I have an opportunity to participate in a bridal expo show. The booth costs $500. The show is Oct 1st. My question: What do you normally have for a show like that? Decorated dummies? Or decorated cakes? Do you serve cake? How? By slicing up the decorated ones, or just having some small cakes in various flavors to cut and hand out?

Any info is appreciated here....I've never been to a bridal expo and have NO IDEA what to expect, what to bring, etc. Plus.....not sure if my skills are up to bridal expo specs. There are probably going to be some real professionals there, like our Food Network Cake Challenge Green Team champ!! Would I make myself look amateurish by comparison? I'd rather not spend that kind of dough if it's going to hurt my business rather than help it.

Don't be afraid to be honest and let me in on what I need to know. I need basis for making a good decision. Thanks in advance!

From your photos, it looks like you have solid skills, maybe not foodtv level, but certainly good.

As for the show, I think I remember that you have a licensed business. That would be a requirement to enter most shows.

You should have a least one model cake to show your work. Many shows recommend tastings. 1/2 sheets with a good cake/icing combination are usually effective. You would also need napkins, serving stuff, and perhaps little deli cups (with labels) to close up the sample the bride to take home. Business cards and photos of your work are also necessary. Perhaps you can find another small business (florist, etc) to share a booth?

January, in Seattle, there is a really big Wedding show that attracts tons of Brides, mothers, bridesmaids, Grooms and In laws! I did the show about 6 or 7 years ago and from what I can remember, they supplied the table and table cloth, a backdrop, sidedrop, 2 chairs and 2 outlets for plug ins. We brought our own decoration for the back drop of fabrics to coodinate with one of the dummy cakes we had made, brought our credentials, and photos only. We were there to talk to the guests with no samples, but made lots of appointments for tastings. There were some cake people there with samples, but seeing the garbage cans full of cake pieces was not pretty! I felt bad for them, and the work it took to make samples for 1.000+ people over 2-3 days. We made some great contacts from the show, and have been busy ever since! They are fun, exhausting, but fun and its fun to talk about your cakes and show photos and such. If you do it, plan to have fun and try to rest up first!

I did a bridal show the weekend before last. It was a wonderful way to get my name out and hook up with other vendors and event planners that would give out my name as a recommendation if their clients asked for a cake maker.

The show provided the tables, tablecloths, chairs, backdrop, and the sign. The rules at my show stated no sharing booths with other vendors and we had to give out a $50 prize for their drawing.

I made 6 dummy cakes and one real one for the prize (the chocolate one). I also gave out samples in soufflé cups. They where small bite sized pieces, but that was all they needed. There was another vendor giving out larger pieces, but many of those didn't get finished anyways. They were all pre-cut and put in soufflé cups with lids the night before. This made it much easier to transport them and I didn't have to worry about cutting samples, while I was busy talking to people. I also had those tiny sample spoons like at ice cream stores, and people really liked not having to eat with their fingers. I did put the little labels on the tops of each sample cup, but I think it was a huge waste of time. Not only did it take hours, but it wasn't really necessary since people were taking business cards too and most of the labels were just thrown away.

Our show averaged 400 brides not including their guests. I needed about that many biz. cards, about 200 of each sample flavor (I had 3 flavors), and I had 3 copies of my photo albums out so everybody wasn't waiting to look at one. I also brought lots of table decorations such as roses, champagne glasses, and candles. (Candles can't be lit and alcohol is not allowed, though.) I got a lot of questions like, "How many would this cake serve?", "How long does a cake like this take?", "How much is this cake?", and of course, "What is your starting cost?", so know your cakes. I'll try to attach the pics I have.

Here are a few links to some previous posts about bridal shows.

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-19953.html

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopic-14593-0.html

Wow SweetArt, you did an excellent job with your whole display, the cakes, etc.!! Can you share where you purchased the souffle cups?

I searched all over the net. The best price I could find was on E-bay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/200-each-2oz-Souffle-Cups-with-Lids-Portion-Cups-2-oz_W0QQitemZ7623848408QQihZ017QQcategoryZ25382QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I don't rember if that is the exact vendor, but that is the product.

I too participated in my first bridal show this past February....and will be going back again in September.
It was a local show, so good to get my name out there in my area.
I challenged myself to 1 dummy per week 6 weeks before the show, and I got that done, with 2 herniated disks in my back 2 days before the show and all!!! Plus 2 wedding cake orders the day before.
What I did for samples was one flavour cake, one buttercream and I did mini cupcakes on a tower. They ended up looking super cute, were great cause really 1 bite is all you need to know if something is good or not, took no time to make/decorate and you can make a ton of them! I in fact made too many not knowing what to expect.
Yes know your cakes and your prices...if you do dummies...know EXACTLY what that specific cake feeds and how much it is - cause you will get asked.
I handed out brochures to everyone who walked near me so that they had my info even if they didn't talk to me.
It was good exposure, I ended up getting 4 bookings from it for now...maybe more to come next year since most brides were for 2007.
Here are some pics of my display

Thanks, SweetArt.

Flourgrl, I love your avatar. Then after checking your site, I see that you made it! Wow, its a very elegant cake! I see why you won! Love the decorated cake board also. Very nice.