Conquer Your Showcase Shyness | Utah Bride & Groom

Conquer Your Showcase Shyness
by Val Rasmussen

As apparent by the number of bridal shows this month in Utah, planning season is in full swing. Bridal shows occur throughout the year, but January is a hot bed of showcases, extravaganzas, and fairs that fill ballrooms across the state.

This weekend Utah Bride & Groom magazine proudly sponsored The Original Bridal Showcase held in the Salt Palace’s ballroom. Six hundred Utah Bride & Groom magazines were given in swagbags to starry-eyed couples in search of venues, photographers, designers, planners, Djs, pastry chefs and more for their fairytale wedding.

As a bride, bridal shows can be a bit intimidating. Typically these showcases are a couple’s first introduction to the wedding planning experience; a rite of passage that signifies your entry into “fiancé” status. Entering the exhibitor hall of hungry wedding vendors may be daunting, but if your not afraid to keep notes, interview vendors, and take snapshots, you can begin to check a few things of your wedding to-do checklist.

“Getting ideas that [the couple] would have never imagined is one reason to attend a bridal show,” says floral designer, Carolynn May, of Mayflowers. Who would have thought the taffeta pintuck linens would look so striking compared to the typical corporate-seminar polyester linen? And how ’bout that lace tied to the back of a mahogany chivari chair making such a statement? You will leave that ballroom with a whole new vocabulary.

Bridal shows also allow you to meet your potential vendors face-to-face. Call it speed-dating because in reality, that’s what it is. Rather than waste time driving around meeting with every venue listed under “Wedding Venues” in the Yellow Pages, here’s your chance to cut down the pack quickly.

There is also an emotional aspect of wedding planning. No, not the fact that you are marrying the love of your life. That’s a given. I’m talking about the new relationships you make with your wedding vendors. Hiring vendors you feel comfortable working with is an absolute. End.of.story. Go with your gut.

Robert Upwall of Every Blooming Thing tells us, “Weddings are about human connection and relationships. These shows are a great way to meet perspective vendors and connect with them in-person.”

And if all this decision-making is beyond comprehension for the busy lifestyle you lead, many bridal show vendors can help you tie-up the wedding planning process into a pretty little bow. Event planner, Michelle Cousins of Utah Events by Design, invited her perspective clients into her booth that showcased a number of different table designs. “At bridal shows, you meet a variety of vendors doing the same service. Our company helps brides with all these services from negotiating contracts to day-of logistics.”

All the pipe-and-drape leaving you dazed and confused? Dani Zuagg, event & sales manager for Pierpont Place, gave couples an extra treat. She encouraged couples to walk across the street (yes, to the actual venue) to enjoy a ‘mock-wedding’ where they could drink, eat, and listen to music as if they were attending a wedding at Pierpont Place. “Part of our service,” Dani says, “is that Pierpont is a blank canvas and we can provide as little or as much as a bride needs. It may daunting to start from scratch, but we can help our brides through the whole process.”

It takes a bit of weeding-out to get to the diamonds (not pun intended) in the rough, but if you allow yourself plenty of time, there are gems hidden inside these cavernous bridal shows.

Kelli Bramble and Logan Walker of Pepper Nix Photography are armored with iPad’s to show brides their work.