From amazon.com
... but it would be scarier than that somehow.
Neither the FI nor myself are big on crowds. We tend to avoid super busy restaurants and I love doing my grocery shopping late at night. So, the idea of going to a bridal show, which advertises that it averages about 800 guests, was a little off-putting. Would it be like this?
A job fair in China - from chinasmack.com
Originally, my mom was going to join me on Sunday afternoon, as I checked out the vendors at the semi-annual bridalevents.com show in Cranberry Township. She ended up having a last minute conference call for work. So, I had a few variations of the following conversation with the FI:
Me: I would really like it if you joined me at the bridal show but I understand if you don't want to go.
Him: ... silence ...
Me: Ok. Well, let me know if you think you might want to go.
Him: ... silence ...
Eventually, about forty minutes before I planned on leaving, I said "you should probably get dressed now if we're going to go". Awhile later, and we were both in his car, headed to the bridal show. (Have I mentioned that I have the best fiance ever?)
We arrived right around 2:30, the scheduled time for the bridal fashion show. This ended up being the happiest of coincidences. We walked in to find something like this:
Most of the visitors were politely seated, watching the bridal gowns, bridesmaid dresses, ballroom dancers, etc. Meanwhile, we had completely open paths to every vendor booth. We didn't have to wait to talk to anyone. It was great!
There were not a ton of vendors I had planned on talking to since most of my vendor decisions have already been made. We did stop for a couple of the tuxedo stores so that the FI could get some info. I also spent some time looking at different bouquets and flower arrangements and talked with a few unexpected people...
I didn't realize that we could register online for Pampered Chef and earn "hostess" rewards for everything that guests purchased off our list (brilliant!).
Plus, I talked with a woman from Gifted Hands, a local gift shop, whose booth included a beautiful manzanita wish tree display. Bonus, she gave me a $5 gift card - I can't wait to check out the store.
About an hour and a half later, all of the door prizes had been given out (we didn't win anything) and we headed back home.
I think that the bridal show would have been super useful (and probably way more overwhelming) before I had hired my vendors but it was interesting to see the displays and ideas. I can see how the shows are a great way to network and I'm actually thinking about going to another one or two at some point (there's another nearby later this month) so that I can try to make up my mind about florist/no florist.
Either way, it was a lot of fun and I'm glad I finally got to attend a bridal show.
No comments:
Post a Comment