BRIDAL EXHIBITIONS

Bridal Exhibitions are held several times a year in almost all areas of the country. Some of these are excellent and have a wide range of exhibitors and others are small with perhaps only one representative from the various areas covered.

When you are planning your wedding you will need essentially to find a photographer, a florist, a limousine hire company, a cake maker and a dress shop.

You will find many other people at an exhibition from conjurers, balloon stands, chocolate fountains and even mobile casinos. There will be suppliers of wedding favours, table decorations and tiara and veils.

These exhibitions are perfect for seeing the work that florists can do and talking to different florists about their work and their prices. It is very easy to walk away from a stand if you do not like what you see or hear. The same goes for cake makers. Look at the quality of their work and ask about prices. One bride I knew asked a shop to make her a cake for 60 guests in the shape of a cottage. She was quoted £150. She then asked her mother to ring the shop a couple of weeks later and ask for a cottage shaped cake for a silver wedding anniversary party with 60 guests. She was quoted £70. When the word ‘wedding’ is mentioned you can almost see the pound signs light up in suppliers eyes.

Photographers will be able to show you examples of their work and you can compare quality of work and prices easily when you are seeing several on the same day.

Wedding dress shops dominate these exhibitions and you will be able to see a range of the dresses they have in their shops although some of them only take their most expensive dresses to the shows. I have discovered that this is to ‘show off’ to the other bridal shop owners. The bridal business is very competitive and indeed, very bitchy.

It is well known and even a bit of a joke that bridal shop proprietors can be very snooty although I have not yet discovered why. Having owned a bridal shop for many years I cannot see any reason to be snooty to customers. Going to a bridal exhibition will give you the opportunity to talk to the staff from the shop and get some idea if you want to even consider buying from them.

I know brides who have been either glared at when they had the temerity to look at the dresses or totally ignored. Ask what ranges they carry in their shops and if you can have an ‘out of hours’ appointment. This will give you an idea of what sort of reception you will get when you set foot into the shop. A good bridal shop will always offer ‘out of hours’ appointments. After all they stand to make hundreds of pounds profit from selling to you!