Any Tips On Bridal Shows?

Business By Solecito Updated 3 Apr 2018 , 2:47pm by ssmore

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kellertur Posted 3 Feb 2009 , 7:14pm
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How long do Dummy cakes last? Will the sugarpaste and/or buttercream attract bugs, or do you treat the cake with a sealant (varnish)????

I always take mine apart. I have no storage... icon_sad.gif

Also~ how does one actually apply buttercream to a dummy cake (maybe I should open a new post for that one... icon_redface.gif )

Thanks icon_smile.gif

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pnnllj Posted 3 Feb 2009 , 8:25pm
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I'm glad you asked about the dummy cakes, I've never made one either! I have read thru all these posts, now I want to do a show too!!! You guys are awesome! Not too many people would freely give such wonderful advice, thanks!

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leah_s Posted 3 Feb 2009 , 9:20pm
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I have dummies that have been in my case for 3+ years. But I generally do dummies in fondant. If not fondant, then PermaIce.

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lovetofrost Posted 28 Aug 2009 , 6:16am
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I just put in my registration for my first bridal show on Sept 27th. I am SUPER excited and have really enjoyed reading everyone's advice. I would like to do some promotional items...if it's not too costly. Does anyone know of a good place to get them? and anyone know of a good place to get a banner done? Thanks for your help. I'm praying all this work and expense will pay off and get me LOTS of weddings.

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Solecito Posted 28 Aug 2009 , 5:58pm
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Have you tried vistaprint.com???

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lovetofrost Posted 30 Aug 2009 , 4:12am
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that is where i got my business cards i'm going to order more this week i'll look at what other stuff they offer, i didn't think of them. thanks

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BooBooKitty Posted 12 Dec 2009 , 8:22pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FlowerGirlMN

I just loaded the pics from the show, and realized that I didn't mention draping.

The booth was black, which worked well with the "look" we continue through out website and printed materials - Black, silver trim, ALL of the color coming from the cakes themselves.

So we rented black linens from an outside company - pretty much everyone at the show had white. I think next time I may have white runners,dunno. Bought wooden frames from IKEA for like $5 each,and spray painted them with a metallic silver finish.

Anyway, here are some pics from the show. The two chairs are so people could hang out and flip through the portfolio:




WoW icon_eek.gif Look at that cake peeking over the top, calling to everyone come see our booth.. thumbs_up.gif And I love your black background and tablecloths.. I think it really makes the cake colors pop..

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Michelle104 Posted 7 Jan 2010 , 11:31pm
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Bumpin this one back up girls! Getting ready to do a show at the end of the month and looking for all the goods I can pick from your brains!! icon_biggrin.gif

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Jenn2179 Posted 13 Jan 2010 , 2:24pm
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I just did a bridal show this past weekend. I did the cake in the little cups with lids and have had many people tell me how much they loved it. Definately talk to everyone and be personable. I had one bride tell me, "You are so much nicer than that other cake vendor, I will be giving you a call." So they notice things like that. My camera battery died so I had to use my phone but here are some pictures of my booth.
LL
LL

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Michelle104 Posted 13 Jan 2010 , 2:51pm
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Great display Jenn!! Thanks so much for sharing! I love how you put your samples in those cute boxes....much prettier than what I had in mind. It's amazing sometimes how I can think outside the box and other times I just get stuck in there!! icon_redface.gif Do you have samples in all of those boxes??

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Jenn2179 Posted 13 Jan 2010 , 3:05pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Michelle104

Great display Jenn!! Thanks so much for sharing! I love how you put your samples in those cute boxes....much prettier than what I had in mind. It's amazing sometimes how I can think outside the box and other times I just get stuck in there!! icon_redface.gif Do you have samples in all of those boxes??




Yes. They were all labeled with little stickers that had my business name and website so they would know where they came from when they stuck a few in their bag. I had 4 different flavors and when they ran low I just filled them up from big boxes that were under the tables hidden by the table skirts.

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Chef_Stef Posted 13 Jan 2010 , 4:52pm
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I haven't read all five pages because I'm busy today putting everything away from the huge bridal festival last weekend that we did. It was a blast as usual, and huge! I'm attaching a pic of our booth. I'm fortunate to have a dh who knows ...everyone...and he always gets me the racking and lights (we actually had to pay for extra power to run them!), and does all the set up. We took the sign from the store front and hung it from the racking, and our flat screen TV to run a slide show of about 140 pics, including some of the shop and a page of "popular flavors" and every so often a plug about my having been voted 2009 BEST WEDDING CAKES. I also had a photo album, and everyone still flipped through that. Brochures all disappeared, and almost 250 biz cards as well.

We did samples on the cupcake stand, mini cupcakes in red velvet, chocolate, and vanilla caramel with IMBC and everyone said they were the best they'd ever tasted icon_smile.gif. We took the mirrored table and some decor from the shop too, which helped, because everyone else used the basic table/cloth that was provided. Didn't need forks with the mini cc's, just napkins and a trash can, and when we ran out of cc's, we offered single-serve forks with a bit of IMBC on them, which people loved too!

I hired my sil to help and took my daughter too, and second day I let sil stay home because, not being a cake person, she was useless (AND underdressed!! even though I specifically requested black pants, white top, she shows up in old tennies, ripped old jeans, a blue t-neck, and a down vest!! bleh!) DD was much more help...definitely need a helper. My screen is freaking out so I will stop here. pm if any questions.

stef
LL

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tracycakes Posted 14 Jan 2010 , 8:39pm
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I'm so glad to see your pictures. I've been looking at all of them I can find. I'm participating in my first bridal show this weekend. I've got 4 dummy cakes (wanted more but ran out of time), I'll have some pictures, brochures, and business cards. I'm doing cake samples of WASC with vanilla buttercream in 3 1/4oz. cups with lids and the lids have a sticker on them with our logo and contact information. My hubby and 2 friends of mine are coming to help. We have golf shirts with our logo embroidered on them and black pants and also white aprons with our logo embroidered on them.

I really enjoy looking at everyone's photos and getting ideas on what to do. I'm really excited and a little nervous too. I love hearing everyone else's experiences and seeing your booths.

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Michelle104 Posted 15 Jan 2010 , 2:19am
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Good luck Tracy! Have fun and I can't wait to see your pics! Mine's coming up on the 31st.

icon_biggrin.gifthumbs_up.gif

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dalis4joe Posted 15 Apr 2010 , 10:44am
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Bump.... Awesome thread.... needs to be up there again.....

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pinkpiggie78 Posted 5 Jun 2010 , 10:44pm
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I just inquired about a show in my area, and I see that folks suggested dressing up. I do have a chef coat that I can wear, but is a tee-shirt with your business name totally unprofessional? I see myself as a casual person who ends up doing cakes for casual brides. I don't know all the info on the show yet, but I am thinking there will maybe be 3-5 other cakers there, most of which have shops (I am home-based).

With the slide shows, do only display wedding cakes or do you display other cakes you did as well. My wedding cake portfolio is maybe a dozen photos and I thought about including some of the best of the rest.

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ladyonzlake Posted 7 Jun 2010 , 1:29am
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I wouldn't wear a T-shirt but a polo shirt with your logo on it would be okay.

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tracycakes Posted 8 Jun 2010 , 2:04pm
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I have golf shirts with our logo and black pants. I'll get a chef's coat at some time but the golf shirt seems to work fine.

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Michelle104 Posted 16 Jul 2010 , 12:33am
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I'm gonna bump this topic again just to see if any of you have any new insights! icon_smile.gif

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pinkpiggie78 Posted 16 Jul 2010 , 1:00am
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I completed my first bridal show and I will say for me... it was not a super elegant, fancy-dancy show. I definately could have worn a t-shirt with my info on it as the big cake shop in my area was in jeans and tee shirts. I definately liked the idea of having the little cups... it was great for folks to throw a cake sample in their purse for the groom hanging out at home. Definately learned a lot, mostly that I went overboard (I believe it is because of where I live). icon_smile.gif I read this board too much!!!

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_christina_ Posted 2 Aug 2010 , 7:59pm
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This is a great post and such great info! And I love the pics.

One question: do you usually have to bring your own tables and such for set up? Or is every show different? I haven't done a show yet but am contemplating one in September.

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meldancer Posted 10 Aug 2010 , 7:47pm
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I'm entering a booth at a small town arts and crafts event. This is the first time I have ever had a booth and I'm very nervous and excited about it. The event is going to be outside, so I'm not sure how I should handle it compared to the bridal show settings that are typically inside. I want to make some display cakes, but what? Any advice?

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Mrs_O Posted 10 Aug 2010 , 8:21pm
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The following are pics from my first bridal show in Jan 2010. This pic was taken before the samples were put out. One thing I learned was to bring extra tablecloths/sheets because the booth dividers were the ugliest color of maroon Ive ever seen! We just hung up white sheets and it made it look totally different.
In my area, we dont have to have samples in covered containers and I found that mini cupcakes were perfect. We provided 4 flavors and they were almost completly gone by the end of the show.
We had about 5-6 different cake dummies. I did all of them in fondant to make them last longer and I will do a buttercream one in the future. I remember having to explain to some brides that I also did buttercream. Fondant isnt hugely popular in my area and some would not even stop at the booth. I could hear them say, oh I dont like fondant. Lesson Learned!
A huge hit was a replica of a popular football stadium for the guys to check out!
All in all, about 2000 mini cupcakes and TONS of business cards were taken. For my first show, I ended up booking over 20 weddings!
LL

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keystone Posted 11 Aug 2010 , 12:32am
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Thanks for the photo and info!

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suzylynn58 Posted 29 Aug 2010 , 12:37pm
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This is such a great thread! I am getting ready to do my first bridal show 1/11 and the info here is invaluable. Can't wait!

Thanks!

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karateka Posted 24 Dec 2010 , 1:40am
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I took the plunge and am doing a show here at the end of February. It will have about 800 brides and the guy says about 2400 people show up over the weekend. We will be there 11-5 Sat and Sun.

My questions:

How many samples do I need? I figure at minimum 2400...but do I need that many of each flavor I intend to bring? How often do they take more than 1 flavor to taste, if I do the bite size samples in lidded cups? I wanted to bring 3 flavors of cake and at least 2 types of frosting.

Do those lidded cups keep the cake fresh? I certainly can't bake, cut and box 2400 or more samples the day before the show. And I certainly can't bake more and box them up the night of the first show day before I go back the next day....

If you bring SMBC, do you keep it in a cooler all day? Will it be ok sitting out all day like that? I guess you could bring them home after the first night and then refrig them until the next morning....but will that stale the cake? I don't want to make anyone sick from eating SMBC that has been sitting out the whole first day, then overnight and into the second show day.....none of my meringue buttercream recipes state that it can be out for more than a few hours.....but I'm not sure they aren't just covering their butts.

I'm honestly a bit freaked out. I've never done anything like this and I'm petrified of making an ass of myself. I don't need any negative publicity!

If you were offering to pay someone to go with you....how much would you offer? I don't want to be chintzy, but I'm not so much rolling in it right now!

Thanks in advance for any help/advice you can offer. I read the whole thread and am making notes. I just am a little worried about the samples.

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leah_s Posted 24 Dec 2010 , 7:42pm
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I'd guess you'd need about 1000 samples. (I do 7 wedding shows a year, at least)

Yes, the lidded souffle cups keep the samples very fresh for 3-4 days.
Offer 1-3 flavors of cake. Offer one type of icing.

Brochures? Nope. Get a business card into their hand that directs them to your website.

Yes, have someone help you at the show. A six hour show is a killer and not in a good way. I can't even image doing that two days in a row. So, yes make sure you have help and comfortable shoes. I pay $50 cash for a three hour show + 1 hour prep time.

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karateka Posted 24 Dec 2010 , 8:16pm
post #88 of 127

Leah,

Thank you! Those brochures were going to really cost me.

That's a lot less samples than I figured, thank you!

The venue doesn't provide tables or cloths. I am buying a banner. I guess I need a few more business cards. I have 2 tables here I could use, so I think I'm ok there. The venue says they will help me move in and set up & break down.

Thank you for the unsolicited advice on the other thread. That's the kind of stuff I need!

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misscake28 Posted 26 Dec 2010 , 7:19pm
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for samples I purchased sample cups and forks from a local food supply buisness, I made sheet cakes of the flavors and made little punches to push into the cups. then i color coded the buttercream on top and put out a chart infront of the samples. ( I just used a star tube and swirled a pretty top on each cup)

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tracycakes Posted 28 Dec 2010 , 8:34pm
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We use lidded souffle cups with lids and we have a our label on the lid. That way brides can take the samples and eat them later AND know where they got that great tasting cake. icon_wink.gif We did have a booth at the fall bridal fair but another local cake company used our idea for souffle cups since at the January show, they just set out samples that quickly dried out.

I'll be taking about 6 or 7 cakes of all sizes, colors and designs to show variety. We have about 3000 brides come through and there will be 3 or 4 people working. Last year, we wore polo shirts with our logo but this year, it will be chef's coats with our logo.

In addition to business cards, we also have brochures. Last year, it was everything from birthday to weddings. This year, we are having a separate bridal brochure made up because we are really focusing on wedding cakes next year. This new brochure is all wedding and groom's cakes. It costs a bit but we are really trying to pull in wedding business next year. HTH!

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