You’re Engaged! Awesome Tips on Selecting Wedding Vendors and Attending Bridal Shows…

Statistics tell us that nearly 40% of all engagements occur between November and March. The time of year is call engagement season. What follows is months of major planning for the wedding. Building a budget, choosing a date and looking for a vendors. What follows the engagement season is the bridal show season. If you are newly engaged or if you know someone who just said yes we recommend you attend a few bridal shows to find vendors and gain inspiration. The average couple uses about 10 vendors for their wedding celebration. This means you have to research many more than 10 to narrow down the vendors that are right for your special day. We would like to give you a few tips to use the bridal show experience to your advantage.

Do Research Before the Show

This is most important, do your research. I do not mean do your research after you attended the bridal show. Do it before. Think about the services you will need for the celebration you want. Write them down. Go to the bridal show’s website and look at the vendors. Go to each individual vendor website for the services you need. Look at each and every one of them. This will give you a way to sift through the vendors you do not want to see and vendors that look like you may want to use.

Be Prepared to Book a Vendor

Create your question. You will have your list of vendors to visit and talk with. Ask the Vendor “What if I book now?” Vendors usually provide the lowest prices of the year at these shows or add services for free or little cost that they normally would never do. Usually these deals end when the bridal show ends. Do not make a quick decision to book on the spot but if you are prepared to hire a vendor it may profit you to book during the show. If you aren’t ready to book that is OK. Take what you are given and research more later.

Do Not be One of the First To Arrive

We say this because a flood of other couples coming to the show arrive when the doors open. They are all hitting the booths at the same time. Usually there are only one or two people at each booth trying to manage all of the people at the same time. You will get more personal time with the vendors you have chosen to talk to if you arrive an hour or two late. Things die down a little bit and the chaos ebbs a little later in the event.

Setup a Gmail Account For Wedding Vendor Correspondence

Be sure and set up a Gmail account for all wedding related communication upon becoming engaged. Give this address at the bridal show. You will be put on a list with almost every single vendor there. Your inbox will be full after one show. Do not feel guilty about hitting that unsubscribe button if the emails are not the vendors you want to talk to or review. After the wedding look through the emails and send quick thank you to vendors and others who assisted you with your special day. Then cancel the account.

Have Labels Printed

Have a lovely engagement label printed with your contact information to give to vendors upon request. This will save time so you can get right down to business with the vendors so you do not have to write all your information down. This will also help with all the free drawings that are awarded at the bridal show.

Remember to Cater Coffee and Smoothies at You Wedding

You are used to getting a great piece of cake after a wonderful wedding dinner, right? Do you want your guests to drink some dark water that passes as coffee with that wonderful cake? Why not offer your guests an espresso, a mocha, or frappe? Why not a smoothie bar? A mobile coffee bar is an inexpensive and easy solution that will get your guests talking about your wedding for a long time to come.

Please keep Valet Coffee in mind as you plan your wedding! Weddings are a large part of our business and we have vast experience on what works and what does not.  

Contact us (859-409-1628) for a free consultation!

 

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About Valet Coffee

Valet Coffee is a full service, mobile espresso and smoothie bar. It’s a unique way to impress customers, appreciate employees and kick up any special event to the next level. Our professional baristas will bring the taste and feel of an authentic European coffee house. We do all the work, all you have to do is entertain. Valet Coffee’s mobile espresso and smoothie bars are one of Greater Cincinnati’s best marketing tools.
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