Wed, 06 May 2009 12:00a.m.
On Sunday I attended my second wedding show as a bride-to-be.
Having attended shows with my sister in law a couple of years back, it was nice to have it be all about me this time! Although bless the numerous vendors at the show who looked at me and my mum and still asked which one of us was the bride. I'm sure mum had a giggle or two at the thought of planning her wedding all over again.
I have to say the Wellington Wedding Show was really good this year, far better than it was a couple of years ago. Perhaps it was the lack of cheesy three-piece girl bands screeching away in the background!
Although the layout was a tad awkward and cramped in places, and it did get very hot upstairs, I was really impressed at the number and variety of vendors on display.
I was super excited to see Our Venue right there on the ground floor for all to see! And I managed to have a good chat to the owner and get confirmation that they've gone ahead with building a cottage on-site to be used by the bride and groom on the wedding night. Another thing ticked off my list – bonus!
Other highlights for me included seeing some of the gorgeous Tempt cupcakes, and having a really good chat to the owner Tamara Jane. I had been pretty sure that I wanted to go with cupcakes rather than a traditional cake, and our chat sealed the deal in my mind. Tamara will actually come and ice the cupcakes and set them up at the venue on the day! A far cry from some of the other cake people I talked to who said we'd have to transport it ourselves and “it should be alright”. “Should be” doesn't cut it in my world!
We also had a really good chat to a guy from winesale.co.nz who was really helpful and talked to us for a good 15 minutes about what they could offer in terms of wine for the wedding. Turns out they'll actually take our menu and match wines to the food, a total luxury reserved for restaurants I had thought! And their prices seem really reasonable and in line or better than what we could purchase at the supermarket. Plus the samples of bubbles and other wines were forthcoming - a great addition to any sales pitch! Me thinks we'll be talking to them again soon.
Perhaps its the 'current economic climate', but every vendor at the show could offer you a deal. I scored a number of vouchers including free bridesmaid bouquets, $100 off flowers, $50 off suit hire, 10% of wedding gowns – just to name a few! Moral of the story – don't pay full price for anything.
I do have a few gripes however!
Note to vendors: do not provide a website on your brochure or business card if said website does not actually exist! I have looked up a handful of sites today and been greeted with “Address Not Found” pages – not cool. And another thing, if you're pitching to a potential customer and someone else walks past, don't ditch the first customer and thrust your pamphlet under the nose of another person! I swear some vendors had the attention span of a small child!
All in all, it was a great way to spend a few hours looking at pretty wedding things and snapping up some good bargains in the process. Now if I could just win a couple of the competitions I entered, our budget would be in tip top shape!