Weddingbee boards

Out of curosity, have any of you attended a Bridal Show and if you have, was it a help?

I think I've been pretty lucky so far. Through my first bridal show, I was able to find a great bridal salon where I bought my gown from (I REFUSE to use David's Bridal) I won a discounted rate for my preferred DJ, and won a necklace from Lia Sophia jewlery. 

I attended a second bridal fair and won a $175 gift certificate for my hair. I thought this was awesome as it includes the trial, and the day of and still leaves me money to "do something extra with" should I want to put extensions in or buy product.

Have you attended a bridal show and if you have, has it hurt or helped you? 

I attended one in the city where I live, and my mom attended one in the city where I'm getting married.

The one I went to wasn't much help except that I bought my dress there with a significant savings, and we found a photographer to do our e-pics. Otherwise, I've found myself getting a lot of junk mail and phone calls from make-up artists, reception venues, etc.

My mom was more successful and found a wedding coordinator at the one she went too and sent me a lot of things she had picked up.

I don't know; we're not having a very traditional reception, so all of the chocolate fountains, string quartets, and DJs didn't really do it for me. I've been much more successful sticking to online browsing and taking recommendations from my mom's coworkers who have recently married daughters.

**I should mention that the bridal shows I've gone to have the policy of "you must be present to win". My mother left because these shows last SOOOOOO LOOOOOONG (6 hours) and I was bound and determined to stick around for the dispersement of prizes. I think that's a huge catch, they go through several peoples names before I was actually lucky enough for them to get to me!  Persistence pays off! lol

I have gotten our center piece ideas, bridesmaid dress ideas, etc from attending these shows, along with tons of "garbage". The first thing I learned was DO NOT give them your "every day" email address. Unless you want tons of spam, create a wedding email address and that will allow you to hand it out freely and I would advise not to give your phone number out. I think I've gotten calls from half of the states wedding vendors and we've had to start screening our calls via our answering machine instead of picking it up like normal!