Twin City Bridal Association

Show was good except many of the vendors were very high end and expensive.

For the money you pay to get into this thing ($20) it is way to overcrowded and you were lucky to even see one of the fashion shows. A lot of the vendors there are the more pricey ones. If you looking to a more budgeted wedding you are not going to get any ideas here. The only plus was you could get money off your tuxes if you played one of the games there.

Lots of Bridal shows! I think this was sort of a must for me, because I needed to see what my options were for my wedding day. I had been to lots of Midwest weddings, but I was the first person that I knew of who was having an off-site wedding. I wanted to know about flowers and music and photographers. This was where I found out about Bridal Central, and I called to book an appointment at Bridal Central because I found the staff at the Fair to be really kind and sincere. There are a lot of good ideas, especially with food and dessert and flower arrangements! This was where I decided that I only get married once, and I wanted to have things that would be beautiful and that meant something. The Menomonie Wedding Fair was smaller, but this was almost better because I was able to talk with more of the vendors and I had their attention for longer.

My mother and I had planned to go to the convention so we could get a better idea of the wedding venues and wedding trends. I really knew nothing about planning a wedding, and I wanted to make sure we didn’t waste money foolishly. I loved the fashion show, and the cake tasting, but my favorite part was looking at the flower vendors and all the bouquets. It was the first time I considered having a bouquet that was composed of flowers other than roses. There are so many things that can be done with flowers that really add to the atmosphere of a wedding. I looked at flowers and centerpieces more carefully after that. We also got our idea for the wedding guest gifts, too. There’s lots of good ideas to be found, so I would suggest bringing a notepad.

My mother-in-law bought tickets for me and her to go to the show together. It was a nice bonding experience, and really brought this non-traditional bride into the bridal spirit of things! My only complaint was that everything I saw and loved I couldn’t afford! Mark and I were (I still am) students, and we were trying to fit a wedding into our already tight budget. I got lots of great ideas, and was impressed by all the beautiful clothes at the fashion show, so, the silver lining is that even though you can’t necessarily buy it, you can get great ideas and make it yourself.

The TCBA has three bridal fairs a year, and I have attended two of them. They are fun and give you great ideas for your wedding. Even more of a reason to go is the amazing deals that vendors at the fair offer.

This was the present for me from my co-workers once they found out that Todd and I were engaged. I think it was really sweet of them, because with my mother and friends so far away, it really helped me get into the spirit of the wedding. Some of my co-workers were also engaged at the time, so it was fun to be able to talk constructively about what I would want at my wedding. I would have to say that my favorite part was the fashion show. I loved seeing all the dresses, and because I knew nothing about weddings, it was a great help knowing that it would take at least 8 weeks (on a rush) to get a basic wedding dress ready. I spoke with many of the planners who were there, and they made me realize how much planning the day would involve, the costs, and the responsibility of the bride to be! I also was unaware of how big a business weddings are in the Midwest!

Five stars for entertainment! I couldn’t believe all that was going on in the convention center! My best friends thought it would be fun to take me there, and I went along even though at this time the reception venue and ceremony site had already been chosen, as had most of the vendors. I think we went mostly for one of my friends, who did get engaged that following Valentine’s Day. Every kind of vendor you can think of is there, including stationary and favors and lots of local businesses that I did even know existed. There were also lots of wedding planners, and lots of free samples, too! It’s not only brides-to-be that go, either, I saw lots of husbands to be! Which is good, and even though Dan didn’t go he looked through all the business cards and flyers with me afterwards. This is a great place to get ideas, but it’s also good if you know what your budget is before you go in!

People were crabby and pushy and cut throat. Not only were the vendors looking to leech onto you, seeming desperate for business, but the other brides at the fair were cutting in lines, taking up more than adequate time and were catty. Not a good place to be when picturing/planning your wedding! I would have avoided all the lines and ordered myself a subscription to Modern Bride and used that as a guide!

I have mixed reviews about fairs. Usually they are very busy and you don’t get too much time to talk to vendors with so many people there. We did find a great dj there, but we were looking for more “unique” and “green” vendors, and the vendors that show up to these are not exactly like that…they are more of the popular names that are commonly used and known in the wedding industry if that makes any sense?

The bridal show that we attended was The Wedding Fair. The bridal show was very interesting and we learned a lot. The place was kind of crowded and it was a bit hard to get around when we went but that was due to it being extremely busy. We met a few good wedding vendors that really did share a wonderful insight and help us out a lot so we did not leave the show without a few business cards. If I went to it again I would arrive early as the place seems to get really busy.

Honestly, I thought it was kind of cheesy. Yes, I got a couple of ideas but most I could have seen just by flipping through the Knot or Modern Bride. I’m not really one for over the top so I was kind of dismayed by the Expo. Horrible mother of the bride dresses! Ugh! My mom thought it was so funny.

This was just your average wedding show but we enjoyed it and it helped to spark ideas in our heads, we did not book any vendors there on the spot but it was nice to see several of the same vendors at once so we could compare and talk with more than one to get to know them and what we wanted for our wedding. When we met individually with vendors, it was hard to tell what we wanted, we needed to talk to a lot more people to figure it out. We learned a lot from going and we got a fun goody bag!!

This was one of many Bridal fairs I attended, but it was the best by far. I tried to get to as many as I could but this was the largest with the most helpful information. I tended to notice the biggest/best/most popular vendors attended this show, and I was happy I got to meet with a handful of them . I booked several vendors that day, and it was really nice to be able to meet with them and do it all in once place through a span of a few hours. Loved the cake samples!!! :)

Wedding fairs are so helpful when it comes to planning. My husband and I had a great time walking around and taking in all the knowledge. This was both of our first marriages so we had never been through any part of the planning process...and it can be very overwhelming and at times, not fun! The fair helped us gain some ground and insight, and meet a lot of great vendors. I highly recommend visiting a fair when the planning begins!

This was great for my fiance and i, like i said before we were pretty clueless about what to do and when. We got a free magazine in a goodbag from the fair with a really helpful checklist, and we went off of that the rest of the planning time. I liked that it told me just what to do. The fair was also really helpful in informing us about the differnet kinds of vendors we needed to think about. I would have gone to more fairs had i known about them.

It was in January (2008) at the Minneapolis Convention center and it was amazing! It was so helpful to see the upcoming styles and trends of the wedding industry and I got insightful help and creative ideas from the vendors there. From the show we found a lot of our other vendors so it was nice because we hit like 6 birds with one stone! I would definitely recommend checking a wedding fair out, I was unsure about it at first but I am so glad I went! I only gave it a 4 because at times it was really busy and we didn’t get around to every vendor we wanted because of the crowds….but still helpful and fun!