Planning a Bridal Expo: What Are the Costs & Benefits?

[deanna_g]

So, we have a team of people attempting to put together a Bridal Expo here in my town. I'm curious, for those of you who have had booths at Bridal Expos, how much have you payed for a booth space? Obviously it needs to cover the rental for the hall, advertising, and insurance costs. Typically speaking, have you found that Bridal Expos have been worth the cost?

 

[ShelbyMichalek]

A bridal expo i've been looking into here for early spring has three different packages depending on location of booth and how they advertise for you specifically. The lowest lvl package is about $750. Worth it? I dont know. I just figured if you knew what the cost is here you could compare. Note that this is the "big important" Bridal Expo of the year.

 

[NooraK]

They can be very expensive, but also keep in mind, if it's one of those big national shows, you're going to have 1000+ brides coming through. That's plenty of contacts to be able to split the booth with multiple consultants, break it down to an hourly cost. If it's a smaller, locally organized "mom & pop" type of expo, I would not expect it to be as much.

Now, whether it's worth it, I don't know. That depends on what you determine as a success.

 

[lt1jane]

I just did one that was $450 which I split with two other consultants. The company organizing it was advertising it as a "combined" expo for women and brides. Well, we get there and they had one Michie purse and one PC booth in each side!! I was pretty mad, but I was not the person who booked the expo, I don't know if she asked. For that kind of coin, you expect to be exclusive! I told them to take me off of their e-mail list and why. I will NEVER go to one of their expos again, not even as a customer!

To make matters worse, 15 minutes in, my phone rings, it's my babysitter. My son has thrown up twice in the last two hours... I got nothing out of it in the end due to circumstances beyond my control.

 

[deanna_g]

Well, the reason I ask is this: My friend has experience with organizing lots of craft fairs and she owns a sweets shop/bakery in town. We live in a small town with a lot of local vendors. We have a plus size bridal dress shop, a bakery, hair salon, makeup lady, etc.....and she wants to put together this small expo. It would be for a tri-county area. She's hoping that her team can put it together for $100 per booth space?? I just don't think that's going to be possible. What do you guys think?

 

[ShelbyMichalek]

By small town what do you mean?

 

[deanna_g]

Our town is about population: 6,500. But we'll be servicing several larger towns in the area, as well.

 

[ShelbyMichalek]

Okay, I come from a town of 99. (ninety-nine people, NOT ninety-nine thousand)
I think it can be done, but not for $100 per space.

 

[cookingwithdawn]

I paid $200 dollars for a space at one and although I received many emails and phone numbers from brides I did not get anything out of it. I explained to many how easy the bridal registry is. I had really high hopes because PC is an awesome product and people tell me so all the time????? I personally would not do one again.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

I'm sure there are people out there who have had fabulous success with Bridal Expo's - but I've never heard of or met any of them.

If you scroll through some of the past threads about them, you'll see that almost all of them end up with the OP letting everyone know that it ended up being a huge waste of time and resources.

 

[NooraK]

One thing to keep in mind is the average age of brides vs. the average age of PC customers. The latter is higher, so many brides are not yet familiar with PC when they're getting married. Registries are only successful if the bride is excited about it, and showers only happen if the bride and/or host really want to do it.