Bridal Fairs...

divamum · January 18, 2009

Woohoo! I was thinking about you this weekend and wondering how it went. Sounds like it was a good schmooz!

(and the booth looks beautiful - very inviting, and I'm sure people were VERY glad of that sofa!)

heatherfeather · January 19, 2009

divamum wrote:

Woohoo! I was thinking about you this weekend and wondering how it went. Sounds like it was a good schmooz!

(and the booth looks beautiful - very inviting, and I'm sure people were VERY glad of that sofa!)

Thanks Diva! It worked out really great! And I am simply amazed at the responses that I am getting even this many days later.

NorthernHorse · January 20, 2009

heatherfeather wrote:

Thanks Diva! It worked out really great! And I am simply amazed at the responses that I am getting even this many days later.

Looks fantastic to me! Thanks so much for sharing!

bob swanson · January 20, 2009

I guess these fairs are just opportunities to put you in front of a bunch of prospective brides. In the end it depends on the amount of money you spent (including the set-up) and the number of brides that you sign. By the way when I used to do this type of event I had my slide show or monitors on tall AV carts so that they were about eye level or higher. This seemed to draw people from aroung the room. Good luck, bsvirginian

heatherfeather wrote:

Thanks Diva! It worked out really great! And I am simply amazed at the responses that I am getting even this many days later.

urbanaries · January 21, 2009

Looks sooooo awesome!!! Thanks for sharing your photos! That couch is too adorable, I can see how couples would get very cozy looking at albums there!

Great suggestions on the giveways and the popularity of the albums, in case I ever decide to do a fair.

heatherfeather · January 21, 2009

bob swanson wrote:

I guess these fairs are just opportunities to put you in front of a bunch of prospective brides. In the end it depends on the amount of money you spent (including the set-up) and the number of brides that you sign. By the way when I used to do this type of event I had my slide show or monitors on tall AV carts so that they were about eye level or higher. This seemed to draw people from aroung the room. Good luck, bsvirginian

Good idea about raising the slide show. I suppose that if I put more emphasis on it it might have more effectiveness. But I barely spent a dime on this bridal fair over the booth fees...I just basically used what I already have and raided my studio at home... nice and free. And I have already made the booth fees back several times over and a week hasn't even gone by!

Thanks for the great ideas!

heatherfeather · January 21, 2009

NorthernHorse wrote:

Looks fantastic to me! Thanks so much for sharing!

Thank you!

heatherfeather · January 21, 2009

urbanaries wrote:

Looks sooooo awesome!!! Thanks for sharing your photos! That couch is too adorable, I can see how couples would get very cozy looking at albums there!

Great suggestions on the giveways and the popularity of the albums, in case I ever decide to do a fair.

You should do a fair.... if is anything like it is up here.
I am simply stunned at the huge responses from people. And a little scared too- I still want to have a weekend off now and then.

mmmatt · January 24, 2009

heatherfeather wrote:

You should do a fair.... if is anything like it is up here.
I am simply stunned at the huge responses from people. And a little scared too- I still want to have a weekend off now and then.

Well from where I'm sitting it's a pretty good problem to have Heather!!!! Great job and thanks for the rundown. I will be returning to this thread before I do my first show.

Matt

jeffc76 · January 26, 2009

Interesting thread. My wife and I do decoratiions for weddings, parties, etc. What we have done is partner with someone doing a bridal fair and we decorate the booth to make it stand out then we work the booth with them. It seems like what we do (decorations) is a niche and nobody else is doing it. My advice on bridal shows is to never sit down behind your table - welcome people with a question and a smile ("Hi, have you decided where you're getting married yet?") - hand out cards. I like photographers who have big pictures of their work, slide shows on big screen TV's are nice but you have to grab people's attention to get them to stop and look at the TV.

I think that if a bride is going to pay money to get into a bridal show, they are serious so we often see fewer people but they are serious about it. We rarely actually book at shows but our web hits and phone calls go up after shows. We are working on partnering with venues, since they will put our pictures in their book and they almost sell it for us. When you sell to individual brides, you have to sell over and over (yes, there is some word of mouth, but not a lot).

Our web site - mjdecorations.smugmug.com

CAphotos · July 23, 2009

So this is not related to weddings specifically, but a booth it is. I am trying to get my name out there in the local community and our small town has a Saturday Market. I have a (tiny 8x8) booth and it goes for 7 Saturdays for 5 hours; it's quite a commitment however I've gained a ton of exposure, bookings, and sold gift certificates. It's a great way to meet the locals as a business owner. I've played with item placement on tables to gain more visual impact, and convenience for the people a bit shy to come into the booth. I have a weekly mini portrait session drawing, & anywhere from 30-50 entries are dropped in the bucket. Taken with P&S. You can see a few more on my blog. If anyone has any good marketing ideas, I'd certainly be interested.

Thanks for looking!

ian408 · July 23, 2009

It's a great way to meet new clients and to get your name out there. Good idea

dawssvt · November 7, 2009

I know this is an old thread, but I just looked through it all. Thanks for all the great info

Heather, how many weddings did you end up booking through this show?

heatherfeather · November 10, 2009

dawssvt wrote:

I know this is an old thread, but I just looked through it all. Thanks for all the great info

Heather, how many weddings did you end up booking through this show?

Gosh this is really going back in the dark places of my mind...

I am having a hard time remembering which weddings were result of that specific fair, but my guess from memory is 7 contracts from that 1 fair... And I met with a bunch more possibles. Guess I should keep better records about where clients are coming from. Anyway, it more than made up the cost of the fair, and was a nice little bump in the income during off season.

But the rewards of doing fairs are not just to get clients... getting your name out to be recognised among vendors / wedding planners is just as valuable. Vendors get asked ALL the time who to use.

Which reminds me... I need to start getting ready for the next one.

dawssvt · November 10, 2009

heatherfeather wrote:

Gosh this is really going back in the dark places of my mind...

I am having a hard time remembering which weddings were result of that specific fair, but my guess from memory is 7 contracts from that 1 fair... And I met with a bunch more possibles. Guess I should keep better records about where clients are coming from. Anyway, it more than made up the cost of the fair, and was a nice little bump in the income during off season.

But the rewards of doing fairs are not just to get clients... getting your name out to be recognised among vendors / wedding planners is just as valuable. Vendors get asked ALL the time who to use.

Which reminds me... I need to start getting ready for the next one.

Great... Thanks Heather! I appreciate your help with all of this. I am going to have a booth in my first Bridal Show in January, so I'm trying to prepare

Bridal Fairs...

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