NI Wedding Shows

weeclick

Hey guys,

anyone here getting married (or recently married) and been to, or plan on going to any wedding shows? My new company are booked in to a few wedding shows throughout Northern Ireland within the next few months and have our very first show next week so thought it would be good to get some feedback from brides, grooms and their families!!

CloakNDagger

Before I got married (Oct 08) I went to 2 wedding fairs the first one was at the odyssey and the second at the kings hall. I thought they were both fab, they gave me loads of ideas and were brilliant when it came to doing my wedding budget as I was able to get prices for everything in one afternoon. Although the second one was more fun as I went with my best friend and we had such a laugh!! I also did the tour of the hotel wedding fairs and I don't have a bad thing to say about any of them - good luck with your business!

weeclick

oh great! its really good to get some feedback - we are booked in for this years Kings Hall and the Odyssey as well as one in Newtownards (I think lol) next weekend and then Londonderry as well. I started to panic cos I heard horror stories that not many people take them very serious and only use it as a day out - Im really hoping we get some business from it cos they cost a fortune lol!!

Congratulations on your marriage btw!

missma

I also think they are good for ideas. Got married last September. I got a few contacts on the day, lot of places do deals on the day if you book summit. This did not make me book ought though cause I felt it made you rush it decisions that would probably regret. What is your actual line of business. Think both those big fairs can get very crowded particularly in the afternoons. Can be quite frustrating wanting to speak to someone and only one person at stand. Think it is def good way of getting word out on a new business.

weeclick

Thanks missma I agree with everything you say. I run a photography business in Lisburn but we travel pretty much anywhere (had a request from Germany a few weeks ago) we only set up in January this year but have had a great response, this is mainly due to our flexibility on price and packages so Im pretty happy!

I agree with people feeling rushed on the day to say whether they want to use our service or not which is why we are giving people a week to consider the offer we make - allows them some breathing space and a chance to speak to everyone involved, Im just hoping this will go in our favour!

Also agree about being crowded, Ive never actually been to a wedding fair myself but Ive drove past Kings Hall when theyve been on and the traffic around there is crazy so I can only imagine what its like inside! Thankfully I have a very close and loving family (I only just turned 20 so everything is daunting lol) and as well as myself and my business partner my mum and my grandma will be there to speak to anyone interested so plenty of friendly faces at our stall!!

Congratulations on getting married, Im sure your glad all the stress is over from the organising!

missma

Sounds like you have thought of most things. Good luck with your business must be exciting times!

weeclick

thank you! Yes very exciting but scary as well - just hope we get everything right! fingers crossed

carlamagee

can i just ask when the fairs u are attending are on!?

weeclick

No problem.

Newtownards 23rd May 2009
Londonderry 6th-7th June 2009
Kings Hall 18th-19th September 2009
Odyssey - 4th-6th September 2009

gibbyni

Hi Weeclick

We run a wedding stationery business and did the Kings Hall one a few years ago and to be honest I would say we just about broke even from it, cost us about 2k all in. However 80% of our business comes from the mainland, 15% from Ireland and 5% from NI.

Since you a local business offering local service I think you should do fine out of it, the stand beside us did videos of your wedding and where just starting up and i think they done very well out of it.

That was about 3 years ago and obviously the economy has changed a lot, but if your on the cheaper end and offering good service you should be fine and people are still getting married, just on a tighter budget. We made sure we do this and sales where up about 65% for the first 4 months of this year on the first 4 months of last year.

Good luck

weeclick

well done on your sales this year! Its great to hear first hand from a fellow trader at the fairs, are you going again this year?

Thankfully we set our business up with the mind of serving those on a tighter budget who dont want to spend thousands on photography (cant say I blame them either) Our packages start from £395 and we are hoping to get some deals sorted on top of this for those who book at the fair, hopefully this will work!

Still keeping the fingers crossed - we got our first event next weekend so really nervous but looking forward to it anyway!