Went to a Bridal Expo today

I went to a local Bridal Expo with two of my coworkers who are getting married as well. It was so much fun and I ate WAY too much! All those cake, sandwich, and pasta samples.....YUM! I found an absolute doll of a lady who runs a wedding cake business from her home who had this fantastic pink champagne cake with strawberry filling. I ate two pieces! LOL

The main draw was the "Dig for a Diamond" that they had after the fashion show. They drew 4 names and those 4 brides got to dig inside 4 different wedding cakes for the biggest rock that represented the $1500 diamond they would win. I was chosen, but my rock was the 3rd biggest of the 4 so I didn't win the diamond. That still got me a $200 gift certificate to any of the vendors that were displaying at the expo. They also did drawings before the Diamond Dig for smaller prizes and then put everyone's names back in for that drawing. I also won a half price wedding cake from the lady who's cake I was gorging on!

All that wedding stuff really made me want to just get married now, darn it! Oh yeah, I really want another piece of that cake. She also had a good pumpkin cheesecake sample, a chocolate fudge....oh heck...I'd better go eat something that's GOOD for me! :D

Glad to hear you enjoyed the Bridal Show. I have been to two and swear I will never go again!!! ARGH! As soon as I get into the parking lot my cell phone is ringing and it's those "Simplicity Bride" people saying I've won this super-cool honeymoon, or the cellulite clinic saying I'm a grand prize winner & I've won $300 off a cellulite treatment (ironically, so did EVERYONE else I went with...and the treatments are like $5K).

I've found bridal shows get me off track. I figure if I wasn't doing a cruise wedding it would be a good idea, but I always leave them feeling like I need to spend a zillion dollars in order to have a good wedding. Too much hype for me.....plus my DF is glad I don't go anymore because every time I did I came home talking about how I DIDN'T want to do the cruise wedding anymore...;) I wanted a more "traditional" wedding.

It's nice to hear that they are helpful for some people. :)

No phone calls yet! I only gave my info to a Mary Kay rep. I wanted to get in touch with one anyhow so that's OK. I was also careful to only visit booths that I knew I would use their product. I didn't need any wedding stuff, but since we're still planning a reception back home some of the stuff did help.

I also found a woman who does bouquet preservation. They are freeze-dried and she puts them in these fabulous bubble-type wall frames. It's hard to describe but it was so pretty. I'll have to see if I can find her website again so I can show it better than I can describe it.

I agree that the pressure does go up a notch at those things. I was very up front about our cruise wedding plans and it seemed to take the fangs out of the vipers! ;)

Found the website: http://www.jjskeepsakegardens.com/page/page/4694226.htm

I've been to a few of these, too... I always have a headache afterwards! LOL with Nursebeth - I've "won" lots of things, too. :D

They are kind of fun though. They really get you in the wedding mood!

Bless my dear FI - we went to one during a Bears playoff game - he was THE only guy there (not that many guys go anyway). We ended up only missing the first 5 minutes. :) But didn't win anything. :cool:

I am getting married at home, so it was pretty helpful since they are all vendors from the area, and most often have GREAT coupons/discounts. It was good to go before I booked the major things - photographer, florist, cake, etc. Now that the wedding is only 2 months away, I don't think it would help as much.

That's true! One of the girls I went with is getting married on October 13. She has all that stuff done already too but did end up banking a certificate for $200 off of a cruise from a local TA.

We always have bridal shows twice a year here at the Ponchatrain Center, and they always mail out free tickets to go. I went once and swore I'd never go again! It was a bridezillafest at best, LOL!

And wouldn't you know they just mailed me tickets for one next month, yeah, I'm not going!

I have gotten the calls from Simplicity Bridal also, they can be VERY annoying!

Jenn