Brighton Wedding Fair Nerves

Today we are handing you over to one of our guest bloggers - Sam Harrington-Lowe one of the Directors of Marry Me! takes us behind the scenes of thier next event - Pamper Me...

It’s always a slightly nerve-wracking thing – going ‘off piste’ with a tried and tested formula, and it was no different when we revamped and re-launched our wedding fairs. It was a risk, doing it differently... what if nobody came? What if nobody wanted to exhibit?

Wedding fairs have always been during spring and autumn and have traditionally been held on Sunday afternoons. It’s written in stone it seems. But we found that this meant the competition was just ridiculously fierce – not just from other wedding fair companies, but also from venues holding their own wedding fairs. Exhibitors were stretched to ridiculous lengths over the two seasons – not only that, but visitors were finding they couldn’t get round to see all the events they wanted as there were often up to ten in a five or ten mile radius. Exhibitors complained about seeing the same faces at the fairs all the time and we found it hard to generate any real support. So we bucked the trend and went for something completely different. We like different.

It seems to have been a good idea. Our ‘Pamper Me!’ bridal evenings have really taken off. By making it a very girly event and having it in the evenings during summer and winter, we’ve clearly hit the market with the right note. Our visitors have a richer experience – our goody bags are to DIE for! – but our exhibitors have a much better time of it too. With fewer events going on during these months, they find the quality of the visitors is high... at our last event one exhibitor stated it was the best wedding fair they’d ever exhibited at! We always have a really good time too – as organisers it’s important it all goes well. But each time we see everyone, from our burlesque models to our exhibitors, visitors and advertisers, having a real laugh whilst doing great business.

The next one is on 30th June at the Old Ship hotel in their elegant Paganini Ballroom. Anyone interested in exhibiting, be quick – we have a few places left but not many – and if you’re interested in attending, we’d love to see you. Just rock up at 7pm or thereabouts with £2, bring your friends and remember the fashion show is at 8pm. We’ve got a glass of bubbly waiting for you...

More info here www.marrymeweddingfair.co.uk