Weddingstar Goes Under, Blames Trump Tariffs for Market Divorce
The honeymoon is officially over for Weddingstar.
Weddingstar’s Medicine Hat Warehouse
The global wedding accessory giant that put Medicine Hat on the map for brides from Tokyo to Toronto is closing its doors for good, and owner Rick Brink isn't walking down the aisle quietly. In a parting shot that could only be described as a bouquet toss straight into the political ring, Brink is pointing the finger squarely at U.S. President Donald Trump and the ongoing "tariff war" for killing the romance, his business, the company Weddingstar, based right here in the Hat.
"They have made our costs with the U.S. market completely unpredictable," Brink said in an interview, delivering a eulogy for the 48-year-old company. It’s a divorce, and frankly, Trump is the one who filed the papers. Rick explained it all to Tom over the phone today.
The news marks the end of an era for the Dunmore-based company, which grew from a garage startup in 1983 to a 50,000-square-foot powerhouse that once employed over 150 people . For decades, Weddingstar was the secret weapon of wedding planners everywhere. If you saw a custom cake topper of a couple holding tennis rackets, skiing down a mountain, or customized in the couple's likeness, it likely came from Brink's design team.
Owner, Rick Brink
The company's history is a classic Canadian business success story. Rick Brink, a former professional hockey player in Denmark, spotted a line of pop-up paper decorations and brought the concept home to Alberta . Over the years, the company evolved from selling streamers and bells to becoming one of the world’s largest marketers of wedding accessories, moving into its current facility (which has already been sold to a new owner) and shipping to 70 countries .
When COVID-19 decimated the wedding industry—causing sales to drop, Brink showed his legendary hustle by pivoting to manufacturing face masks. “Some folks complained about Chinese manufacturing at the time, and I also saw comments of people complaining the price was too high on locally made masks” he said at the time . That pivot allowed the company to survive the pandemic, but it couldn't survive Trump's economic policies.
According to Brink, the company had been fighting to stay afloat since the tariffs kicked in. While local industries like Methanex and Goodyear have found ways to absorb the costs or shift production, the wedding supply niche was too fragile to absorb the hit . "The tariffs just destabilized our pricing," Brink noted.
While the staff will officially be laid off by the end of October, the building has already changed hands. Brink stated, "I'll let them make the announcement publicly, they have already informed their employees," regarding the new owner's plans .
As the lights go out on the last "Weddingstar" sign in Medicine Hat, one thing is certain: the wedding is over, and the trade war just claimed a casualty that no one saw coming, except maybe Rick Brink. Rick says he is most proud of the people who came through the doors over the years. He is very proud to have employed and worked with many folks in Medicine Hat. Reviews on Indeed.com are mixed:
“Management is non-existent”
“Bad. Do not work here. ‘slave labor’. 1 star”
“Great management, mediocre work.”
“Job was very enjoyable… Always made sure we had everything we needed… Downside it got hot in the warehouse.”
For the full interview and Rick's unfiltered thoughts on the tariffs, check out the raw video footage on our YouTube channel.
