Bridal Fair in Edmonton

Edmonton Bridal Fair 2010 at the Shaw Conference Centre

Simply put Bridal Fair is a wedding trade show where brides and grooms can come to one location to see a large number of local vendors in the Edmonton area. With over 90 vendors in one location this can be a good place to come and meet some decent service providers.

As an Edmonton DJ I have never participated in a bride trade show. As a small operator in the Edmonton market, where I mainly work by myself and use 2 other highly qualified DJs when needed I do not see the attraction to a bridal show. From a DJ stand point I do not understand how anyone can simply go to bridal show and base their decision on booking a DJ on who has the prettiest booth. DJing is so much more than just showing up and playing songs from a predetermined list, it is about helping to create an environment where you and your guests want to be and stay there all night long.

The dance portion of your wedding night is generally 4 hours in length and often people do not place enough emphasis on this part of the night. Often the difference between a cookie cutter approach to DJing and hire a professional that has more equipment than 2 speakers and a laptop and can all be carried in a Firefly is about 200 – 400 dollars. Sure that can be allot of money but in the big scheme of things and a typical wedding costing about $19,274 (according to Weddingbells.ca) that really isn’t. I often have people come up to me at a wedding and say “I wish we had hired someone like you for our wedding” and I simply ask them “what did you pay for your DJ?” and often the reply is $600 – $700. I simple say “unfortunately you got what you paid for”.

I recommend that people think about what it would cost to hire a Bobcat operator to work for them on a Saturday for about 6 – 8 hours. Well I can tell you that is costs about $125/hr with an operator. So if you had hired someone for 6 hours that would work out to be $750. I can personally tell you that my equipment and music are worth more than a Bobcat, trailer and truck to pull both of those and it takes a lot more personality to be a DJ than running a Bobcat.

What I really am getting at is you need to do you homework when it comes to your big day. Be sure to place the right amount of emphasis on the the things your consider important. I always say to my brides and grooms to focus on the things that they remember from the functions that they have attended.

It was clear that some of the exhibitors went all out for this event. Joe at River City Rentals created what had to be one best looking booth at the entire show. He created a room within a room and setup a head table with guest tables so people could get a real feel for how a room could look. They even went as far as to hang a chandelier from the ceiling to create the look and feel of a banquet room.

One of the highlights of the day was the fashion show. Lots of dresses and lots of tux’s made for a very well attend fashion show. Seeing what styles and colours that will be in fashion this year is what everyone was wanting to know.

From the exhibitors I spoke with following the show they stated that Bridal Fair 2009 had over 900 bride in attendance and the 2010 show had about 450. With such a significant decrease in the number of attendees some vendors are already questioning the high cost of being in the show is worth the expense.

Please see the attached video of some highlights of vendors and the fashion show.