Despite the fact that every time I set foot in one I get plagued with cake overload and annoying vendors, I do so love wedding fairs. I may keep going to them even after I’m married, because to paraphrase Marla Singer in Fight Club, it’s cheaper than a movie, and there’s free cake.
This wedding fair was held at one of the more expensive venues in the area, and the vendors weren’t exactly cheap either. However, I did manage to pick up several helpful tips, which I shall share with you now because hey, what are bloggers for, right?
Helpful Tip #1: When vendors are literally handing out £200 discount vouchers to every single person who walks past, they are so far out of my price range that they couldn’t see me with a telescope.
I was expecting the vendors to have the ‘if you have to ask, you can’t afford it’ mentality, expecting at best a footnote on the flyer saying “Prices start at waaay more than you could ever hope to afford, lady”. I was pleasantly surprised that most vendors provided full price lists for their services.
Helpful Tip #2: Keep hold of any price lists you get, even if you’re not going to use the vendors’ services. They’ll come in useful for budgeting how much you should expect to pay for a certain service. Case in point:
There was a cake maker there who I really didn’t like. I wasn’t a fan of her cake designs (all of which were near-identical versions of the three-tier, cream-coloured, decorated with fondant flowers variety), the fruit cake samples were pretty good, but tasted almost suspiciously like the Christmas cakes you can buy from Marks & Spencers, and she had a bit of an attitude problem- as I approached she was snapping at a bride who had dared to ask to take a picture of a cake she particularly liked, saying “We don’t allow pictures.” without any explanation why, or even offering the bride one of the flyers that contained examples of her work.
So, no way am I going to hire this woman, but I picked up a flyer anyway so I can get a rough idea of how much a three-tier cake costs these days.
I lost count of how many photographers were represented, but there were more photographers than dressmakers. Their prices ranged from the very basic one hour of formal shots for £550, to the all-day, two photographers package including photo album and CD for £2,095. This super-expensive package was called the Glorious package, which confused me- is my wedding not glorious if I go for the cheaper option? I think this is how they get you.
Helpful Tip #3: Make friends with a photographer, then you get a whole day’s photography for £300 and a few drinks. My friend specialises in pin-up shoots and club events, and he’s got a knack for timing things at the exact split-second to get the best shot. Also he’s taken enough pictures of me to know what my best side/angle/light is without having to be told, or spend precious time working it out. If you feel bad about making friends with someone just to cut costs, photography students can be pretty talented and will work for peanuts- although it’s probably best to organise a trial shoot first.
There was an expensive invitation company that offered sample invites for £4.50. That’s £4.50 for a single, not customised in any way, invite with standard wording. VistaPrint will give me 10 invites with a picture and the wording of my choice for that price. The lady at the expensive invitation company asked what sort of design I wanted on the invites, and looked surprised and confused when I said I was trying to decide between about 20 different comic book and videogame couples. Apparently she was referring to hearts vs. celtic swirls.
Helpful Tip #4: VistaPrint all the way, baby! My future mother-in-law makes a lot of cards and invitations, so I may enlist her help if I feel brave enough to hand-make my invites. They probably won’t look very formal or professionally done if I make them, but we’re having quite an informal wedding anyway, and besides, who doesn’t like getting hand-made cards? Realistically, though, I’ll probably just order them off VistaPrint and stick sparklies on them for the personal touch. But, y’know, it’s the thought that counts…
I picked up a couple of groomswear brochures, as Geek Groom’s only demand (apart from the rock band) was that he be allowed to get a properly tailored suit that he could wear again after the wedding.
Helpful Tip #5: You can’t buy a wedding suit in this area. You can rent as many as you like, but you can’t buy one. I am slightly puzzled as to why the groom’s wedding suit seems to only be available to hire- brides very rarely rent a dress, and a suit is far more likely to be worn again than a wedding dress is. Maybe there’s a secret fraternity of tailors, and you have to say the password to the right guy and he’ll give you a business card. Fortunately, I know a guy who used to work at Moss Bros, so maybe I can squeeze the info out of him…
Whoever knew expensive vendors could help me save money?
By Proud father