Surviving a Bridal Expo: 5 Tips For Attending a Bridal Show | Nittany Weddings

Picture it! A cold morning: you pull into a parking lot already half filled with cars. As you approach the facility, you notice a line has already formed, but you arrived 45 minutes before the doors open. The line begins to funnel into the now opened doors. Finally in the warmth of the facility, you are wrangled into the registration line. The line progresses, you fill out the necessary paperwork, are handed a welcome packet and a trinket labeling you as a bride and enter the Expo to find another line of eager brides waiting to enter the maze of vendor booths.Bridal Expos have been providing a great source of information for brides and grooms for years, but can be highly attended and difficult to navigate for a novice. The following 5 tips will help you gather information quickly while maximizing your time.1. Research the Expo! It takes many months of planning and organization to put together a bridal expo. Advertisers want to inform you, and will distribute information regarding the expo in local newspapers, magazines, local calendars, billboards, posters and through local wedding vendors. Individual show websites are usually established and provide a great glimpse of what to expect including schedules, prizes being distributed and maps of vendors attending. Previewing these items will help you navigating efficiently among hundreds of brides and grooms.2. Pre-Registration! To avoid the scenario at the beginning of the article, most expos have begun pre-registering show attendees. Show organizers understand that you would prefer not to stand around being herded like cattle, only to be handed a stack of forms to fill out in triplicate. Shorter lines, special promotions, and beating the crowd to your favorite vendors are all benefits of pre-registering, and can usually be done on line to save on paper. Who doesn’t want to save a tree these days? Bridal Expos are usually heavily attended in the opening hours. You may avoid long lines by arriving fashionably late. Monitoring attendee numbers is much more sophisticated with technology, so the chance of you missing out on promotional materials and prizes is very unlikely.3. Prize registration. Special promotions and prizes are always a staple at bridal expos and usually include a separate registration form from each vendor. Skip all the writing and maximize your limited time with each vendor by printing adhesive address labels or wedding business cards. Personalize these items with wedding colors and monograms to easily display the personality of your wedding to vendors. Printing color swatches on the back of wedding cards is a new trend, but be sure and include the basics like: you and your fiancé’s names, mailing address, email address, wedding website and wedding date.4. Organize! Take the time to organize your information during the show. This tip stems from attending countless industry trade shows, and will really help you filter through the clutter. Bring a binder, collapsible file folder or an attache case with wheels to separate your documents. Quickly file your lute using a system that will help you to follow up in a timely fashion and keep ahead of the game. Many companies sell wedding specific organizers ranging in price. Find the one that fits your style and organizational needs.5. Take Notes and Follow-up. Bridal expos may be attended by hundreds of people, and are usually intended for information gathering and sampling. It is difficult for vendors to answer each question from each bride and groom. Take notes and pictures, review information and schedule follow-up appointments with vendors after the show. This will allow you and the vendor adequate time and attention to confirm all the details.Remember to enjoy the wedding planning process, and organization is the key to a stress-free event.

via Surviving a Bridal Expo: 5 Tips For Attending a Bridal Show | Nittany Weddings.

Wedding Planning and Logistics – 10 Budget Dos and Don’ts – Bride Online

Budgeting a grand event like a wedding isn’t quite as simple as trying to pay the minimal amount for every cost. Like any major event and for some reason, a military coup keeps popping into my mind. I’ll leave that analysis to you., it takes both strategic and tactical planning. We’ve come up with 10 fundamental rules to take care of both the long and short- term budget planning. Applying these should save you weeks of worry and stress, and leave you plenty more time to sip tea in your foxhole. Ahem- I meant in your home, of course!Courtesy greylikesweddings.com1. Never even consider going into debt to pay for a wedding. If you want a lavish affair, but only have the budget for a much smaller do, consider throwing an intimate ceremony and postponing the reception of your dreams until you can afford it and hey, nobody will question an excuse to turn one party into two!2. Do charge your bills when you can pay the balance in full as each statement rolls in.Credit card interest rates and finance charges can end up costing hundreds, or even thousands, even if you only carry a credit card debt for a couple of months.3. Don’t go over budget in one area unless you’re willing to cut projected costs in another area. You can have significant budgetary leeway in a few areas, as long as the bottom line stays the same.4. Do overestimate rather than underestimate! This applies to everything from the number of guests you’ve invited to how much each bonbonniere will cost. Underestimating costs is the quickest sure- fire way to dig yourself into debt.5. Never be afraid to negotiate.Although this applies to just about every wedding vendor, venue managers tend to be the most flexible. For example, most venues have a set budget they need to fulfill by a particular date, which is of course influenced by how many guests you have. So if you offer to make the minimum amount of guests you invite higher, this could reduce your price per plate. Similarly, if youre set on a venue that is just beyond your budget, it’s worth telling your sales rep this and asking if it would be possible to subtract any extras, such as seat covers. But at the end of the day, it’s important to remember that you have to be flexible with your expectations- even bargaining has its limits.6. Do rent as much as possible. They’ll perform the exact same function, and won’t pose the same storage problems that is put up with by millions for pure sentimentality after all, what else are photos for?7. Don’t agree to any upgrades without first establishing if they cost extra.This applies to items like fancy chair covers, table linens, cutlery and crockery, generally speaking. Better be safe than sorry, after all.8. Do talk directly to your suppliers.They’ll generally either be able to work within your budget, or recommend someone who can.9. Don’t hesitate to shop around for everything. Often vendors will lower their prices to match another’s quote!10. Do your research about timing. Venues charge a premium for Saturday nights, so you can save money by booking any other day of the week. Take into consideration factors like if the guests will have work the next day or if they’ll be tired from a long week. One great alternative to booking your wedding on a Saturday night is to book it on the Sunday of a long-weekend- this gives you all the benefits of a Saturday night, often at a fraction of the cost. Some venues, however, have realised that this can be used as a bit of a loophole, and charge more on Sunday nights on long-weekends than on any other weekend.Similarly, consider booking in the ‘off’ season normally during winter, as this will also save you enormous amounts on your venue budget.Apply these tried-and-true, fail- safe methods to all possible aspects of wedding planning and you’ll find that not budging from your budget is surprisingly easy!

via Wedding Planning and Logistics – 10 Budget Dos and Don’ts – Bride Online.

New Trend: Decorate your Venue with Vintage Wedding Gowns | Nittany Weddings

A beautiful new trend for wedding receptions or bridal showers is displaying the wedding gowns of relatives at your venue. So many brides are pressured from their mother to wear her gown, and many just don’t want to or simply can’t because it doesn’t fit! Instead, to still keep everyone happy, they can set up display areas at their venue where they can show their mother and mother-in-law’s bridal gowns. Not only are these displays absolutely gorgeous but they add a really sentimental touch to your wedding. They are a gorgeous testament to different love stories within a family.All that’s needed to set up this display is a mannequin or dress form to display the gown on. Dig up some old pictures of your mom and mother-in-law on their wedding days to display near the gowns for a more personal touch. It’s a gorgeous way to honor family members and display their dresses which they probably thought would never be used again!. Plus it works for any type of reception from a quaint outdoor tent wedding to an incredibly elegant ballroom reception. All you have to do is match the frames and display of the décor to your theme. Everyone that attends your wedding will love looking at vintage gowns, especially those with sentimental value.Some brides take it a step further and display gowns from grandmothers, sisters, or aunts too. This can be a great way to honor a deceased relative with pictures and candles in their memory. The best part is that it’s a super budget friendly way to decorate for your reception. It takes up a lot of space and you have most of the items for this display already!One thing we recommend is to make sure the wedding gowns on display are in good condition. Many gowns become wrinkled or discolored over time since they sit in a closet or crumpled up in a box for many years. Your display gowns should be professionally cleaned and pressed to really wow your guests. Even more importantly, take it to a cleaner who knows what they’re doing, like one in the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists. Restoring vintage gowns is a tricky business, and you’ll want someone who has a lot of experience with gowns to perform this service for you.

via New Trend: Decorate your Venue with Vintage Wedding Gowns | Nittany Weddings.