With This Bling: Best In Show

“I’ve got a wedding to plan in nine weeks. I’d agree to almost anything right now.” - Lily Aldrin – How I Met Your Mother

Over the weekend I attended my second wedding show, The Wedding Co. Show, and it was fabulous! My first show was last week at Wedluxe’s premier show and I feel that after attending both shows I have some advice for all the brides out there. I know you are all probably thinking that it’s a little late for me to be going to these since my big day is less than 5 weeks away (ahhhhhh!), but I found them inspiring, exciting, informative and they made me so excited for my wedding.

Typically, wedding shows have vendors from across the city gathered together to showcase their finest work and give you information about their services, experience and pricing. For newly engaged brides, it is essentially a one stop shop for vendors and will save you many phone calls and emails in the early stages of your planning. I can’t stress enough how beneficial these shows are for brides (and mother of the brides) at the beginning stages of planning. You can speak to venue coordinators, entertainment specialists, photographers, caterers, designers, bakers and that is just to name a few. It is a great way to chat with some potential vendors and get a feel for them and their work, aside from what you’ve read in magazines or seen online. They are there to wow you and everyone should take advantage of this fantastic opportunity. It is also a great chance to receive complimentary magazines, books and all sorts or samples to aid you in your wedding planning process. Bring a sizeable bag with you to any show to collect all the reading material you can. Also, go with a bit of an appetite. I was blown away by the samples from caterers, cake designers and candy specialists offered. After attending these shows, I'd say the best time to go is early morning since the vendors are all fresh and eager and you will not fight with the same size crowds. Either way, go with patience and lots of questions. And have fun!

For me, I found the shows helpful because it gave me a chance to run into the majority of our vendors and have some face time. Many of our experts were hired in the fall and other than emails, we have not seen them since our initial meetings. This gave me an opportunity to discuss details of our day without harassing them with emails (which I swear I haven’t been doing J). It was also nice to meet new vendors and find new ideas to add to our plans. I met Andrea from Pomp and Ceremony, whom makes several wedding accessories for BHLDN, and we discussed some accessories for the weekend which I had been looking everywhere for. I am so excited to work with her as she is truly talented and equally friendly. I also had the pleasure on running into the talented Sam Kanter from Paper Ideas at both shows. I was honoured to see that he used our invite as part of his display. It was great to see some familiar faces and meet some new ones.

All in all, both shows were fantastic and were definitely worth seeing, even though I have finished my plans (for the most part). Brides, be sure to check out as many shows as possible and continue to be inspired!

Check out some great photos from both shows: