that sounds fair.
It depends on the size of shows. I am paying $175 for a 2 day show in october, and $100 for a one day show in april.
There is a show ehre that is 3 days and it $800 for the table.
That sounds about right for a small town!
I live in a small town too - population about 300,000. The 'bigger' bridal shows cost about $650 a booth, plus some red tape like joining a wedding business directory and being a member of an commercial association. The smaller ones start at about $200. I have done one small expo and it yielded A LOT of business for me last year. I have even had people phone me up 8 months later saying "You probably don't remember me, but we met at the XXX bridal expo last year..." and have booked their wedding with me immediately.
If its your first expo I'd advise to start small 
It should be a deductible business expense for tax purposes too.
As soon I sent my previous message I had a thought. Ask how many people they expect to come through. If you get a lot of traffic (over 500) then it is a good deal). If it is 50 then maybe not. In my experience there can be big number differences between shows.
That is true - the more popular the show, the higher the traffic, and the greater the cost to you.
That one show I did for $200, we had 130 people come through (according to the promoter). Other events she has put on yielded only 50 people coming through! So, yes, definitely ask questions
Don't discount small shows. The big shows with hundreds and hundreds of brides are "cattle calls." The crows grabs your samples and keeps moving. With a smaller number of brides you actually get to talk to them.
And $200 is a steal.
I'm in a wedding networking group that has now become the largest wedding show promotion company in my city. We host 8 shows a year, some large and some small. The key with wedding shows is that you have to do a lot of them. Brides have to see you over and over and over and over.
I did a bridal show (the only one at the time there) when I lived in Georgia and had started up my business and I have to say it was the biggest waste of 900.00 bucks. Oh sure, all the couples ranted and raved about my samples and display cakes, but I honestly don't think I got even 1 bride from the show. I now live in Colorado (as of 2009 actually) and have just become a member of Bridalize, which is one of the three wedding studio/boutiques here in Denver.
Sometimes the wedding shows give group discounts to vendors that are a part of these wedding boutiques and I might consider doing another bridal show IF I can get a killer deal, however, I can only tell you what my experience was. Plus, I will say that I had talked to several other cakers in other states and they have all said pretty much the same thing about bridal shows.... and that's that they never get any business from them 
Good Luck! I would put all my advertising $$$ into your online presence (NOT Wedding Wire or The Knot however) and get a good Wordpress Website built that is very search engine friendly. I have had a flash site since I started in Colorado and was wondering why things were going so slow. Well, my best friend, who also happens to be a phenomenal graphic designer/web designer analyzed my site and said it was virtually "unsearchable" by the web due to being a flash site.. I had an AHA moment and now we're rebuilding everything in Wordpress (and WP is FREE 
). I really think it will help with being searchable for sure!
Hope this info helps!
$200 is a steal, but check how long the show has been around and how they plan on advertising. Also how many other cake vendors will be there?
Small shows are great, poorly run shows are the pits.
I get almost all my business from bridal shows. I do 3 shows a year and book about 60-70 weddings/year. So I'm not a huge business by any means, but I love my shows, they are worth the effort!
When I said small town I meant as in less than 50,000. It's at the mall and the contact said last year they got 150 brides. I think I might just give it a try this year and see how it goes. The booth space is 8x6 and it includes electricity.
I need to have some items that brides can buy with their "bridal bucks" that they then reimburse to me later in the amount of $20. Any suggestions?
Don't discount small shows. The big shows with hundreds and hundreds of brides are "cattle calls." The crows grabs your samples and keeps moving. With a smaller number of brides you actually get to talk to them.
And $200 is a steal.
I'm in a wedding networking group that has now become the largest wedding show promotion company in my city. We host 8 shows a year, some large and some small. The key with wedding shows is that you have to do a lot of them. Brides have to see you over and over and over and over.
Excellent tip! Thank you!
Don't discount small shows. The big shows with hundreds and hundreds of brides are "cattle calls." The crows grabs your samples and keeps moving. With a smaller number of brides you actually get to talk to them.
And $200 is a steal.
I'm in a wedding networking group that has now become the largest wedding show promotion company in my city. We host 8 shows a year, some large and some small. The key with wedding shows is that you have to do a lot of them. Brides have to see you over and over and over and over.
Excellent tip! Thank you!
I live in a small town too - population about 300,000.
This was a big LOL! to me, too! Population of 300K, around here, is NOT considered "small town"!
U.S. cities in the around 300K range that are not considered 'small towns' include Anchorage, Alaska; Lexington Kentucky; Pittsburgh Pennsylvania; Toledo, Ohio; St. Paul Minnesota and Newark New Jersey.
Just goes to show what a difference "around the world" can make, huh! 
Haha...yes, well its not so much a 'town' but a regional centre...meaning its quite spread out. So it can be iffy getting the numbers into a bridal show as people are quite spread out over the region. The CBD is not that big obviously 
Sorry for the misguided info. Compared to Sydney (population > 4 million) we are still considered a 'country town' haha.
When I said small town I meant as in less than 50,000. It's at the mall and the contact said last year they got 150 brides. I think I might just give it a try this year and see how it goes. The booth space is 8x6 and it includes electricity.
I need to have some items that brides can buy with their "bridal bucks" that they then reimburse to me later in the amount of $20. Any suggestions?
You could sell boxes of cruffles (LeahS started calling them that and I love it. I'm sure that you know, but they are cake balls dipped in chocolate). Or you could sell actual things that brides could use. Like, cake servers, etc. Good luck!
Or you could sell actual things that brides could use. Like, cake servers, etc. Good luck!
In my observation, brides aren't buying these anymore. they are thinking logically about "why spend money for something I'll use one time?" As the caterer who cut the cake, I MUCH preferred using my own cutting tools to cut-n-serve the cake and flat out would tell brides that I'll bring my own because those crappy "pretty" things they sell to brides are useless for actually cutting/serving a cake. More brides were using the cutting tools the caterer used for the one-time-photo-op use of them.
I believe it's something that if people still buy them, they buy them "just because you're POSTA" and not because they are really useful ..... another item that will soon go by the wayside.
I live in a small town too - population about 300,000.
This was a big LOL! to me, too! Population of 300K, around here, is NOT considered "small town"! U.S. cities in the around 300K range that are not considered 'small towns' include Anchorage, Alaska; Lexington Kentucky; Pittsburgh Pennsylvania; Toledo, Ohio; St. Paul Minnesota and Newark New Jersey.
Just goes to show what a difference "around the world" can make, huh!
That's big to me also. It only takes a population of 100,000 to be classified as a MSA (metropolitan statistical area) that's including surrounding counties or 50,000 in a city.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%