A wedding fair can be the bride-to-be'€™s best friend, as long as they know where to go.

Since 2014, the largest web directory for wedding events, bridestory.com, offers a unique experience to help couples find the person that can materialize their idea of a perfect wedding.

Chosen for their craftsmanship and fresh ideas, no fewer than 100 vendors, both well-established and '€œrising star'€ companies as well as participants from the Philippines and Singapore, were assembled for the event that lasts until Sunday.

'€œWe have moved the online experience offline, where brides- and grooms-to-be can get ideas of how their weddings would be, meet the right vendors directly and get the best deal while they'€™re at it,'€ Bridestory co-founder and CEO Kevin Mintaraga said at the opening day on Friday.

For its first Bridestory Fair at the Sheraton Grand Jakarta Gandaria City Hotel in South Jakarta, the organizer gathered vendors grouped into 19 categories '€“ from wedding concept artists, photographers, invitation designers and printing companies to wedding bakeries and florists.

Themed '€œContemporary x Classic'€, the event venue was arranged to cater to hassle-free window shopping, with wide corridors lined with baby'€™s breath bushes.

The booths of noted vendors, such as Nefi Décor, Jacky Suharto Photography & Videography, Stupa Caspea and designers Yefta Gunawan, Hian Tjen, Yogie Pratama, Andreas Odang, Didiet Maulana and Auguste Soesastro stood side by side with Singapore'€™s Kartoe and The Proposal Bridal as well as Indonesian newcomer photography studios Angga Permana, Attipatra and Mono Pictura and invitation designer PoLA Artistry.

Noted fashion photographer Davy Linggar provided a photo studio installation, designed by architect firm Studio TonTon, at the venue for would-be clients to recognize the edgy, rustic feel of his works.

'€œWedding photography constitutes less than 30 percent of my work. Many people have approached me before without knowledge of my style. This is the first time I have taken part in a wedding fair, and I hope it will help would-be clients to get the idea,'€ he said.

Bali is still a favorite place to tie the knot, luring wedding-related businesses to open branches on the island. Manila-based Mayad Studios, for example, recently opened a photography studio in Bali, where it usually received two or three wedding jobs a month.

'€œMost of the clients prefer westernized weddings held by or on the beaches of Bali,'€ said Mayad director of external relations and marketing Sheena S. Caburog.

A survey by Bridestory found that over 70 percent of the respondents preferred personalized and intimate wedding parties of their own choice, while only 4 percent let their parents make the decisions.

Wedding concept artist Nastassya Saputra of flyingbride.com said she helped brides- and grooms-to-be create their dream wedding '€” rustic, glamorous or fairy-tale-inspired '€” with ideas coming from the couples'€™ personal stories.

Bridestory also introduced Hilda, the virtual wedding organizer assistant in a mobile application to be released soon. At three booths located in strategic places around the venue, agents helped clients get discounts on the prices quoted by vendors.

'€œWe expect 20,000 visitors during the three days of the event,'€ said Kevin, adding that more than 50,000 people had downloaded the Bridestory mobile app to get an invitation for the event and that it had 2 million followers on its Instagram account.

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