Bridal Tips - How to Make the Most of Going to a Bridal Expo

Bridal expos are generally held in local popular catering facilities, it is an opportunity for you to see the inside of a catering facility and to view lots of vendors' goods all at the same time. Often free samples are given away, and you can taste caterer's food. Most expos show bridal dresses so you can see them in person instead of just the magazines, and of course, there are lots of contests giving away wedding items. Find a local bridal expo by finding ads in the paper, in bridal guides, or visiting greatbridalexpo.com. Once you find one you want to attend, here are some tips to try to get the most out of a bridal show.

Enter Contests: Enter as many contests as possible for free wedding items. One bride won both free limo services and got her wedding day makeup done for free. Contests range from bridal flowers, free wedding cake, honeymoon or even a free reception. So get yourself a rubber stamp with your name address and phone number on it, or print out address labels and stick them on every contest. Save time just stamping in your name and enter to win various free wedding stuff - then you can enter as many contests as possible quickly and still have time to look around and sample items.

Pit two vendors against each other to drive the best deal. Expos will usually be ready to negotiate heavily on non-unique items such as wedding invitations that are ordered via catalogs. One rather shy bride started a bidding war for her business when she saw two wedding invitation expo vendors sold the exact same invitation that she wanted -and each was willing to drop their price to get her business, until finally one did barely above cost and threw in small freebie of monogrammed initial sticker seals. The bride wasn't even really trying to do this, she was happy with one invitation but wanted to look around some more, but when she found them cheaper with the second vendor, she went back to the first to explain why she was choosing the second vendor, this got her a cheaper offer. She went back to the second vendor, who she told that she would be right back after telling the first vendor she was buying somewhere else, and this got her an even better offer. She did not have to be rude or insulting, but she was just quoted better and better offers. If you want to try to do this, think of items that are similar such as monogrammed napkins, wedding invitations that come out of a catalog, basic favors, wedding programs, toasting glasses, limo services, etc. They vendors know they have the same product as other vendors and often want to make sure they break even on their booth rental costs.

Try foods and flavors you might not have considered. Vendors will have samples of their foods, liquors, and cakes. Try some items you might not have otherwise considered.

Smell the flowers. Many flowers, such as lilies are beautiful but just too intense a smell to carry for a whole ceremony, have in the limo ride and hold for photos. Make sure to take in more than just one whiff. Also, most bouquet photos are close ups, stand about 15 feet away and see what you think of these bouquets. Do you see the expensive flowers from a distance? Do they look as good as the other flower bouquets? How do they look from about 5 feet away, or about how far away the photographer will be when he takes your wedding photos?

Try to go to a few bridal shows, but it is best to visit them in the locale of where your event will be so that you can see the work of local vendors that can service your wedding locale. It is nice to see the wealthy neighborhoods' presentation of items, but some items are just the same from the affordable side of towns.