Being the OC person that I am, weeks after being engaged, I began my research on all things wedding related. I used to see advertisements of bridal fairs in the past so this is one of the first things I checked out on the wedding and bridal sites I’ve visited. Then I came across an ad for the Weddings and Debuts 2012 Bridal Fair scheduled last February 17-19, 2012. Filled with excitement, I made a mental note to tell Adrin about it and ask him if he’d like to go and check things out. Good thing he’s also as interested as I was because we’re in agreement that (1) we have to start our preps somewhere, and that (2) it’s better to have an idea of how things work as early as now. After that, I immediately pre-registered for the said event and blocked-off our calendars for it.
Armed with nothing but open minds and a few shortlisted suppliers (those that I’ve noted after researching online), we braved the crowds of SM Megatrade Hall on a Saturday afternoon after the quick registration. It was overwhelming to see a sea of suppliers covering everything that goes into a wedding. Since this is the first one we attended, our major goal is to have awareness. We looked around, made sure that we passed each aisle, and collected all the fliers being handed out.
Having a wedding almost 2 years from then, answering questions about our wedding date proved to be a challenge. We surely do not want to appear too excited nor do we want them to lose interest entertaining us should they learn that it’s still 1yr. 11mos. away. The solution? Move the year a notch. The whole time, we were telling them that it’ll be on January 2013. Yes I know, it was a naughty thing to do, but it’s harmless. So please let us off it. J
Since we established weeks before that one of our priority suppliers to invest on aside from food is photo and video service, we went to each supplier stall and meticulously checked their works. There we were leafing through their albums and watching sample videos that they were playing. We even checked some stalls twice so we can compare them better with the others. We also asked random things like average number of events they cover per day and whether we have a say on what goes into the albums. Let’s not forget the price reasonability. Of course we also have a price range to consider, so aside from inspecting samples, we also asked about their rates. This should be pondered on since we do not want to splurge much on photo/video to the point that other wedding components are sacrificed.
After going around for 2 hours, our feet were already hurting and my arms were tired from carrying what was already a big pile of service package hand-outs and fliers. But that was just a small thing compared to what we have achieved that day. We walked out of the hall with more knowledge of things that should be arranged for our big day and more or less an idea of our non-negotiables. Additionally, we also selected a top candidate for our photo and video supplier. Productive eh? Not bad for a first, I say. There’s still a ton of fairs to attend out there, and surely we’ll come more prepared next time.
Cheers!
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