Charlie and I took a leap of faith and hosted a booth at the Georgia and Southern Bridal Show last week! This was a first for us and I'll be honest, we were nervous about the unknown. I researched and researched for weeks and we prepared for months. It was exhausting at times and I felt as though I was wedding planning again, but we really did enjoy it! I had so much fun dreaming up the booth style with Charlie and making it come to life. I bought and returned SO many things and made a million errands. I spent hours in front of the computer designing business cards, information cards, photo books and any stationary that needed to be in the booth. Charlie spent hours and hours in the garage and at home depot designing and planning the best way to create the wall and build it in the most efficient way possible. And that table you see over to the right? He built that too! I loved the compliments he got on it and with each one my level of pride for him jumped a million more notches. He put in so much work and I'm so thankful for his tireless effort to make this booth the best it could be for us.
But at last, all our hard work came to an end and it was show time! We loaded the trailer up and drove to Atlanta on the rainy chilly morning of the show. We were tired from the wedding we shot the night before, but adrenaline kicked in once we pulled up to the Cobb Galleria and realized that this was real and it was HAPPENING! I was so excited to set everything up and finally see everything come together. We only had a few bumps while setting up but nothing we couldn't get figured out on the spot. The show crew was super helpful to us with setting up, problem solving, and encouraging us as they knew this was our first time!
Once we finished setting up and saw the booth in it's entirety at last, we loved it. I was so relieved and thankful that it all came together how we dreamed it would. We took the last few minutes before the doors opened to snap some pictures (super fast since we were t-minus 5 minutes at that point!) and most importantly, pray. We needed that last little huddle to encourage and pray to focus on why we were here. Then, the doors opened and it was time to GO!
We were unknowingly in the prime booth spot. The show director told us that we would most likely be the first stop and the first impression of the show. In his own words, "You WILL be busy!" No pressure. Nope, not at all;)
I heard that it was good to have a game plan of what you will say when Bride's approach your booth, which I did, but I didn't take that advice super seriously. Because of that, I completely bombed my first conversation! I had the sweetest bride thankfully that just laughed it off with me but when she approached, I felt like I could't get my words out at a normal speed and my mind was reeling. It was rough, but I learned my lesson and moved on. From there Charlie and I had to re-group real quick and agree that we just needed to be real, be ourselves, and be genuine. Charlie had a great point to go into each conversations like you're getting to know the couple as themselves first before trying to get to know them as potential clients. His goal was to ask about their wedding date LAST and not first. I took his advice and the pressure just fell off. Conversations flowed so smooth and we just had fun getting to meet so many people and feel like we were just gaining tons of new friends! Because of this, it made the whole experience just a joy! The hours flew by and before I knew it, we were tearing down the booth.
I can't believe this show is behind us, but we will definitely be doing more shows! We just loved it so much and are excited for the weddings we booked from it and the sweet couples we get to work with! We are also so happy to have met so many great vendors/new friends that we hope to work with in the future! Thank you to all the couples who stopped by our booth and took the time to chat with us. It meant so much to us and we loved every minute of it!
Thank you to Elite Events and the Bridal show for all of your help and encouragement! We were so happy to hear that we were in the running to win the Best Booth Award and felt so accomplished to hear that you were impressed by our effort! It made my day;)
And of course thank you to Charlie again:) I couldn't have done this without you. No way. You are the best supporter, salesman, friend, worker, business partner, and of course husband. I am so proud of us and all that we did together! I think we did pretty great for just a few rookies;)
And lastly, pop quiz: Is our wall made of wood or foam?;) You decide and answer.
