woohoo first bridal fair today...

[bee*]

I know it''s so silly to be so excited about a bridal fair but we have a big one in Dublin today and D and I are going. I could barely sleep last night as I was so excited

Has anyone else been to many of these and are they any good? Will report back later after I''ve been. My mother and I are going to it tomorrow also as she has to work today so can''t come with us. woohoo

 

[yarrmatey]

I went to a bridal fair here in Orlando, and to be honest, it wasn''t really that helpful. (Tons of free cake, though!)

It was mostly tons and tons of vendors soliciting my business. Granted, if you signed a contract with them that day, they offered HUGE discounts, but as I already had all of my vendors when I went, I felt there wasn''t really anything for me. Plus they had a fashion show of the most horrific wedding dresses I''ve ever seen.

Hopefully yours is a better experience!!

 

[CrownJewel]

Date: 1/26/2008 10:44:36 AM
Author: yarrmatey
I went to a bridal fair here in Orlando, and to be honest, it wasn''t really that helpful. (Tons of free cake, though!)

It was mostly tons and tons of vendors soliciting my business. Granted, if you signed a contract with them that day, they offered HUGE discounts, but as I already had all of my vendors when I went, I felt there wasn''t really anything for me. Plus they had a fashion show of the most horrific wedding dresses I''ve ever seen.

Hopefully yours is a better experience!!

That''s funny because the bridal book I have says the same thing about bridal fairs. More free cake than you could ever want to eat, vendors greedy for your phone number, mailing address, and email address, and hideous "fashion shows."

Bee, I would be careful who I give my contact info to. I signed up for a bridal show once, didn''t actually go, but to this day I still get phone calls from strange vendors.

 

[Pandora II]

I went to two in London:

The Designer Wedding Show - Battersea Park.

Seriously good, un-pushy vendors, great ideas and calm, controlled people there. Loved it and am thinking of going to the next one in Feb.

The National Wedding Show - Olympia.

Hell on earth, really tacky products, pushy vendors and a complete bun-fight amongst the people attending. Fights over dresses, people stripping off to their undies etc. It was mildly entertaining on a 'people-watching' way, but I had a migraine within an hour!

Oh, and NO FREE CAKE at either.

 

[UCLABelle]

Excited about the report!!!

 

[bee*]

ok I''m back! It was actually quite good. We sat in tons of wedding cars, but as that''s D''s area, not sure we got any closer to finding the one that he really wants. I saw lots of dresses but didn''t see anything that really stood out to me. We couldn''t stay for the fashion show as D has a professional exam coming up soon so I didn''t want to spend all day there, plus I''m going back tomorrow with my mam. The photographers were only alright as I''m meeting up with a guy who''s work I really like in a few weeks, so I kind of have blinkers on in the meantime in relation to photographers. We might have found our videographer though. I want to look at his trial video when D comes around later. Oh yeah, and there was a TON of cake!! I never knew there could be so much of a difference between companies. We found the girl who will make ours-her designs were very unique and the cake was amazing. I think D probably ate half a cake there today as every time I saw him he was munching away. So all in all, not a bad day out. I didn''t fill out my phone number on so many of their sheets and I have an old email address that I use for people that I don''t want to give my normal one to.

I''m looking forward to seeing the fashion show tomorrow. I still have just over 16 months until my wedding so I can always return next year and book things like the cake and mens suits.

 

[anchor31]

We found our photographer and reception entertainment at a bridal fair and it definitely saved us (me) a lot of reasearch. The dress fashion show was way too long, though... We left half-way through.

 

[bee*]

Date: 1/26/2008 1:27:57 PM
Author: anchor31
We found our photographer and reception entertainment at a bridal fair and it definitely saved us (me) a lot of reasearch. The dress fashion show was way too long, though... We left half-way through.

ooh that''s a good point-we were planning to sit at the front-might sit nearer the back in case it does drag on! Thanks anchor!

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

It down near Belview and UCD I bet. My FI and I almost went to that one last year when were living nearby but it was the same weekend we went to Barcelona so we didn''t go. I just wanted to see what wedding planning would be lik in Ireland.
The big one where I am is not helpful at all and it was painfully crowded. However, my venue is holding thier own with just their approved vendors and I am looking forward to that one.

 

[bee*]

Hi Brazen, it''s in the RDS in Ballsbridge (it''s about 15 mins from UCD). There was one out in citiwest a couple of weeks ago which is our biggest fair but I was in NY so couldn''t go to that one. I went back to the RDS one today and I booked the videographer and also booked our cake. So another two things ticked off the list!