I kept thinking that one day I would just wake up and feel like a bride. I thought it would be like the bride fairy came and sprinkled wedding dust all over me. That moment never came; I never woke up covered in dust, or seen Tinkerbelle’s twin the Bride Fairy. It was weird though I thought, “this is the moment I have been waiting for” why am I not happy or enjoying this. Honestly, all I could think about was dollar signs. Whenever I thought about the wedding all I could see was the money. Realistic I didn’t think it was something I could afford and something I could afford wasn’t something I would want. But I decided to just fake it until I make it and get myself in bride mode. I went to Theknot.com (which isn’t a great place if you’re poor. That tangent will be coming in a future post), made a little wedding binder and DAMN IT I am going to be a bride.
I enlisted the help of one of my friends, Candace. Candy is pretty much the total opposite of me. She is getting married in May and has been a total bride’s bride since she got engaged. So I was hoping she was the wedding fairy or at least if I stood close enough to her I could get her wedding dust. She was my official date to my first couple of bridal shows.
Now I’m not sure what I expected from the bridal show but this was not really it. The show that took my bridal show virginity was sponsored by a local radio station and held in The Brown and Williamson Club at Papa John’s stadium. Once you entered the room there was tables set up and each vendor had their own “Booth”. A lot of the stations have contest that you can sign up to win stuff. And like I said before Candy being the bride’s bride, printed us up address labels so we didn’t have to write our name repeatedly for the drawings. I still haven’t won anything from these drawings but they are filling up my inbox every day. Anyway, I was underwhelmed for the most part. It was neat to see some of the different photographs. I love photos so seeing some of these shots were amazing. And possibly the best part FOOD SAMPLES!!! LOL There was quite a few yummy things. I liked trying to different caterers (although there was a couple I passed up on). We also had lots of fun taking pictures in the photo booth. I had a blast don’t get me wrong but I thought there would be more ideas and inspiration and less sales pitch. All in all I give this show about a C.
My second bridal show! Oh my word, it was like I died and went to bridal heaven. Seriously, bridal heaven is The Brown Hotel Bridal Experience. The best part was I even talked Steven into going. So we went to the bridal show as part of Friday date night. The Brown Hotel is a historic hotel here in Louisville. On the inside it was decorated beautiful. The tables had these amazing centerpieces done by different florist. These were some of the most over the top centerpieces I have ever seen. I can only imagine the cost. There were passed appetizers, food stations, and an open bar. (Steven didn’t eat anything, although I paid $15 for him to get in. I’m still a little upset.) There were models wearing different wedding dresses. There was a great photo booth. This one was so fun and they had different costumes. We had a blast. Steven actually said he would really like to have one for our wedding. Loved it!! I stopped by an invitation vendor table. The lady had the most beautiful invitations I had ever seen. She seemed like a very sweet girl and I loved her work. I ask a rough estimate on price of my favorite invitation and of course it’s $500 for 100 with no envelopes. This is when I learned I was a stationery snob! L We received an amazing bag at the end with lots of information from all the different vendors and really cool free samples. This was a great experience for me. I am super glad I went but at the same time it made me sad. I was sad because I realized as amazing as those things were, they were things I didn’t think I could ever have because of money. It just kind of made me feel bad about my situation and the possibilities of my wedding. So A- for experience; D for emotional breakdown after.
Looking back, I do think the bridal show circuit is/was good for me. It makes me think about my wedding and what my wants and needs are. I think it helped me get more excited about the wedding and getting it together. I am still torn because I don’t know how we are going to afford it really. But the bridal show is fun. There really are positives to it. I mean, I have to keep going until I win us something kick ass! I am going for a honeymoon. I am just trying to mental stay positive and kick my negative Nancy self to the side. And I think I can stop faking, because duh I’m a bride.
Next Stop: The Destination, RIGHT??
Thanks for reading!!
Love ya
Brittney
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