Expo Tips for the Bride
To get the most out of your DulhanExpo visit, here are several tips to keep in mind:
- You should attend the DulhanExpo with your fiancé, parents, siblings, in-laws, and friends. It always helps to have a second opinion when it comes to deciding on important wedding products & services. In other words the more the merrier, take the entire neighborhood, especially since the admission is free.
- Throughout the show you’ll probably be filling out hundreds of forms,raffles or entries. Why not save yourself the time by bringing a bunch of contact cards or labels with all your contact information including your name, address, phone numbers, e-mail address and the wedding date? Your hands will thank you for it!
- Visit every booth and collect all the promotional materials and business cards, even stuff you may not think you’ll need. Who knows, down the road maybe you’ll change your mind about those Customized Desi Cake Toppers, or a Photo Booth or an Ice-Sculpture.
- Bridal Shows usually offer complimentary bags. Still you could bring your own, just make sure it has large sturdy handles making it easier for you to carry all your freebie stuff & promotional materials.
- Avoid being a ‘hit-and-run’ bride! Don’t just collect the contact info from the participating vendors and run to your next commitment. Try to spend a few minutes at each booth to evaluate the vendor’s talent, style of work, quality of services and the products as well as their personality! Otherwise, you won’t be able to narrow down the list, and will need to meet all of them again and thus defeating the whole purpose of attending a bridal expo.
- After visiting so many vendors, it may be difficult for you to remember details about all of them. So, be sure to write down your thoughts about each one on the backside of their business card or brochures, or carry a small notebook. You may also want to take notes when you are watching the fashion shows, the designer you liked, and the makeup artist’s work that matched your taste.
- There is no dress-code, but it doesn’t hurt to dress nicely. We would say Modern/Trendy/Semi-Dressed Up. At bridal shows photographers sometimes take complimentary photographs of the couples as a take-home favor. Mostly at DulhanExpos, there are PhotoBooth Companies that take Complimentary Instant Photos and there may even be FREE Professional Portraits by some Bridal Photo-Studios.
- Bring your checkbook just in case you want to book a vendor or place a deposit, especially if you know them from before or are aware of their positive reputation. Just remember to inquire about the refund policy and always read the fine print. You should never leave home without Credit Cards anyway, some retail vendors do accept those at the expo.
- One could carry a good amount of cash also so as not to miss any one-time wholesale priced Fashion & Jewelry deals. Usually there are ATM machines at the Venue also for your convenience. Some vendors are international & out-of-state and you will not be able to easily catch them again, and remember they don’t want to take any of that merchandise back… hint hint.
- Enter every contest or drawing offered at the bridal show. The chances of you winning show prizes are quite high. You could even win a Honeymoon, a Toaster, a Lehnga, a $5,000 Mandap, Photo Sessions, Makeup Trials, a $1,500 Free DJ Service… and much more. Always completely Free Services, never just a discount offer. No catch or obligation whatsoever. [DulhanExpo is not responsible for any claims made by the vendors]
- You should attend more than one DulhanExpo to maximize your choices.
– 50% of the vendors are always unique, especially if you attend both NY & NJ expos.
– A New Jersey Bride should definitely attend a New York Expo and vice-versa.
– Lots of vendors prefer to promote themselves cross-state.
– NY/NJ/CT/PA vendors mostly don’t charge extra for traveling for assignments.
– More choices means wider Price-Range and a better Talent-Pool for the biggest day of your life.
– Is a 2-hour drive going to come in the way of you saving weeks worth of research? - Plan to spend an entire day at these DulhanExpos. You would need at least 2 hours just to pickup everyone’s business cards… in addition, you would need another few hours to talk to the vendors to evaluate their talent, personalities, availability and pricing. There are so many booths (65-75), fashion shows, entertainment, free samplings, tastings, jewelry & fashion shopping opportunities and what not, that you may have to put everything else off to attend this event and spend a full day, you are saving 40 days worth of legwork after all.
- So Yes… you might have to put off that date with your fiancé (drag him to the bridal show instead, even if he has to miss the ball game this one time), your cousin’s wedding (or sneak out during the gap between their Wedding Ceremony & Reception), that wedding shopping trip backhome, that business trip or meeting, and attend the expo, and spend the entire day there. You will thank yourself for making the right decision.
