The Wedding Fair 2017
Let’s face it: planning a wedding is hard work. From the cake to the photographer to the decor to the dress (oh my god, the dress), there are more things to worry about than you’ve probably got time for. And unfortunately, not every wedding can be completely done by the bride, even with the existence of the Pinterest gods.
Luckily for you, The Wedding Fair, celebrating 25 years in the Coastal Bend this year, has been providing brides in South Texas with the answers to their planning prayers. This one stop-shop of almost 100 of the area’s top wedding professionals, is the ultimate place to be when planning your wedding. Whether you’re missing the finishing touches on the catering, looking for the perfect flower girl dress, or haven’t even put a pen to paper on what it is you need, the show provides it all. Cakes, DJs, photographers, food, registries with top brands, fashion shows, and even down to the lingerie that you may possibly want to wear the night of, there’s something for everyone. Throw in thousands of dollars in door prize giveaways, including three all-inclusive honeymoon accommodation packages? You’ve got yourself a day worth that small admission fee of 12 bucks.
The next event, on July 16th, even includes an extra special event happening right at the show. “SAVOR our Heroes” will be a contest directed toward first responders and active military personnel and will include a full wedding reception for 50 people! It will include catering, the venue , decorations, cake, dj, lighting, tuxedos, photography, honeymoon accommodation package and tons of other perks valued at over $15,000!
So, looking to plan your next wedding soon? The Wedding Fair has you covered – they’ve even added a new fall show in October in celebration of their 25th anniversary. Come see them at their upcoming events below, and get more information at www.weddingfairevents.com.
July 16th, American Bank Center
October 8th, American Bank Center
Here’s an interview with Wedding Fair Events owner Maureen Caballero
When I first started doing events, I tried various types: kids shows, car shows, health fairs. But it was when I did my first Wedding Fair that I realized a few things: the event was focused on a niche that needed to be filled. Weddings happen all the time, and weddings are always difficult to plan. Having something that I was able to deeply dive into allowed me to fulfill a need but also allowed me to help hundreds of brides plan their special day – and I loved that about it.
What is your favorite part about having the largest wedding fairs in South Texas?
After having a wedding of 600 people myself, I know how difficult it can be to plan every aspect of it. There’s so much that goes into it, from the cake and the flowers to the DJ and the “oh my gosh where will we do the bachelorette?!”. Every detail, big and small, is important; I knew that the shows would not only take the stress off of brides, but also allow them to meet the individual vendors face to face to see if they really mesh with the personality of what they want their wedding to portray – it saves a ton of time. No more running around town making appointments – we’ve designed the show to have everything every bride will ever need, all under one roof. Plus, being a tiny part of every bride that does business with our vendors is a great feeling; it’s definitely a special day, and a honor to be included.
How much planning and time goes into each event? (When do you start planning them?)
It’s constant planning, each and every day! We have 8 events a year in two different regions, so we’re always planning for the next few that are coming up, both in the current as well as upcoming year. It’s a continuous process until everything sells out, and we definitely strive to sell out every show. We do have vendors that do more than just one show a year, and word of mouth does travel since we’ve got repeat satisfied customers and over 25 years in business. So in a way, that makes it easier – but it’s still a lot of work filling in the holes and making sure that we keep our customers happy.
What was your first wedding fair like?
Oh gosh, that was such a long time ago! But my first Wedding Fair was actually held in a shopping mall, when we tried it as one of our categories of expos we were doing in the mall! It was a lot smaller, but successful, and we knew we needed more space. We decided at that time that we wanted to shift our efforts and focus on just weddings, so we established our events at the convention centers to be able to hold more vendors and people. We started the shows back in San Antonio, and ended up expanding to Corpus Christi and then the Rio Grande Valley. We’ve been going strong ever since!