This Wedding Wednesday post is all about the bridal show, more specifically the Bangor Bridal Show which was held a couple weekends ago. Ironically, the show was the same weekend as my dress shopping extravaganza with my mom (read about it back here). It was a full blown, wedding assault attack weekend.
I have to admit that this was my first go around with a bridal show and it exceeded my expectations by far. I even convinced Colby to go with me, which was a complete shock. Actually, it was pretty easy to get him to go once I told him that Miguel’s Mexican Restaurant would be there serving margaritas. He was sold. At least I think he was.
There were tons of vendors and displays at the show! I couldn’t believe the number of people and vendors there. There were caterers, venues, dress shops, hair/makeup artists, DJs, travel agents, registry places such as Bed Bath & Beyond, rental stores, bakers and more. This cake was at the Montes International Catering booth.
There were three rooms of vendors in the massive Spectacular Events Center in Bangor, Maine. There was even a fashion show with dresses from Henry’s Bridal, the store where I bought my dress from.
Me being me, I had a plan going into the bridal show and. We already had a venue, catering, dress, officiant, and photographer. The next big thing I was on a mission for was a cake. I perused many of the booths, especially the ones with freebies and prizes. A few of the booths caught my eye and I got more information, specifically a travel agent for the honeymoon. But I really zeroed in on my mission…the cake. There were a couple of bakers at the show and one in particular caught my eye, or should I say mouth, Rebecca’s bake shop. She had samples. That’s all it took. Samples. Oh yeah, and a coupon. So I tried three of her cake options, each of which was amazing, but she had this one vanilla cake with an almond frosting that was to die for. I’m still talking about the amazingness that is that cake. I gathered some more info from her about how she works, budget, etc and then she offered me a coupon. If I booked her to do our cake during the show weekend, we would receive 10% off our cake purchase. Um…I love a coupon…sold. Not really. We went to the show on the first day which allotted us a little time to go home, do a little cake research on Rebecca’s and make sure she was the best fit for us. The next day we came to our conclusion and I ran back to the event to book our cake. So a big shout out to the Maine Wedding Association for putting on such an awesome show!
Oh…and before I call it a night, can we talk about the freebies?! Holy cow did I come home with some loot! So the entry fee to get in was $10 and I easily made that up in freebies! I picked up free zumba classes from a place I already go to, a couple free wedding magazines (one was TheKnot and the other was Real Maine Weddings, both publications are ones I buy often and adore), and more. And there were also tons of register to win boxes and I signed us up for a few. Alas, I did not win anything.
All in all the bridal expo was a success and I would do it again in a heart beat. For us, it wasn’t terribly important for us to attend since we already had so many of our wedding details figured out. But for someone who is just getting started on their planning, an event like this is like striking gold! All your local wedding vendors under one roof. Perfect!
Pssst…the photos all came from the Maine Wedding Association’s Facebook page found here! Thanks again ladies for such a great show!
