My First Bridal Fair

[dawssvt]

I started a thread a few months back asking for advice on bridal shows. I had a booth in the Bridal Show in El Paso this weekend and it was a blast! I passed out right around 1,000 business cards and fliers. There was never a point where there weren't at least 4-5 people in my booth from 11am-5pm. Often times there was a line to get in and talk to us.

A few things I learned:

• I had several large canvas prints on easels in my booth. This was a good way to get people into my booth. There was probably 7 different people that I saw that passed my booth, looked back to see the sunset canvas photo, turn back around and come talk to me. The brides eyes always lit up when looking at the large prints.
• I had a drawing for 25% off any of my wedding collections. This was a good incentive for people to come to my booth and sign up. It also worked to be great for getting conact names and email addresses from the people who visited my booth.
• My fiancé, Allison, went along to the bridal show with me. Let me say, she saved my life! There's no way I would have been able to talk to all the people coming to my booth without her with me.
• My albums were the hit of the booth. After explaining to the clients about my services, I would suggest they grab an album and take a seat. Often times, this was exactly what they needed after walking around all day. I were able to focus more on the albums when sitting since they were not having to worry about the people behind them waiting to talk to us.


All in all, this was a great experience. I got to meet a large amount of potential clients and I also networked with many other wedding vendors. I've booked 5 meetings thus far and it's only 2 days after the show!

Here are a few photos of my booth before the chaos began!

http://dawsonhunt.smugmug.com/Private/Events/Bridal-Fair-January-2010/IMG8919/768708918_kcGqd-L.jpg

http://dawsonhunt.smugmug.com/Private/Events/Bridal-Fair-January-2010/IMG8921/768709776_5qwPE-L.jpg

http://dawsonhunt.smugmug.com/Private/Events/Bridal-Fair-January-2010/IMG8926/768712729_g3zv6-L.jpg

http://dawsonhunt.smugmug.com/Private/Events/Bridal-Fair-January-2010/IMG8927/768713679_SyxHL-L.jpg

http://dawsonhunt.smugmug.com/Private/Events/Bridal-Fair-January-2010/IMG8923/768710431_rBJTm-L.jpg

[Naturalist]

Man, that looks like a nice set and I'm glad it was a success. I hope you've told the fiance to "get ready". I bet you get some committed couples after this event. Congratulations!

[FamilyJules]

congrats! Set up looks great! And great idea on the wicker love seat! Light weight and easier to carry that a normal love seat! I'll have to take on that idea for our next show!

[angryhampster]

Very classy setup. Congrats on getting lots of names and visitors. Hopefully you'll see big benefits from this. I hope to do my first show next year.

[Peacefield]

Very nice and I appreciate your sharing these experiences and insights. I've yet to do a fair but have it in mind. I'd be curious about your thoughts on a few things:

- Did you have a chance to see other exhibitors? How many other photographers were also there? In what ways were their booths different?
- Did you actually go to contract on any weddings during the event? Or schedule firm appointments for consultations?
- Would you mind sharing cost information? Not just to exhibit but on all the "stuff" to prepare your booth.
- I notice that you don't have any monitors with slide shows running. Having gone through the event, do you wish you did and did other photographers have them?
- How long did most prospects stay in your booth engaged in discussion?
- How soon did most couple's say their wedding was?
- Knowing what you now know, what do you wish you did differently?

I'll be especially interested to hear how you measure the success of the event over time with respect to bookings derived from the show. Thanks again for sharing.

[wndrlst]

Great thread - thank you for sharing!

Please do follow up and let us know what kind of bookings you secure from it. I love your set-up. Everything looks great.

What are the 10% cards on the front right table?

[dawssvt]

Man, that looks like a nice set and I'm glad it was a success. I hope you've told the fiance to "get ready". I bet you get some committed couples after this event. Congratulations!

I hope I do get some committed couples. I had another bride-to-be call me today to schedule an appointment :)

congrats! Set up looks great! And great idea on the wicker love seat! Light weight and easier to carry that a normal love seat! I'll have to take on that idea for our next show!

Yea, the wicker seat was very handy because I could lift it myself with no problem. I feel like it works well with the booth too! Thanks for your comment! :cool:

Very classy setup. Congrats on getting lots of names and visitors. Hopefully you'll see big benefits from this. I hope to do my first show next year.

Yea, hopefully so! I did a lot of research online before this show. I recommend that to you also!

Very nice and I appreciate your sharing these experiences and insights. I've yet to do a fair but have it in mind. I'd be curious about your thoughts on a few things:

- Did you have a chance to see other exhibitors? How many other photographers were also there? In what ways were their booths different?
- Did you actually go to contract on any weddings during the event? Or schedule firm appointments for consultations?
- Would you mind sharing cost information? Not just to exhibit but on all the "stuff" to prepare your booth.
- I notice that you don't have any monitors with slide shows running. Having gone through the event, do you wish you did and did other photographers have them?
- How long did most prospects stay in your booth engaged in discussion?
- How soon did most couple's say their wedding was?
- Knowing what you now know, what do you wish you did differently?

I'll be especially interested to hear how you measure the success of the event over time with respect to bookings derived from the show. Thanks again for sharing.

Great questions! To answer them...

1. The show only allowed 10% of the booths to be photographers. There were around 150 booths at the show, so I think there were around 15 photographers, maybe a little less. Some were offering video only. I would say half of the booths were set up completely different than mine. They had a table in the front with the albums/samples for the clients to pick up and they would sit behind the table. I believe this not to be as effective as the way I set mine up. I wanted the clients to feel welcome to come in a stay a while so they would get excited about my work. The other half had walk in booths like me, but only 2 or 3 others with a place to sit.

2. I did not get any contracts during the show, but that was not my goal. For one thing, I did not have a price list out. If someone asked for prices, I would tell them where my prices began and encourage them to look at my website. Instead of coming into my booth, asking for the price, and remembering the price, I would rather them know the ball park figure of my service and then go onto my website and look at all my sample work and get excited about my work. I feel by not having the prices at the booth, it helps the clients stay focused upon my work and not the price. I did set one appointment during the day, but my main goal is to get in touch with all the people through email after the show. This was the reason for the drawing - I got right around 275 contacts through that. I sent them all a generic email reminding them about our promotions, about our business, and telling them that I am setting up appointment for this week. This was a Bridal and Quinceañera fair, so you may not get that many contacts, but it should still be significant.

3. I have not calculated how much I spend, that is still something I need to do. I just looked at my booth and went through the prices I remember paying for all the stuff. I think it totaled around $1,600, maybe a little more. This was only a first time cost, so every show after this one will be much less expensive.

4. To make a long story short, the convention center charges for power outlets and because the people running the show gave me that info late, it was going to be $125 for power, so I decided against it. Other photographers had monitors up, but I don't think it's necessary. It's definitely a nice touch if you don't have to pay extra for it.

5. On average, they would stay around 5-10 minutes or so in the booth. Some got the information and left, but most talked to Allison or myself and then looked through my albums.

6. I had people with weddings from February to 2011. There were hardly any from February-March. A little more in April. May, June, and July all had quite a few contacts. Then the highest number of weddings were in August-December. There were probably 40 names for 2011 also.

7. For my first show, I am very satisfied with the outcome. I would have bought more promotional items like business cards and fliers. I ran out of nearly everything by 4pm. At noon, we started to hand out less per person. I would have ordered twice the amount of business cards and fliers that I did. I also ran out of candy, so I would have bought about twice as much of that too. Here is what I had with me...

250 - 10% Coupons
250 - Promotional Business cards
250 - Postcard type things - I had them printed as 4x6 pictures

Then, I had my normal business cards with around 500 left and I used at least half of that, so another 250. At first, I was giving every couple that came in my booth at least 2-3 of the items, but after noon or so we started only giving 1-2, then a few hours later realized we were running out, so we started giving only one.

I hope this answers all your questions. Let me know if you want to know anything else. I'm more than happy to help!

Great thread - thank you for sharing!

Please do follow up and let us know what kind of bookings you secure from it. I love your set-up. Everything looks great.

What are the 10% cards on the front right table?

I was offering 10% any wedding collection if they booked with a month of the show. I will definitely let you know how many weddings I get from the show. :)

[wndrlst]

Fantastic! Thanks for all the additional info. I like the idea of the 10% cards with the time limit - a month sounds just right. Long enough to keep them from feeling like they're shotgunning it, but short enough to keep them from forgetting you.

Thanks again!

[OdiN1701]

One thing I would do for data collection - it looks like you had them write on cards, etc?

Then you have to type that info up, and if their writing is not legible?

So I would just do a very simple custom database application and run it on a locked down laptop. They just enter name and email address as the requirements, phone number optional. Hit submit and they are entered.

Just a simple catch on the email address - make it the primary key in a DB so if people tried to enter more than once it wouldn't let them.

Then it's a simple export to get an email list.

Or you could go farther and have the option of them to enter their mailing address - say it's for special offers, and totally up to them if they want to enter it. Then you can have a mail merge and send mailings out just like that.

[Peacefield]

Wow, thanks again for all that sharing. Sounds like you went into this with a carefully thought out plan; great job!

[LedZepp]

I am contemplating to do a fair like yourself which looks great. Can you tell where you purchased those easels to display your images. They seem that do the trick.

Thanks for sharing!

[FamilyJules]

^^ Aaron Brothers sells some pretty nice ones for about $60 a pop... not bad :)
Or try Pier One Imports

[mickeyjuice]

Or try Pier One Imports

Man, this place has got everything!

[SJPHoto]

Awesome! You're so organized, what a success.

[AlexMoPhotography]

Awesome look, hope you don't mind me stealing some ideas.....

My only comment is that you should sit the Sunset photo a little higher so more people can see it from further away. Killer photo.

[Motab]

Great post! Thank you for sharing... This is something I've been thinking about doing, but compared to that, my ideas would have looked pretty shoddy! :) Thanks for the inspiration!

[dawssvt]

Fantastic! Thanks for all the additional info. I like the idea of the 10% cards with the time limit - a month sounds just right. Long enough to keep them from feeling like they're shotgunning it, but short enough to keep them from forgetting you.

Thanks again!

Yea, people have definitely jumped on the deal so far. It gives them enough time to meet with other photographers if they want to as well. I want them to LOVE my work.

One thing I would do for data collection - it looks like you had them write on cards, etc?

Then you have to type that info up, and if their writing is not legible?

So I would just do a very simple custom database application and run it on a locked down laptop. They just enter name and email address as the requirements, phone number optional. Hit submit and they are entered.

Just a simple catch on the email address - make it the primary key in a DB so if people tried to enter more than once it wouldn't let them.

Then it's a simple export to get an email list.

Or you could go farther and have the option of them to enter their mailing address - say it's for special offers, and totally up to them if they want to enter it. Then you can have a mail merge and send mailings out just like that.

I did run into that problem with about 5 cards, but I got them straightened out. Having a laptop there with me is a great idea - I may end up doing that next time. The bridal; show had registration on a computer before they entered. I got that complete database as well, so I got the client info from everyone who came to the show.

Wow, thanks again for all that sharing. Sounds like you went into this with a carefully thought out plan; great job!

Thanks :D

I am contemplating to do a fair like yourself which looks great. Can you tell where you purchased those easels to display your images. They seem that do the trick.

Thanks for sharing!

I got them from Hobby Lobby. I think they were around $150 for all 4 of them. :D

Awesome look, hope you don't mind me stealing some ideas.....

My only comment is that you should sit the Sunset photo a little higher so more people can see it from further away. Killer photo.

Thanks! Go ahead and use any of my ideas - I searched this topic quite a bit before I did the show, so I used a variety of ideas from different people along with my own ideas mixed in. The canvas of the sunset shot was too big to go to a higher level on the easel - I thought the same thing when I first saw it on there. Thanks for the comment!

Awesome! You're so organized, what a success.

Thank you very much :)

Great post! Thank you for sharing... This is something I've been thinking about doing, but compared to that, my ideas would have looked pretty shoddy! :) Thanks for the inspiration!

Thanks! Good luck on creating a display for yourself. It turned out to be quite fun for me :D

[dovaka]

4. To make a long story short, the convention center charges for power outlets and because the people running the show gave me that info late, it was going to be $125 for power, so I decided against it. Other photographers had monitors up, but I don't think it's necessary. It's definitely a nice touch if you don't have to pay extra for it.


My local main convention place not only charges for power but they also make me pay to have a union electrician plug my extension cord into the wall for me. So i started bringing a large UPS system i had at my house unhooked the alarm that went off when it was unplugged and just plugged my laptop and monitor into that and it ran all day.

[Peacefield]

My local main convention place not only charges for power but they also make me pay to have a union electrician plug my extension cord into the wall for me. So i started bringing a large UPS system i had at my house unhooked the alarm that went off when it was unplugged and just plugged my laptop and monitor into that and it ran all day.

I love that not so much for not having to pay the $'s as much as the thumb in the eye!

[dovaka]

I love that not so much for not having to pay the $'s as much as the thumb in the eye!

yea it was really just to stick it to them for wanting to charge me $200 to run my laptop for 8 hours. the funny part is they actually have electric police that have a list of people that have paid for power, and every time they come up to me and tell me that i didnt pay and need to. I always have to explain to them that all my stuff is simply running off of batteries "they never notice how big the battery is" and that i dont have any cords plugged into there outlets and they go on there way.