said. Poai won one of the many prizes given out throughout the four-hour event — a free engagement photo session from Photo Spectrum.

Some 200 people attended the event including Naomi Teves of Kalaheo, who will have her wedding with partner Erika at the Kauai Beach Resort.

Teves, who brought her mother Martha and Erika along, liked the setting better than the larger expos.

“This is much more personable. Even though it’s smaller in scale, you can really see everything,” she said.

The Bridal Expo was put together by Kauai Beach Resort Food and Beverage Coordinator Jeanne Silk Toulon and Jill Kozen, co-owner of Wedding in Paradise.

“Our main thing was we wanted people to come and see how a wedding could be set up at our hotel,” Toulon said.

“We’re a kama‘aina hotel. We know everyone is hurting in this economy and we want to make it more affordable for everybody,” she said.

Kozen has been the exclusive wedding coordinator for Kauai Beach Resort for 20 years and also a vice president of the Kauai Wedding Professionals Association.

“It’s an inexpensive way for the Kaua‘i consumer to know what Kaua‘i has to offer,” Kozen said.

Twenty vendors, all from Kaua‘i with the exception of two Honolulu companies, attended the expo.

Pua Lei — A Flower Shop, displayed centerpiece arrangements as well as flowers on one of the four display wedding cakes.

“We’re very fortunate we were asked to do this event,” Pua Lei designer David Efren Alayvilla said. “We have a lot of people asking to join our e-mail list.”

For more information about having a wedding at the Hilton Kauai Beach Resort, call Jean Silk Toulon at 246-5510 or visit www.kauaibeachresort.hilton.com

• Ellen Edmands, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681, ext. 241 or eedmands@kauaipubco.com