It’s almost the end of the wedding season and it is the beginning of bridal show season. I’m sure all the planners and upcoming brides are going to be excited and busy with the shows already. Rhonda and I are going to be busy attending the shows, shopping for great deals for our brides as well as scouting new vendors to add to our database. We are honoured to be invited by The Mandarin Golf and Country Club to be part of their open house this Sunday, September 26 from 11am to 5pm. We will be having a booth there. It is a very nice venue for a outdoor weddings. So come visit us and check it out! We look forward to see you there!
I know a lot of people had wrote about bridal show tips but I wouldn’t mind doing it again and add a few of my own little tips here for you.
1) Wear comfortable shoes. You don’t want to kill your feet after hours of walking.
2) Bring Return Address sticker labels for draws and vendors mailing lists. There are too many vendors there and you don’t want to waste your time filling out ballots.
What you need to put on the label is: Your name, mailing address, wedding date and email address. ***If you don’t want your email to be spammed after your wedding, you should signup an email address just for your planning your wedding.
3) Bring a wheeled bag. You wouldn’t know how much flyers and free magazines you can grab at a bridal show. Bring a wheeled bag will help save your shoulders from carrying all the heavy magazines and planning guides. It also give your friends’ shoulders a break too. Rhonda introduced this wonderful bag to me last year. It’s about $24.95 CDN and I’ve bought one myself. Loved it!! I bring it with me for shopping trips just in case I buy A LOT and can’t carry that much myself 🙂
4) Do your homework before attending the show. You won’t need to do this if you have a wedding planner because she WILL do all the research FOR you. You want to optimize your time at the wedding show. You will find that bridal shows are always packed with people and vendors trying to get your attention when you walk by their booths. You will start feeling tired after walking for 30 minutes, not because of the walking but you feel overwhelmed with too much information. Visit the bridal show website and browse through the vendors list, checkout the vendors’ websites before attend the show and mark down their location on the map. You will know who you are expecting to see at the show and whether they are someone you likely to hire. This way you can easily take advantage of the “show only discounts” and make decision ON THE SPOT because you’ve done your homework and know about the vendor.
Happy Bridal Show Shopping!
~Carmen
