The Wait is Over: The Bridal Expo
We survived “Chicagoland’s ultimate bridal experience.” We’re the stuff wedding legends are made of…
…or not.
We attended the Bridal Expo on Sunday in Hoffman Estates. The drive up was on the long side, but you have to go the distance for wedding excellence.
Seriously, this show was not the one we had to gear up for like we thought. It might actually prove to be a good move in the end. We found a DJ and a possible photographer that we liked, got free cake (in multiple flavors!!) and they actually gave out a good wedding magazine at this expo. (The Knot's is by far the best, for those curious.) We got some good leads and ideas in the end and had fun with it all around.
The huge contrast between the two shows was the level of intensity. At the first, out-of-curiosity show, vendors literally jumped into our path to give us their spiel. It was hilarious, but intimidating, purposeful, but stressful. We didn’t want to look at booths after a while. We wanted to get the heck out of the evil maze.
At this show, the vendors were laid back and genuine. We took our time, visited the tables we wanted to and were able to soak in ideas and get some quality contacts. Score.
They still set the show up like a maze, played the ridiculous vendor bingo game and had a fashion show at the end, but at least you could exit from the fashion show without having to retrace the entire gamut of booths. We even stayed for part of the fashion show and criticized/complemented the dresses with a friend from high school that we bumped into while they were perusing the goods. (This friend happened to be my first ever boyfriend from 7th grade – my days as a wild woman. I was looking at wedding attire with my first and my last boyfriends. Ironic? Ok.)
We were tired after the show, but admittedly had a good time and might see some savings and leads come out of the trip. We pick the Bridal Expo, and pan the crazy show at Drury Lane.
The real "treat" was a live performance by an American Idol contestant no one had ever heard of. The grand prize for the day was a free wedding, and this guy would sing at your wedding. People actually started laughing while he was still on stage. You could see people making hypothetical hilarious situations and asking "What if?" while he stood there, looking like a wierd grand prize.
Also notable was that the DJ doing the lighting and sound for the fashion show blew the ballroom's fuse twice (maybe even three times?). The Bridal Expo's president - a male - was in a tizzy each time. Visibly FREAKING OUT. We joked with the girl next to us that there's no way that DJ was going to get any leads from the event...
…or not.
We attended the Bridal Expo on Sunday in Hoffman Estates. The drive up was on the long side, but you have to go the distance for wedding excellence.
Seriously, this show was not the one we had to gear up for like we thought. It might actually prove to be a good move in the end. We found a DJ and a possible photographer that we liked, got free cake (in multiple flavors!!) and they actually gave out a good wedding magazine at this expo. (The Knot's is by far the best, for those curious.) We got some good leads and ideas in the end and had fun with it all around.
The huge contrast between the two shows was the level of intensity. At the first, out-of-curiosity show, vendors literally jumped into our path to give us their spiel. It was hilarious, but intimidating, purposeful, but stressful. We didn’t want to look at booths after a while. We wanted to get the heck out of the evil maze.
At this show, the vendors were laid back and genuine. We took our time, visited the tables we wanted to and were able to soak in ideas and get some quality contacts. Score.
They still set the show up like a maze, played the ridiculous vendor bingo game and had a fashion show at the end, but at least you could exit from the fashion show without having to retrace the entire gamut of booths. We even stayed for part of the fashion show and criticized/complemented the dresses with a friend from high school that we bumped into while they were perusing the goods. (This friend happened to be my first ever boyfriend from 7th grade – my days as a wild woman. I was looking at wedding attire with my first and my last boyfriends. Ironic? Ok.)
We were tired after the show, but admittedly had a good time and might see some savings and leads come out of the trip. We pick the Bridal Expo, and pan the crazy show at Drury Lane.
The real "treat" was a live performance by an American Idol contestant no one had ever heard of. The grand prize for the day was a free wedding, and this guy would sing at your wedding. People actually started laughing while he was still on stage. You could see people making hypothetical hilarious situations and asking "What if?" while he stood there, looking like a wierd grand prize.
Also notable was that the DJ doing the lighting and sound for the fashion show blew the ballroom's fuse twice (maybe even three times?). The Bridal Expo's president - a male - was in a tizzy each time. Visibly FREAKING OUT. We joked with the girl next to us that there's no way that DJ was going to get any leads from the event...
posted by Laura @ 9:17 PM
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