Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Spring Craft Show & Omaha Bridal Showcase

As I mentioned last week, things have been a little crazy around here. Over the weekend I participated in both a large craft show and a very large bridal show. And I'm happy to report that both went well.

I will say that the craft show was a little slower than expected, but luckily I met my goals for the day. Traffic was great in the morning, but a little slow in the afternoon. I was hoping the nice weather would bring people out, but I think it had them at home thinking yard work. I've found that Spring shows are a little hard to predict, which is why I do very few of them. During fall shows, shoppers are all thinking about Christmas and gift-giving. But during Spring shows, shoppers may not have a specific gift-giving event in mind or may just be browsing for themselves. So they tend to do more looking than buying. But I have already received one order from someone who saw my cutting boards at the show, so that's always great!

The bridal fair was amazing! I was a little concerned that it was only 4 hours long, but by hour number 2, I could see why they didn't make the hours any longer. I was exhausted! By the end of the day, I had handed out about 250 wine bottle stoppers that had coupon codes on them. At least 300 brochures and even more business cards. I think I talked non-stop for 2.5 hours straight! And so did my mom!

 
It was also nice to talk to some of the other vendors after the show and have them comment that they wished they had a booth next to mine because it was always busy and drew quite a crowd. That really made me feel good since this was my first bridal fair of this size.

As you can see, I had a completely different setup for the bridal fair than I normally do for craft shows. I liked the white table clothes better for this show and loved how the wood looked on it. I had some new displays built specially for this show and they worked great to display my invitations and guest books.

Now comes the waiting game. Bridal fairs are just for advertising and networking, so time will tell if the show was as successful as I'm hoping. This is a very pricey show (compared to craft shows), so I'm excited to see the outcome and whether I will participate next year. I'll just be sure not to do back to back shows again...I'm still exhausted!

16 comments:

  1. I am glad the events went well for you, even if not equally well. Your setups are beautiful, especially the one for the bridal fair! And you look lovely, too. I certainly hope that the events will be very successful for you in the end and you will get lots of wonderful customers, and then friends of those customers, and so on!

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  2. Your bridal show setup looks great! And, wow, that's a lot of stoppers and brochures. I really hope things pan out for you!!

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  3. Congratulations Edi! You and your booth look beautiful. I love the white too. Everything seems to show more. Brilliant idea giving out wine stoppers with coupon codes!

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  4. I hope you get lots of sales! I think you'll definitely get some business from all the cards and coupon codes you handed out.

    Craft fairs really wear me out...not so much from being on my feet all day, but from having to talk to so many people! Everyone is always really nice; it's just exhausting for an introvert like me. That's great that your mom could be there with you. :)

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  5. Yay for successful events! It sounds like the bridal show was a really great one. Your display looks incredible. Hoping you get lots of sales! And also hoping you can relax and recoup a little. When I used to vend and exhibit, especially at music festivals, I sometimes needed a full week to feel normal again. They're a lot of work!

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  6. Congratulations Edi! Your booth at the bridal show looks amazing! The white table cloth and back drop really make your items stand out! Loving your new tiered displays :) I agree the talking part is very exhausting, but so happy for you that your booth got lots of attention :)

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  7. I'm so happy for your lovely experience and that all those hard work paid off!!!! Many best wishes and "lucky" sales in future my friend!!!! Congrats!!!!

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  8. I'm glad that both shows went well! You're right that having back to back shows is exhausting. I try not to do that too often. I second others' comments about the bridal fair display! I really hope that it proves to be well worth the effort.

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  9. Both set ups look great and you look beautiful!

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  10. Congrats on two successful shows. It's really cool that your mom was there to help you out. She must have been so proud or you.

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  11. you've been so busy Edi! fingers crossed on the bridal show - hope it is very successful for you!

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  12. Your bridal fair display looks fantastic! Hope it turns into lots of sales and referrals!

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  13. Your booth looks great, I love that the display is made of wood. I hope the waiting games brings in something good!

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  14. The booth looks great. :) Glad the show went pretty well. Bridal shows are busy! Ive done a couple as a wedding photographer.

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  15. I'm so happy the shows went well for you. Your bridal display is beautiful and very eye catching. I truly hope you get lots of orders as a result of your hard work!

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  16. Oh wow!! That's awesome! I'm so glad you were busy and hope that turns into lots of orders. I would think you'd get orders even outside bridal just by having mothers there thinking of other gift times.

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