I've received an invitation to be a vendor at an upcoming bridal show in November. I've never done one before and could use some tips!

The cost is $200 for a 10x10' space with an 8' table and table skirt included. Also included is 8' and 3' partition and 2 chairs. Electric is avail if needed. The space price will increase with advertising.

Is that a good deal? I know that I would do up a cake dummy or two and have samples and photos available.

Should I make samples and put them in little plastic cups with lids and my card attached? Is there a better way? I don't want people to just come up and grab cake to eat and leave, or be one of 20 other cake samples they've eaten and they can't remember who was best, etc.

What will grab someone's attention to my booth more than someone elses? I've never even been to one of these, so I don't know what other bakers do. Thanks for any advice!!

I know nothing about prices, etc. but....

A few weeks ago someone posted about the bridal show they had done. They placed their samples in custard cups (?...looked like the cups you get pizza sauce in for breadsticks when you carry out!) and lids with, what looked like, a small address label that had their name & phone number on the label. I really liked that idea. When I went to shows, it would have been nice to take home cake samples to taste when I could concentrate & also to share with DH.

The craft shows in our area are $400.00-1200.00 for a 10 x 10 so I would say that is a nice price. Depending on your area if that is a reasonable price or not.
When setting up your booth use lattice board painted like a pale cream or pink pearl luster then using Ivy with white lights in it or even light pink or what ever your color is.. Lights attract people and it also gives it a romantic setting... Make sure your signage is BRIGHT and easy to read and can be seen from a distance... Have a bridal book with many different cakes in it and have it on a stand they can turn the pages easily. You might add fresh flowers around the bottom of it. Draping tulle around the edges of your table adds a nice touch as well... The sky is the limit when decorating for these shows. Brides to be love romance and beauty! Can't go wrong with Ivy, Christmas lights, and little tulle. Inexpensive beautification! Yes serving cake is important but its up to you how you serve. Most of our bridal shows, the cake booths usually have a person cutting it fresh for you from 2 different type cakes.They also ask if you would like a small sample to take to the groom and they will use the portion cup then or simply sign you up for a taste test right there. Where the bride and groom can come alone, kinda get their foot in he door without realizing it. It is up to you on how you want to represent your cake. Sometimes brides will look as a sample in a plastic cup with a lid to be cheap and not personalized. Having someone cut a piece for you adds sophistication and personal touch to your services which speaks for itself and then for you to care enough to ask about the groom just sends the brides to be, in a happy happy state of mind! Others dont think about it.... The life of catering to Bridezillas!

Oh and I forgot to tell you GOOD LUCK!!!

theres one coming up in my town. its 700 for a 10x10 space for 4 hrs.

yours sounds like a great deal.

The price is great - but I would suggest talking up your business with customers and offer them a sample and have someone freshly slicing cake. It looks better than having samples already packed up. The shows I have assisted in - have four display cakes out and two real cakes with differnt flavors for each tier, those are the ones that they cut for samples. They also have three to four photo albums out - all of the same photos (she just ran sets of copies and put them in a scapbook style. ) This was so that multiple people could look through the albums and they don't have to wait to look at your work, I think that is a great idea. I have been to shows were people only have one album, and you either wait in line or just leave and go on to the next one. I say go for it! Good Luck!! Let us know how it goes.

I precut and iced sheet cakes to serve in uncovered cups. Mine was a small show and I was the only one giving samples. I had several dummies and I set up a TV slideshow running with lots of different cakes. Everyone can look without elbowing others out of the way. I also had a photo album for backup and talking to people about specific cakes. I offered a $10 discount if they mention the show when placing their order.

One order can make up what you spend on this show. It was well worth it to me. I have been bombarded with orders! Good Luck!

ps- Don't forget to speak to the other vendors. The best contacts I got were from my neighboring booths. I made sure they all got samples and cards too.

The bridal show I was at was $875.

We used the plastic souffle cups with lids with a round label on the lid. The reason this worked for us is that this was a very large show with many cake vendors as well as other food vendors. The fact that they could take ours with them and still know whose it was was great. When you go to a large show, you sample a lot of things, and a lot of times the cake starts running together. You remember the really bad ones though. You also get sick of cake. People liked that we packaged it "to go" and we got TONS of calls and emails after the show. It also takes the pressure of you having to cut all the cake there, or having someone else do it.

A lot of them will eat it there anyway, but a lot will take it home. They will generally still talk to you either way. Make sure you have something to give them- like a menu/price list/etc with all of your contact info on it. Print it on a cardstock, or have it a different color, or cut it into a different size. Anything to make it stick out. They will be getting a LOT of paper that day. You don't want them to shove yours in their bag and toss it later. Ours was tea length and printed on a lavender metallic paper.

Anyway, good luck and have fun! And be prepared for the calls and emails to pour in afterward!

-Suz

Interesting to hear the various opinions on pre-cut samples or not! When I went to bridal shows while planning my wedding and with friends for their's, none of us liked to wait for a slice to be cut. If slices weren't out already, we skipped the booths. Out of a dozen or so shows we went to, I can only recall us waiting to get a slice cut one time.

How interesting! I think that I will try it. I'm a bit afraid of how busy I'll get because I hate to say NO to someone because I think they'll go elsewhere and never come back. But then I stress myself out way too much!!

Maybe I'll have some packaged up in little cups with lids AND slice some also. If it gets busy, I can just whip out a nice basket of samples to keep them moving.

I like the idea of several photo albums - and my DH suggested a projected slideshow of photos too. I havn't done all that many weddings to show a lot though.

I didn't get any of these notifications to my email when you all posted! Sorry for not conversing with you all sooner!!

I recently found out that when you start a topic, it doesn't add it to your watched topics automatically. You have to go in and select "watch this topic" or respond to someone.

hmm, now that doesn't seem quite right....

Here is what Heath said about it:
"Threads you start are not automatically set to watched topics, what I do is view the thread after I start it and then manually choose to watch the topic.

One thing also to consider is that some Email providers might randomly flag those emails as spam and not let them thru. This happens to me on a number of email subscriptions I have. Security programs are suspicious of any automatically generated emails, this can sometimes be the problem."

Since you said you haven't done very many weddings, and since it's not until November, you could do some dummy cakes, maybe one a week, and arrange them differently, with different flowers, color accents, presentation, etc. and take pictures for your book. Set up an area in your house or outside and try to have a neutral background, and take the pictures there. You can edit the background out or soften it, with photoshop to get a nice look. There are free photo editing programs out there. Let me know if you need help finding one.

I would try to have a WIDE variety of different styles and colors, as every bride is different.

You probably already know all of this, but if you didn't, I hope I helped

I have never done a bridal show as a cake decorator, but have done about half a dozen of various sizes as a bridal consultant and helped in the planning of two bridal shows with about 100 vendors.

The price sounds great, but I would be leary about the price of the space increasing with the price of advertising. The planners for this show should have planned and calculated their marketing before ever sending out a single invitation to vendors so they would know how much advertising would cost and that the vendor registration fee would cover this as well as profit. They could go up to any price and you could be stuck in a contract.

Also, does this price include a list of the brides and their addresses who registered at the show? This is a norm for shows in my area. Its great because you can send the brides your information after they have thrown away their bags with all kinds of paper. If there is an atendees list or not, a giveaway is a great way to acquire this information.

Are they charging the brides a minimal fee of say $5? I have found that shows that do charge a fee may end up with fewer bodies in the room, but more quality in potential clients. Many people in my area take advantage of bridal shows as a free lunch and show where they bring 10 people with them or aren't even planning an event.

I wish you the best and hope that this is a wonderful investment for you. Make sure to wear low heels because you will be on your feet ALL DAY LONG. Good Luck!