Bridal Expo..What to Expect?

Following! Also interested in others' experiences.

There will be a lot to take in. There will be a lot of people and sometime a lot of vendors. I would take the info of a company and then some research. Its not easy to have a real conversation about what you are looking for because there is always a lot of people. People will try to sign you up for a lot prizes. I saw a lot of spam in my email from it. The vendor tab was a lot more helpful than any bridal show I've been to.

Bring return address stickers with you that you can slap on entries, etc. Writing your address over and over again gets old FAST

Make a wedding email to give out to avoid getting a ton of spam/offers to your personal email. I use mine for all my wedding correspondence with my vendors too, to keep from losing track.

My only advice is don't give out your email/phone to ANYONE unless you really want what they are selling. I went to an expo with my mom early January and I am still getting spam calls and emails, VERY annoying.

There definitely was a lot to take in. I didn't really get any benefit from going and was disappointed.

Free drinks!

SoonToBe Mrs. Green is right about the personal email. Tell vendors you don't have a phone number and make an email address specifically for wedding planning. You'll probably see a lot of vendors that you don't like and very few that you will. Just browse around and take the amount of time you would like at each booth. Don't let vendors you're not interested in keep you there for a million years..sucks the fun out of it. If there is a DJ there, make sure you listen and take notes of the MC's names so you can remember which DJs and MCs you liked best. If you get a folder, put the vendors you like on one side and the vendors you don't like on the other (they'll all be handing out their cards, and maybe even bags with stuff in it). Also, if you "win" something after attending, be very wary. Most of the time there is a major catch!

They are fun however i second a previous poster about being careful giving out your email. I get random emails every day from photographers, venues, makeup, dance lessons, Botox and plastic surgery places lol, the whole nine yards. However I won my engagement photos from a bridal expo raffle so they're not all that bad and met lots of vendors who I would've otherwise never heard of. Better yet, make an email account just for wedding stuff!

Make a new/separate email address for the bridal show vendors!! They will all blow up your inbox if not! Also, print off and take labels that say your name, address, wedding date, phone number and said new email address! Makes entering in drawings much easier!

Hard sales. The vendors at expos pay hundreds to spend the entire day at this event, rent their booths, transport their goods, set them up, break them down, and drive home. They intend to recoup their investment. That's the truth.

I got a free Sonicare Philips toothbrush lol

Happy bride here

Thank you everyone! I really appreciate all the advice!

You can also create a "burner" phone number for bridal shows. Just sign up for a Google Voice number. You can check the voicemail at your leisure.

So glad we had a wedding only email address n labels...Super handy!

Yes yes yes to the address labels and the email address just for those vendors! and if there is any vendors you are definitely wanting, be sure to talk to them. A lot of times they offer the discount if you book with them THAT DAY. I went to one and a catering company there offered all kinds of deals, including the chocolate fountain and fruit display free if you booked with them that day.

They are fun and overwhelming all at the same time. I don't know what they're like outside of my area, but I know that we get a lot of "too good to be true" stuff too! Vet everything well. Don't agree to anything right then and there unless you're willing to step out side, do a little research and go back to them. I had a friend get screwed over by a cake company because even though they were legitimate, they weren't great people, they didn't have a large background, and it had been their first big bridal show. there's also a lot of "get away" people, trying to sell you on a vacation/honeymoon and they do the free drawing stuff, and it's the same exact thing you tend to sign up for at a fair and all they do is call and call you and there's definitely a catch. For these reasons, that's why it's overwhelming. You see and talk to so many people. But at the same time, there's SO MANY great things you can win, discounts, and information you might otherwise just skip over. So be careful, take a pen with you so you can star the business cards or info packets that you're considering, and don't let all the people and information stress you out. The can be so much fun, just be prepared.

There may be lots of cake samples. There was SO. MUCH. CAKE.

Eat a healthy breakfast, and bring refillable water bottles. You will need it between all the sugar and walking around.

Expect a shit ton of people and a SHIT TON of free cake! That's all I had to eat that day, honestly.

Agree with the wedding email address - I went to a bridal show in August and still get weekly emails from all these vendors I didn't book.

Definitely eat real food before you go - like I said I only had cake that day and I was completely hopped up on sugar and also irritated with all the people EVERYWHERE constantly bumping into me.

It's sensory overload and you'll get lots of freebies I agree it's probably helpful to create a separate email for wedding expos (I never went to an expo as a bride when planning my own wedding, but I attended my first one as a vendor in January).

Please only give out your email/contact information for prizes and vendors you ACTUALLY are interested in. It seems most people who've posted so far are annoyed by how many emails they've gotten. As a vendor who attended an expo, I can't speak for everyone, but I only emailed those who either gave me their contact information to enter to win my door prize (a discounted wedding package) or who selected they are interested/still in need of a photographer on their overall expo questionnaire. This came to about 20-25 people. Not ONE SINGLE PERSON even had the decency to email me back. If you are giving out your information and a vendor takes the time to write you a detailed message - because you implied you are interested - please have the decency to at least respond! Even if it's to say, "Thank you but we're not interested anymore." As Centerpiece said, vendors pay hundreds of dollars to be there. I was really disheartened after not getting any responses from my first expo as a vendor. I genuinely enjoy connecting with brides and grooms and I put so much time into personalizing messages and communicating. Brides and grooms should have the same respect and respond rather than ignoring people.

Most importantly.... enjoy the cake samples! ;-)

I'm with Rachel on this one; it is expo season. I literally sent out 40 followup emails to people who visited my booth at two shows (not expos, but showcases put on my the venues where we are preferred clergy. I got one reply.

If we contact you, a simple response is just polite.

I got some free passes, if I gave them my email address, to a bridal expo but didn't end up actually going. So I talked to no one. Yet this bridal expo must have sold my address along with everyone else's because I'm getting a bunch more spam emails lately. Several of them even start with, "So great to meet you at xyz show..." I'm in B-to-B marketing and that is a HUGE no-no in my book.