Wedding Wednesday: Surviving a bridal expo

I attended my first Bridal Expo at Oakfield Farm in Muldersdrift this past weekend. It was fun, informing and quite overwhelming. So to future brides, here are my tips for surviving your first bridal expo, and how many others you are planning to attend thereafter.

 

       Picture from Oakfield

{1} Wear comfortable shoes, you are going to walk all day, and walk far. High heels are not going to cut it here. You might end up crying. Luckily, I don't wear high heels, but still had pretty sore feet after a long day.

{2} If the expo takes place on a hot summers day, such as the day we had - the temperature was soaring in the high thirties - make sure you have a bottle of water with you, so that you don't dehydrate.

{3} Eat before you go. Beverages and food are ridiculously expensive at these events. I had to pay R20 for a bottle of sparkling water. Hectic.

{4} Take your friends {and mom} with you. It's fun and you can ooh and ah about everything together.

{5} Have a pretty good idea of what you like and how you would like your wedding day to look like. All those stalls can be pretty overwhelming and you could end up choosing something you didn't want at all.

{6} On that same note, I hired my biggest service providers - venue, photographer, make up artist - before the expo and wasn't so overwhelmed. This helped me to focus on the smaller things, like a dj, decor, the cake etc.

{7} Bring a bag in which you can put all your business cards and brochures!

        Picture from Oakfield

{8} A lot of the companies will ask you for your details. Kindly decline and ask them for a business card, and that you will contact them, or you will get unwanted junk mail and spam. Nothing against people in the wedding industry here, love you guys.

{9} But do sign up for the giveaways. You might just win a prize!

{10} Take your camera to capture things you really like.

{11} Ask lots of questions, know exactly what you want to know - and write it down.

{12} HAVE FUN! Drink the free champagne at every stall and eat their cupcakes and fizzers and toffees and sweets. 

PS: linking up with Something Charming ::