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Sunday, July 24, 2011
Fall brides, don’t miss the Dayton Bridal Expo
Fall is a wonderful time for a wedding, and I’m not just saying that because I got married in September.
I think fall is the most photogenic season; fall leaves and sunsets make for the kind of wedding photos you’ll want to blow up and hang over the mantle. While Ohio weather often delivers surprises, by mid-autumn we’ve usually cooled down enough that you can have your photos done outside without your whole bridal party melting.
If you’re having a fall wedding this year, or maybe planning ahead for spring or summer of 2012, mark August 14th on your calendar for the Dayton Bridal Expo at the Dayton Convention Center downtown.
The expo runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with fashion shows sponsored by David’s Bridal and Men’s Wearhouse at 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.
Admission is $8, cash only. If you register ahead of time at http://www.daytonbride.com, you can save $2 off admission and be put on their mailing list for updates and special promotions from area vendors.
The website also has a list of participating vendors, including DJs, stationery designers, tux rental and sale services, destination vacation specialists, photographers and caterers.
Survival tips I went to one bridal expo with my sister-in-law, who got married nearly a year before me. I was engaged at the time but nowhere near the planning stage. The expo was in Columbus, and so were almost all of the vendors, so all the cards I filled out at each booth resulted in me getting a LOT of mail from vendors who would not have been of much use to me for my Yellow Springs wedding. (Indeed, I intentionally chose vendors very local to the Yellow Springs/Fairborn area, with few exceptions.) So if you’re not having a wedding in or near Dayton, you may want to look for an expo closer to your wedding location.
Bring a tote bag for all the freebies and maybe a folder for brochures, pamphlets, business cards and coupons. Because trust me, you will leave with a LOT of them. Put the ones you actually want to keep or revisit in the folder, let the others fall to the bottom of the bag.
During the fashion show at the Columbus expo I tried to eat a small box of chocolates that were really candles sculpted to look like petit fours (a kind of cake). Luckily I saw the wicks before I took a bite. I guess the advice here is: It’s easy to get overwhelmed at events like this where everyone is trying to get your attention, so it’s important to actually pay attention.
This advice should be obvious but it bears saying anyway: Don’t feel pressured to adapt to the trends. And that’s exactly what will be on display at expos like these: the latest, greatest, trendiest of everything. Asymmetrical cakes that looked like they were made of Play-Doh were on every cake table at the expo I attended. Other trends still making the rounds: youthful, poppy colors like pink, green and orange, especially in combination with brown; personalizing everything right down to the napkins; and invitations shaped in unconventional ways with origami-esque envelopes. Go with an open mind, because you might get some ideas you’ll adapt for your own wedding, but just because everyone else is doing them doesn’t mean you have to.
Make the rounds more than once. At an event of this size and with anticipated crowds, you may not get to see everything on the first go. I advise cruising through once with a map of the booths (which are usually provided when you arrive at events like this) and a highlighter/pen/pencil. Don’t approach any booths or linger too long, but mark the ones that catch your interest so you can come back to them and give them due attention on your next walkthrough. If any booth gets so crowded that you can’t even see what’s on display, you can mark it as one to revisit when the pack has dispersed.
The fashion show is a great way to take a breather and, if chairs are offered, get off your feet for a few minutes. It’s usually worth the oooh’s and aaah’s even if you’ve already got your dress and bridal party wardrobe taken care of. If you’re really not interested, you might take the time to ask more questions of the vendors while everyone else’s attention is diverted elsewhere.
Have you ever been to a bridal expo? What was the experience like for you?
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