4 Tips for Choosing Bridal Shows

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I really enjoyed all of the comments that our members shared in response to my recent post titled Vendor Tips for Attending Bridal Shows. I thought I’d take this post a step further and talk about how to choose the right bridal show. As we know, there are so many wonderful shows to choose from but it is just impossible (and costly) to attend all of them. For advice on this, I’m going to refer back to Inc. magazine’s article titled: How To: Make The Most of Trade Shows. Here’s my own wedding spin on what Inc. has to say:

1. Consider your objectives. For example, focus on regional shows if one of your goals is to expand in a specific geographical area.
2. Get closest to your niche. For example, high-end vendors may look for bridal shows that cater to the luxury bridal segment.
3. Get the numbers. Inquire about the audience size and demographics of previous bridal shows. Ask how this upcoming show will be advertised. Try to get a sense of how many people will be likely to show up.
4. Know where the “in” crowd goes. Inc. magazine reminds us that shows often go “in” and “out” of favor. Check in with past attendees to gauge whether a past show was helpful for their business. Start discussions within wedding forums as another way to gauge a bridal show’s popularity and effectiveness.

One bridal show that has caught my attention is Wedding Week 2010, which will take place in Norfolk, Virginia from March 24-28. Wedding Week’s keynote speaker will be celebrity event designer, Preston Bailey (photo shown to the left), whose A-list clientele has included Oprah Winfrey, Donald Trump, Joan Rivers, Liza Minnelli, Mr. and Mrs. Matt Lauer, Michael Douglas & Catherine Zeta-Jones, Uma Thurman, and royal families across the globe. Other premier event designers will speak, including Sasha Souza and Diann Valentine.

After speaking with Wedding Week’s head coordinators (and fellow BridalTweet members!), Lynn Dula and Tricia Epps, I was excited to hear that this event will not only cater to brides but there will be a series of professional courses to enhance the skills of the wedding vendor community. Kudos to Lynn and Tricia for creating such a dynamic and educational agenda for this upcoming bridal show. Here is a glimpse of some of the professional courses that wedding vendors will find at Wedding Week 2010:
• Eco-Beautiful Weddings (Speaker: Katie Martin) – Discover how to create a fabulous eco-friendly wedding. Learn how to take serious steps towards making eco-friendly changes in the way you run your business. Find out what green brides are looking for and how to reach them regardless of budget.
• But Are You Making Money? (Speaker: Donnie Brown) – Learn proven job costing methods and pricing guidelines to super size your bottom line.

For more information about this event, please visit Wedding Week 2010.

What tips can you share with our wedding community about choosing bridal shows? Please comment below.

About This Blog: Christine Dyer has an MBA in marketing and shares over ten years of marketing expertise with the wedding community. In this weekly blog called Supercharge Your Wedding Business, you'll find advice on an array of wedding business topics such as how to market to brides, social networking, wedding PR, wedding sales, vendor networking, branding, pricing and much more. .Please pass this news along to your own professional wedding network. To receive this advice in your email inbox each week, Sign Up for a Free BridalTweet Membership.

Tags: bridal shows, bride leads, business”, how to market to brides, marketing”, selling to brides, social media, wedding PR, wedding expos, wedding networking, More…

Comment by Loraine McCall on January 18, 2010 at 3:25pm: Thanks, Christine, for this great article. Somethings I consider when choosing a bridal fair is consider the time of the year. Is it during engagement season where there would likely be more brides to come? If I am not too sure I want to participate in a specific fair or not, I try to attend as a viewer and talk to the vendors there during downtime. And ask them the pros and cons of the bridal fair again, I like to go during the last hour of the event because I would not want to keep them from getting a potential customer.

When talking to Bridal Fair reps, I also like to find out which vendors have participated in the past and like to contact some of those who came the previous year and ask them details. BTW I Love to befriend vendors during the shows because we all work together -- including other photographers! If I need a third or fourth photographer for an event, I could always contact them and hire them if they are available as well. I also have a section on my website where I have a small directory of mainly local vendors who I have either worked with or seen their work and would recommend to my brides. Sometimes these vendors end up placing me on their sites too.
I too would love to hear of other vendor's techniques on choosing a fair. Also on what kinds of offers they give during them.

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http://mojicaphotography.com

Comment by Debbie Mancini on January 19, 2010 at 1:56am: Look to see if they are a member of BSPi (Bridal Show Producers International). This is a association of show producers who maintain and enhance the quality of Bridal Shows for the benefit of the exhibitors and the public. It is like looking for the Good House Keeping logo for bridal shows.

Comment by Dave Austin on January 19, 2010 at 8:58am: I agree. Bridal Fairs are a tossup for many vendors. As a professional DJ company, we do very few bridal fairs, but when we do, we select very carefully. We feel that many, if not most of the brides who attend fairs, become overwhelmed by daunting amounts of information, displays, and competing vendors. They leave with their heads spinning and a large supply of brochures, handouts, etc., most of which never get looked at again. Please don't misunderstand me. Bridal fairs are extremely effective for some categories of vendors, but when I'm setting up my booth at a fair along with 15 other DJ companies, it really becomes a question of the odds. We've found that direct marketing is more effective for us. We use email, Constat Contact, telephone contact and text messaging. We also offer prospective brides incentives to meet personally with us. For most businesses, effective marketing is a tough problem, and through trial and error, most of us have to find what works best for us.

Comment by Nathan Simmons on January 19, 2010 at 12:09pm: Great info Christine!
Let me add that you need to make sure that there is a proper ratio of vendors at the show so the brides are not overwhelmed with info and start getting frustrated. I have almost stopped doing shows in the Houston Metro are because they tend to sign up anyone that will pay. The last show I did have way too many photographers - 5 aisles and 8 photographers on each aisle, and the show before that while it was much larger had even more and by the time brides would get to me (I was about mid floor), they were not interested because they had already gotten so much info. I felt worse for those on aisles after mine because it was even worse...

Comment by Sheree` Bochenek on January 19, 2010 at 1:01pm: How much effort a vendor puts into their space reflects how much effort they will provide the client. Wrinkled linen, thin wisps of tulle, and amateur photography does not instill confidence in a bride. Try to draw in the attendees' attention, and make your space unique. I've inserted a photo of our space from The Twin City Bridal Wedding Fair.

Comment by Christine Dyer on January 19, 2010 at 2:19pm: Sheree - I love that photo! Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

Comment by Merry Sherman on January 19, 2010 at 5:14pm: I used to do every bridal show that came along. Thought it was the way to meet brides. Well, after being burned by a free bridal show coordinators, I now choose any I do very carefully. In 2010, I am planning on only one so far. The one I have choosen, gives away a totally free wedding, (value $10,000). I will be giving either a wedding cake or grooms cake. Because the bride must be present to win, they stay around all day and you get to really talk to each bride. I got a lot of contacts from it last year. I also scoop other shows to see what other vendors are doing, how the show is run and talk to vendors to see if that show has produced business. I do not regret doing the shows I did as I did make a lot of vendor contacts and we help each other out.

Comment by Ebony Sparkes on February 9, 2010 at 11:28pm: Wow Sheree that is a beautiful booth and if I were a bride, I would definitely want to stop by and talk to you. My thing is how effective you can be at meeting with brides in one of the venues. I went to a huge bridal fair here in a couple of weekends ago to scoop out the scene. There are so many brides it just seemed like people were standing there trying to get as many cards out as possible. Vendors didn't really try to have a detailed conversation with them. That picture is inviting and definitely gives the feel to come on in and have a seat to chat.