Bridal shows - how early is too early?

Not too early at all! My wedding is July 2019, I've already booked our venue, photographer, hair and makeup, and month of coordinator. I plan on booking hotel, transportation, DJ, officiant, video, caterer, and baker by July 2018. Going far in advance gives you time to review vendors outside of bridal shows, so you can see if they perform as well as they claim!

A lot of vendors will be booking for the next year. And for some, you may lock in this year's pricing in the event that their prices go up next year.

Definitely start working on things!!! My wedding is one year away, and I already have my dress, venue, catering, make-up, bridesmaids, bridesmaids dresses picked, groomsmen, photographer, invitations/STD picked, and some decorations purchased. I have a meeting with my potential florist next month. Better earlier than running around last minute!!! I'm also a teacher, so I'm really busy during the school year and I plan to have just about everything done by August this year because I won't have much time in the school year and I am getting married in my hometown, which I will be living in this summer, but I teach three hours away from there and planning from a distance can be a little...strange...or at least for me it has 😊

Sounds like perfect timing to me! I haven't gone to any bridal shows because the only ones that lined up with my schedule were in January, and by then I had all my vendors booked other than hair and makeup.

I don’t think it’s too early.🙂I went to a bridal show in February 2017 and I’m not getting married until this October. My maid of honor and I went and it was a fun girl’s day for us. We tried the food from different caterers and I even booked my photo booth while I was there.

It takes a good year to get your wedding dress after you have chosen it; and coordinating vendors for the same date requires some flexibility.

The best time to go to bridal expos is early! If you wait till you book your vendors, what’s the point? I went to my first one 14 months before the wedding and booked 3 vendors from bridal shows and saved a ton of money! I also locked in their 2017 rate before the 2018 increase. Even if you don’t book anyone it’s great to network with vendors, and save business cards and brochures of potential vendors.

I don't think there's such a thing as too early! My wedding is over 2 years away, and I plan on going to every event and show that I possibly can, just to get ideas for it. It's like Pinterest irl.

View Quoted Comment Thanks, good to know! I have most of my vendors just need florist and baker

Most vendors start booking at least a year and a half out, from my experience! I got engaged October 2015 and went to my first bridal show a few months later. We set our wedding date for October 2018. You can start planning everything now if you’re ready!

View Quoted Comment I've never heard of it taking quite that long for a dress to come in! I think most people recommend purchasing the dress about 6-9 months before the wedding, but it depends on the shop and the designer. Personally I bought my dress in August and it was ready in October, even though they told me it would take 4-5 months!

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It very much depends on the designer and the time of year. Dresses delivered for wedding season are of course going to take longer, because everybody is ordering them. That is why a year is recommended; you can't control that factor going in. This is my second wedding.

Also, it's a great thing you got yours so fast. I was trying to replace a dress this past weekend because of a dress debacle, and I couldn't reasonably get one before my Sept 2 wedding. Fortunately, I worked it out to get my original dress - which, by the way, was an Alfred Angelo dress that I was sure I would never see again, since the designer went out of business before I could get it! As someone who almost ended up dress-less, my advice is to plan ahead!

Girl there's no such thing as planning too early (except your BP and your guest list.) I say go for it!