Bridal expo? Been to one?

[Gleam]

I''ve never been to one but I was offered free tickets to one that is supposed to be high end? What''s it like and is it fun and worth going to?

 

[honey22]

Been to one? Sweetie, I have been to more than I would admit to!!!

I sort of got addicted to then somewhere along the way - please don''t tell my ''real life'' friends

Anyhoo, I think they are a fabulous source of inspiration, especially when you are new to the planning stage. You never know what you are going to see? I would say go for it, especially with the freebie tix.

 

[monarch64]

Gleam, I went to one in Orland Park back in 2002 and it was way too much for me. The only part I really liked was watching the runway show. Otherwise it''s just a ton of vendors trying to get your email address and phone number by giving away something in hopes to gain your business. If you like conventions and that type of thing makes you happy ,then go, but there are so many resources online now that I don''t understand why people attend a crowded event like that where they''re herded around like cattle. Then again, I just don''t like crowds in general so maybe it''s just me.

 

[meresal]

We went to about 5.

They are definitely worth it! I even went to them after I had all my vendors to take pictures of florals, table set-ups, and of course, CAKE!!

Do you know how many vendors are supposed to be there? I know you said it is "high-end", but is it a "big" one?

 

[MakingTheGrade]

I went to one and it was fun, got to have lots of cake and food samples, and there was even a nice sushi spread for lunch!

 

[elrohwen]

DH and I went to one and it was awful! Lol. Ok, we're just lame because we hate anything with crowds. We also hate anything where people are trying to sell us stuff. We did get our DJ from it, so it wasn't a total loss, but honestly, we couldn't wait to get out of there. I just couldn't stand how every vendor was giving us such a hard sell - it was like we were shopping for a used car! Haha. I think we actually picked our DJ because they seemed professional and *didn't* give us the used car salesman bit like everyone else.

ETA: The one we went to didn't really give us any ideas for flowers or cakes. If it had, I think I might have considered it more useful! Also, the dresses picked for the runway show were kind of lame ... They were just very safe and blah dresses you could find anywhere.

 

[FrekeChild]

I wanted my ten bucks and my time back.

 

[meresal]

Date: 11/19/2009 1:49:17 PM
Author: FrekeChild
I wanted my ten bucks and my time back.

In the Bridal Show's defense... they are not centered towards the DW couple. If we were having a DW it probably would have been extremely pointless.

ETA: Freke, did you ever go to one in Vegas?

 

[ts44]

There is one here in January, and I''m considering going. I have all my vendors already but if they have table setting ideas or favor ideas, or decor ideas I''m up for that. I understand they are all different though so I will probably have to check ahead of time and see if it will be worth the price of admission.

I know girls who have gone and they said it was great, but none of them had vendors picked out when they went so it was truly a "shopping trip" for them, which changes the tenor of the event.

 

[meresal]

Date: 11/19/2009 1:56:05 PM
Author: ts44
There is one here in January, and I''m considering going. I have all my vendors already but if they have table setting ideas or favor ideas, or decor ideas I''m up for that. I understand they are all different though so I will probably have to check ahead of time and see if it will be worth the price of admission.

I know girls who have gone and they said it was great, but none of them had vendors picked out when they went so it was truly a ''shopping trip'' for them, which changes the tenor of the event.

I went after all my vendors were picked out, and I took pictures mainly of floral centerpieces, bride/bridesmaid bouquets, and some other miscelaneous items. We also picked up a few "random" things like ideas and coupons for favors, the newspaper that does the wedding/engagement annoucements in our area was there giving out $100 off coupons, and we even ordered a signature plate for our wedding party to sign the day of the wedding.

***ALSO! Men''s Warehouse has a good deal at most Bridal Shows. If you give them a $10 check/deposit while at the Bridal Show, then you will receive like $30-$40 off each tux you rent. This was completely worth it!

There are lots of booths with different discounts. Really, if you go to a good one in a big city, you will probably surprise yourself with what you will find.

 

[Smurfysmiles]

I went, got tons of email spam and unsolicited phone calls for months
I wouldn''t do it again if you paid me!

 

[meresal]

Date: 11/19/2009 2:14:35 PM
Author: Smurfyimproved
I went, got tons of email spam and unsolicited phone calls for months
I wouldn''t do it again if you paid me!

It helps if you set up a dummy email account for that "wedding" purpose and never give them your phone number.

We printed off labels with the necessary email info, so that you didn''t have to fill out the sheet at every booth you were interested in:
Name (First and Last)
Address (parents

)
E-mail (dummy yahoo account or whatever)
Wedding Date

 

[FrekeChild]

Date: 11/19/2009 1:53:13 PM
Author: meresal

Date: 11/19/2009 1:49:17 PM
Author: FrekeChild
I wanted my ten bucks and my time back.

In the Bridal Show's defense... they are not centered towards the DW couple. If we were having a DW it probably would have been extremely pointless.

ETA: Freke, did you ever go to one in Vegas?

At that point Mere, we didn't have a plan for a wedding at all. We were still up in the air with what we wanted. And the Bridal Expo was being held at the one hotel in town I was considering.

And nope never in Vegas. Just NM.

I got so many calls and "You've won a free __________" for months following, and truly I wish I hadn't gone. There was one bridal store vendor, 5 photographers, 2 tux shops, a couple cake shops, a couple travel agencies and a dry cleaners. It was entirely not helpful. Oh, and I forgot the sleazy lingerie store whose salespeople harassed my FSIL.

I had gone looking for the experience, and instead got a lot of hard sales tactics, irritating phone calls, and didn't get any stationery vendors, which was what I was really looking forward to.

If you go, don't give them any real information unless you want to be contacted all of the time.

ETA: I forgot the ONE floral shop.

 

[meresal]

Freke, Yuck! Sorry about that.

Luckily we didn''t get much hassle at the booths. However, the shows that we went to were very big, and the vendors didn''t have time to hassle one person, or they would miss the next 10 going by.

I also wasn''t impressed with the invitation booths. The prices at the ones here in Texas were exorbitant!

 

[FrekeChild]

Lol Mere, it sounds like you had a much better experience than I did. I guess it would have been more helpful if we had had a better idea of what we wanted, AND if they had had more vendors. It wasn't even in a ballroom! It was in the hallway outside of the ballroom, and terribly laid out.

Sigh...having BIG city tastes in a little city doesn't help either.

ETA: I think going to that helped convince me to do the Vegas thing, because it was not long after that that we put the deposit down at Mandalay. Lol. Thanks awful Bridal Expo!

 

[sunnyd]

I got my dress at an expo, found our DJ for a great discount and got $300 off the rental of my venue! And lots of good cake!

Needless to say, my going there was quite the fruitful event.

 

[redfaerythinker]

Definitely worth it! There''s free cake and lots of vendors with photos for inspiration. Did I mention the cake? Also the one I went to had a "fashion show". Seriously the funniest thing i''ve seen in awhile. I was crying through the whole thing.

 

[musey]

I always meant to go to one, but never got around to it. I found resources on the internet 8 gazillion times more useful than I suspect an expo would''ve been.

 

[Haven]

I went to one for my wedding, didn''t really like it.
I went to several for friends'' weddings, didn''t really like them.
I pretty much knew what I wanted, and I have a low tolerance for large groups of people milling around in confined spaces.
The people watching was *really* fantastic, though.

 

[iheartscience]

Date: 11/19/2009 7:08:42 PM
Author: Haven
I went to one for my wedding, didn''t really like it.
I went to several for friends'' weddings, didn''t really like them.
I pretty much knew what I wanted, and I have a low tolerance for large groups of people milling around in confined spaces.
The people watching was *really* fantastic, though.

Ha, ditto to all of this! I only went to one (twin sis and mom dragged me there) and it was pretty bad. But I did get my picture put in the paper! (I didn''t see it but a couple of my friends told me I was in a giant picture on the front page of the Style section or whatever!)

 

[blackbetty]

The tickets are always free.

I thought it would be fun, maybe inspirational, but it wasn''t. As I arrived and waited behind roughly 200-300 other brides-to-be, I immediately felt like cattle, and that feeling didn''t end until I had been shuffled through every aisle & seen every vendor. When you "register" you give your address, email, etc. That was well over a year ago & I STILL get emails from a ton of vendors.

 

[cleokizzy]

i went to several just to get ideas! plus... hhihi... all the ones i went to have free cake tastings!

that''s my main reason. haha

 

[doodle]

I''ve been to several, and while I loved the ones in my hometown because a lot of the caterers and bakers did tastings there (most of the caterers around where I live usually charge for tastings), so that was cool, I also went to one in Atlanta, and it was a freaking zoo, so I got annoyed with all the pushing, shoving, etc. If you have free tickets though, GO! I would go with a girlfriend though instead of your FI unless he''s really into that kind of thing because usually the men are just plain miserable.