Brides - Do you do the National Wedding Show?

Not me. I don't really see the point in it TBH...

I've been to 1 wedding fayre and that was only because I happened to be in Bristol that weekend viewing the venue and had spoken to a florist during the week who said they'd be there and would have a bouquet similar to what I wanted. Since we're not from the area we popped along.

We weren't there very long. Saw a few florists who sounded expensive, then saw the one we wanted to see and afterwards, we booked her.

The only thing we did take away from there was the idea of a harpist. I emailed her that day and still not heard back from her (this was last September!). But since then it made me realise I wanted a String Quartet ?

Hi Katie,

Like you , I have been approached by the Nat wedding Show- We also have one here in Harrogate which is just up the road from me.

I did look into it but its SO expensive, I think It worked out at about £1000, once you take all the extras you have to pay for into consideration (lighting/electricity points, etc)

I would have to sell a heck of alot of items to make it pay for itself. Different if you sell dresses as you only need to get probably 1 order & its covered your costs.

Its a catch 22 for us little guys really, we want to get more brand coverage but very few of us have the money to do these larger shows.

have you ever thought about joining up with another bridal type retailer & splitting the costs? I do this at wedding fayres with a lady who makes wedding dresses (I went to school with her) we split the costs 50/50 - has worked ok for the few fayres we have done together.

Sorry not much help really but if youeever decide to do it... let me know how it goes!!

Enjoy the sunshine too!!

Debbie

x

Cheers! Blimey - haven't had a reply since September, slightly concerning!

Will see what the general feedback is.

Ta!

I've been to the national wedding show this March at the LG ARENA Brum with my OH on the last day.

What I would say is:

A - It's more aimed towards women ( my OH kept saying)

B - There's a lot of Bridal stores but I didn't feel enough stores of the little things. I.e flowers, favours, muscians

C - Your inundated with loads of books and leaflets that, if i'm honest got thrown away.

D- We had VIP tickets and for the extra money paid didn't feel we actually got anything extra.

I would say to any bride to be, think seriously about attending it as it's a very much hyped up show.

I went to the one at the MEN arena last year and loved it! it gets a really good turn out!

I couldnt agree more!!!

i thought the NEC show was pants! me and my mum went and TBH it was rubbish - i got handed loads of flyers etc but they were all from suppliers who only really cover the birmingham area - im not getting married near there (despite it being a "national" show was all people local to brum exhibiting)

i mainly went to look at dresses but didn't see any i liked and despite going all prepared to try dresses on, didnt try anything,

a total waste of money. i've found local fayres to my venue a thousand times better as everything is aimed at your area, you can find suppliers who have worked at your venue before etc etc

Thanks for all your feedback.

And yes Debbie it's a nightmare where you are teetering on the edge of whether to take the risk of doing something this big or not! I need to have a proper think. At the moment I don't do a stall with anyone else & if I'm honest I don't know how I'd fit everything in half the space as I take chairs, mirrors etc for plus all of my items!

Hey ho - will get my thinking cap on.

Possibly will give this one a miss & see where the next year takes me.

I considered doing the big exhibitions in Scotland but have decided against it. I'd rather put the money into more local fayres and advertising marketing. I just don't think the big exhibitions suit us little handcrafted businesses mainly because of the time involved to recoup the money before we even touch making a profit. I recently paid £200 for an exhibition and that was really successful but that would be the most I'd want to be paying for a 1 day show.

With all my exhibitions 90% of brides are there for ideas so I'd be really surprised if a lot of brides would order on the day. I did take 3 big orders at my last exhibition (the girls had seen me the previous year and came back specifically to order) and the time involved in that was immense and I actually considered whether I should be taking their details and contacting them afterwards to finalise the order but then I'd run the risk of losing the order.

Good luck with whatever you decide. x

We went to the national wedding show last year and we thought it was great. we didnt know what we wanted before going and to be honest, it was great for identifying what we wanted and taking leaflets for people we would look into online.

because it is in london, you would either need to be a local london supplier, or a national supplier though id imagine, because most people go from london or the nearby areas, so a eg bristol florist or photographer wont get much interest.

One thing I would say is that it is way better than the local ones for content, there are literally 100s of businesses there, whereas we went to a small one held at UWE and it was almost dead and very few businesses, mostly venues...

I'm from just outside Birmingham and I'm going to the one at the NEC in March.

We have a specific list of things to look at (photobooth hire, florists, videographers, menswear) etc. but I'm taking my Bridesmaids as a fun day out.

It'll be me, OH & 3 BMs on the Saturday, with me, OH & my parents on the Sunday. Saturday will be fun, Sunday will be business.

I imagine it'll be like a trade show, with lots of leaflets that have the potential to be ignored. If you can, I would look at offering a discount code for those who have made enquiries at your stall to make sure you are remembered.

The only thing we are looking for that I could imagine ordering there would be the photobooth, but only because it's an actual product. If I needed a dress or hair accessories then I'd probably look at ordering them there if I saw something I liked