Your Dream Day Wedding Planning Podcast with Kathy Piech-Lukas
Your Dream Day Wedding Planning Podcast with Kathy Piech-Lukas
Wedding Planning in Cincinnati? Wedding Tip: Check out Wendy's Wedding Expo!
Planning a wedding in Cincinnati? Then you definitely need to attend Wendy's Wedding Show, the first and largest wedding show in Cincinnati, Ohio. We met recently with Mardi Hull, producer of Wendy's Wedding Show (formerly known as Wendy's Bridal Show) to talk about tips that a bride to be and groom to be can use to be successful at a wedding show. For example, create a special email address just for your wedding planning; create address labels so you can enter giveaways at wedding vendor booths for great discounts and prices; bring an entourage of your wedding party, bridal party, girlfriends and family to make the experience fun; and make sure your cell phone is charged so you can scan QR codes to register and win great prizes, take photos of wedding decor you like and get pics of the wedding dresses strolling the runway from White Wisteria Bridal Boutique. To purchase tickets to the show visit www.wendysbridalshow.com
Your Dream Day has been planning weddings in the Tri-State for more than 20 years and also offers wedding content creator and wedding content creation services. For more information or to listen to other podcast episodes visit www.yourdreamday.com
To listen to more episodes visit www.yourdreamday.com
Hi, this is Kathy Piech Lukas with Your Dream Day Podcast. Today I'm here with Mardi Hull of Wendy's Wedding Expo, which is going to be on January 4th and 5th at the Sharonville Convention Center in Northern Cincinnati. So today we are going to talk a little bit with Marty about what are some tips that you can do prior to a wedding show to prepare for it so that you can get the most out of it. Mardi, thanks so much for joining us today.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me, Kathy.
Speaker 1:So wedding expos, they're big.
Speaker 2:They are. They're fun, it's exciting. Yes.
Speaker 1:How many wedding professionals can we expect at Wendy's?
Speaker 2:Nearly 100. You know we've got lots of venues, photographers, djs, things you didn't know you needed even. You know we've got lots of venues, photographers, djs, things you didn't know you needed even.
Speaker 1:It's amazing because, like, when you're setting your wedding budget, half of it is your reception, it's your venue and it's your catering.
Speaker 2:Yes, and that's really what drives the date of your wedding. If you know what venue you want, you have to set that first.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely, and a lot of the top venues in the region. They tend to book anywhere from 12 to 18 months out. So if you just got engaged over the holidays, you definitely want to go to a wedding expo like Wendy's in January so that you can get access to these venues and these photographers and these florists and videographers and caterers, because they do book up quickly.
Speaker 2:They do, and there you'll have a chance to meet them face to face. So much of planning your wedding is someone that feels your vibe. You know that you really feel to get to know personally, yeah, and you do develop a relationship with your photographer and the people that are going to help you make your wedding your vision?
Speaker 1:You absolutely do, and that's the advantage of going to a wedding show, because when you're on all these websites and these wedding directories, it's a good resource to start with. But you may have no idea what this person's personality is like, even though you may like their photography, until you meet them in person. And then, when you meet them in person, you're either going to be like I can't wait to spend my day with you or I can't imagine spending more than 10 minutes with you, and so that when you go to a wedding show, you get the opportunity to meet with hundreds of vendors in a matter of an hour or two, which is a huge time saver when you're pre-screening who you want to help you with your big day and hopefully you'll hone in on the person that really does seem to get you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So what are some different tips that you would suggest to people who are planning to go to Wendy's?
Speaker 2:Well, wear comfortable shoes. It's a big show and you're gonna be on your feet, except for during the fashion show, where you can take a break and watch our fabulous runway fashion show with Fashions by White Wisteria Bridal Boutique this year. So we're excited about partnering with them. You'll see all the latest fashions there and then, of course, know what you need. You might have some decisions already locked up, but you'll have an opportunity to focus on the DJ or the photographer or the florist or whatever. That is the thing. That's still a little wide open, and have an open mind too. You're going to find things there that you didn't know, you wanted, didn't know. People did things that are going to make your day special, and also the photographers and the DJs and the florists, and they have their own ideas too, so they might surprise you with something that really is going to just make your wedding even more special.
Speaker 1:So definitely, definitely bring your cell phone with you and your camera, because you're going to get a lot of great ideas from these different wedding professionals and their booths.
Speaker 2:Yes, and bring your family and friends too. This is an event, it's an outing. You know you want to have fun, you want to take your time and bounce some ideas off the people that are most important to you. Yeah, so yeah, just plan on having a good time, take your time and bounce some ideas off the people that are most important to you. So, yeah, just plan on having a good time.
Speaker 1:I've heard bring your family. I've heard bring your bride tribe, bring your squad, like. I've heard it called so many things. I call it the entourage, because sometimes the guys come along too.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely. The grooms are very much more a part of the planning than they used to be. They like the free food samples and the free cake samples. They do, and I don't want to put anybody in a pigeonhole, but sometimes the music is the thing they really care about. And so they want to make sure they have a voice in who your DJ is, Because for the party time of your wedding the DJ really makes all the difference.
Speaker 1:And that's so true and, like you know, it's funny. You know what my biggest pet peeve with DJs is. It's the silliest thing, but, like some of them call them bride and groom, on the wedding day They'll say, now we're going to welcome the bride and groom. Here they come and you're like you know their names, just call them by their names, you know. But that's like anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars. It's like, say, my name, yeah Right.
Speaker 2:And at that point of the day they should know who you are. Exactly. They've spent some time to get to know you.
Speaker 1:Exactly and like you know an example with your photographer. You know, get an idea of what energy level you want. You know, if you want somebody who's a little more low, key, laid back, but can still command a room, you're going to want this type of personality for your photographer, you're going to want this type of personality for your D for your photographer, whereas if you want somebody who's very energetic, very upbeat, you'll want somebody else, right, um? But the big thing is just to make sure that you have a photographer that has experienced doing weddings, because doing family and high school and whatnot, those are more portrait style, whereas like weddings, you're on your feet, for you know anywhere from six to 10 hours shooting and it's you have to be able to lead a group in an efficient way.
Speaker 2:So, like those are some good questions that you can even be asking the vendors when you're at the show, and the photographers will have great books of photos so you can see what they do at a wedding. You know that everybody has special photos with the shoes or the rings, or or you know the crowd moving in around you. There's just thousands of ways to document your wedding. So I think you just have to take your time and especially with a photographer. That's a very important wedding professional to choose Well and another big one is your flowers.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely. And with flowers there's so many options nowadays. You can do fresh flowers, you can do wood flowers, you can do silk flowers, you can do flowers yourself Right and you can do.
Speaker 2:No flowers, all greenery and plants. That's a beautiful setting also.
Speaker 1:There's so many options. No, but like for the bride who's maybe considering doing a DIY for her flowers. You know, just keep in mind, there is a price tag associated with DIY and it's your time. So you know, keep in mind. You know, do you want to be building bouquets two days before your wedding, when all of your family is coming in town? You will save money doing it that way, but do you want to give up? You know, seeing the friends and family and taking on the stress?
Speaker 2:That's only a question you can answer Right and you have to know your friends and family. This can be a group event that everybody's going to come and have fun and put flowers together and have mimosas. You know that might be one of your favorite memories.
Speaker 1:It's a ball getting ready for your wedding, but, like the wedding show, wear comfortable shoes to that too. I feel like I might have done that once or twice. You definitely want comfortable shoes on the concrete floors, that's for sure. And then like, what are some other tips that you would suggest to people, because they'll be handing out their personal information to a lot of these exhibitors?
Speaker 2:I don't think we talked about getting a specific wedding email. You really you want to make sure you've signed up for the vendors to contact you, because the whole point of being there is to find out what's available. There will be specials that are day of show specials, or because I saw you at the show, here's a special pricing. You don't want to miss out on that, so make sure you do opt in to get email sent to you. But if you're doing that, it's nice to have a separate wedding email so that all those are compartmentalized. And when you're at work, you're doing work, and when you're ready to plan your wedding, you can open that up and and find out what's new and who's contacted you and follow up and then when you're done with the wedding, you don't have to see those anymore. They're not constantly being filled in with your other emails and makes perfect sense, you know.
Speaker 1:So get that separate email address. Pre-print some labels which have your address, phone number, email name of you know the two people getting married. So then that way, if you have somebody that has a contest going on at their booth and they want you to fill out something, all you have to do is smack a sticker on it.
Speaker 2:It's a lot less stressful on your hand, yes, and also by being a printed label, your email is going to be less legible to be misread.
Speaker 1:That's probably the hardest part is not being able to read an email address because of somebody's handwriting Right, a digit makes all the difference. Absolutely, absolutely. And you'll also see that vendors will have QR codes as well. So make sure, again, you have a fully charged smartphone when you come, because you will be taking pictures, you'll be scanning QR codes and signing up for things and giveaways and whatnot, so that'll definitely come in handy, right, well, perfect. What are some other suggestions you would have? What about the fashion show? Tell us about the fashion show.
Speaker 2:So the fashion show we're really known for, our fashion show. Ours is different than anybody else's it's a high-quality runway fashion show. Ours is different than anybody else's it's a high quality runway fashion show. And this year we're partnering with White Wisteria and they're part of the Reading Bridal District and they're one of the larger stores in the district. So they have I think they said they had 400 samples in the store. So that's a lot to choose from. I don't know what they're bringing to the runway, but it'll be some of the newer styles and it's very exciting to see what they're going to bring us.
Speaker 1:They have great stuff in there. They do. I've been in there. I actually bought a bridesmaid's dress in there off the rack. I got so many compliments on it when I wore it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we were just up there filming a segment with all the different styles they have and new fabrics and accessories. You know the sleeves that come on and off and the headpieces and veil. I think those used to be, you know, not as important, but I think they're coming back as maybe a little more tradition. It also really sets you apart as a bride to wear some sort of headpiece.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely. Well, how do people get tickets to go to this amazing showcase that's at wendysweddingexpo. com.
Speaker 2:Discount tickets are available there. You can also buy tickets day of show at the Sharonville Convention Center. It is Saturday, January 4th and Sunday, January 5th. On Saturday we'll be there from 10 to 5, with fashion shows at noon and 3. And on Sunday, from 11 to 4 with a fashion show at 2.
Speaker 1:Wonderful. Marty, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much for tuning in. Be sure to subscribe to DreamDayPodcastcom for the latest interviews, tips and other interviews with wedding professionals from all over greater Cincinnati and Dayton. If you want to get tickets to Wendy's Wedding Expo, be sure to visit wendysweddingexpocom. Say that 25 times in a row Every time I answer the phone. Thanks so much for joining us and happy planning as we go, as we go, hoping. We are hoping that we'll go.
Speaker 2:So happy ever after. Happy ever after.
