We are onto our fourth instalment of Paula's wedding story (if you're new to this series you can read 'The Proposal', 'Family Involvement' and 'The Venue' before you start if you like) and this week she is telling us all about her experience of wedding fairs.
Wedding Fairs
Last weekend I went to my first two wedding fairs. I imagined this was going to be one of the more exciting parts of wedding planning - a chance to see it all laid out and envisage how my day make look like.
The first one was at The Belfry in Nottingham. Tickets were £2 each, although free when registering online. It was organised by an events company who seem to roll out the same theme across the country. On entry, we were given a bag with a "Bride's" scrapbook (because only brides organise weddings?), a map of the displays and a pen. It was held in what is probably the function room. I felt awkward and out of place almost immediately. The promoters on each display seemed to favour young couples but that did leave us free to observe uninterrupted. What struck me was the uniformity. The sameness. Variety was limited to colour of chair sash, flavour of cake, vintage of car and quality of photo. Short of a couple of exhibitors, it totally lacked diversity. In the eyes of the wedding planning world, all wedding couples were heterosexual, all brides young and slim and apparently, all wedding budgets limitless! It wasn't a fruitless venture though. We saw two beautiful VW campers, expertly renovated which would be a definite maybe. And I realised that I MUST have a photobooth - a fun idea and would be our alternative to a photographer or wedding album. No freebies sadly, save some overpriced cake sampling.
A quick stop for liquid refreshment and on to our next fair. This one was in a small marquee at the outlet centre I work at and was organised by a wedding magazine. This was free but required registration on entry. The guy who greeted us gave one look and asked if we knew someone who was getting married - huge faux pas and I found it highly insulting that his assumption was made purely on our ages! Sadly the wares at this fair were no improvement on the last. Same ideas, different brand names. Only one stall here interested us - a wedding shop in Bakewell which sold so many cute things that you didn't even realise you needed for your wedding, like a silver locket for your bouquet! I will be popping out to visit this shop as it seemed to have different products and was priced reasonably. Swag bag included the most random of contents - chocolate, lady's razor, cereal bar.
On our return home, I concluded that I'd have spent my day better updating my board on Pinterest. I know I'm not the only bride who wants to move away from traditional. I know I'm not the only plus sized bride in my forties. I possibly may be the only bride who has an immediate family nearing fifty. I won't give up on wedding fairs yet, but I don't hold out much hope that there'll be a style and fit for me.
Come back next Wednesday for the next instalment
Follow Paula on Twitter : @paulamaher (maybe invite her to your wedding fair to give her more inspiration?)
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