November 2019 is the time we’re getting married and starting a whole new chapter in our lives. Weddings however can be expensive, stressful and dangerous if you forget to book or hire something and loads needs to be done. That’s one of the reasons we decided to check out the Bournemouth wedding show at the BIC, we had a list of suppliers we still needed to get our hands on and book; mainly a wedding photographer, florist and cake specialist so we went and the hunt began!
I’m hopefully going to answer any questions you may have in this post, we had no idea what it was going to be like before we went. We had just left a really poor wedding show at the Royal Bath Hotel 10 minutes before and then found out about the BIC wedding show and decided to chance it, glad we did as well. Also if you’re a traditional bride (female, not like myself) there were loads of bridal stalls with some amazing dresses (not jealous at all!). Let’s answer some questions.
How Much Is The Bournemouth BIC Wedding Show?
So you can order your tickets online for only £5.60 and you can also buy tickets on the day for £7.50. These are the ticket prices for February 2019 however so they may go up in the future. You can get your tickets on the BIC website or on the day by the people running it, it will be signposted for sure. I will say the ticket price is very reasonable considering what you get on the day, so much for a small amount of money and it’s worth every penny if you can find that one special supplier that you love for your wedding day!
What Suppliers Are At The Bournemouth BIC Wedding Show
LOADS! This time round they only had one hall open for suppliers and another room open for a fashion show that took place over the day. You’d think that only having one hall means that there isn’t much to see but there was loads. Here’s a little list of all the suppliers that you can find at the Bournemouth wedding show.
- Photographers
- Florists
- Venues
- Caterers
- Entertainment, singers, magicians, bands etc.
- Dress shops
- Transport
- Decorators
- Suit hire
As you can read there are loads of wedding experts there, around 40 stalls in the BIC for the weekend and it means couples have loads of choice and don’t have to settle with the first photographer they lay eyes on. We even booked our photographer that weekend and went with the second to last photographer we saw that day so it just goes to show the amount of choice in the room is amazing.
What Freebies Do You Get At The Bride Wedding Show
Everyone loves freebies and if you’re paying to get into a show you want to get something out of it. Everyone loves free stuff and that’s why I’m happy to say you do indeed get free stuff from the wedding show. When you first get into the show you get some free bride magazines which if you picked up in the shop would set you back £5 each and we walked away with 4 free magazines.
Depends on what stalls you visit depends on what free wedding swag you can get. If you visit the venues you can pick up free pens, free chocolate and free bags although we didn’t speak to any venues as that’s the one thing we had booked. If you go and talk to the cake stalls you’re more than likley going to get free cake, although some didn’t have free cake and they got scratched off the list in seconds. You can also get other cool free wedding stuff like badges and discount codes. The only way you’re going to get your hands on free stuff is to talk to the stall holders, it helps if you’re interested in what they supply as well.
Do You Get Special Show Discounts?
YES!! Which is one thing we loved, we went with the goal in mind that we would find a florist, photographer and cake maker; we left with a photographer and that’s all for the weekend but it was one step further. If you want a wedding discount the best place to look is at a wedding show. We got £240 taken off our photography package because we put a deposit down on the day with Atlas photography, going back to the free wedding loot I mentioned before, we also got a nice bottle of fizz to go with our amazing photographers and although it wasn’t technically free it was still a really nice touch!
Talk to the suppliers at the wedding show and see what discounts they can do, if any. Remember to have a look around and see who else is there. My advice would be to attend the whole weekend, take in everything on day one, pick out your favourites and go home to research them online. Send them to your best friend, mother or whoever just to get a second opinion and then go back on the Sunday to put a deposit down.
Who Are Bride? (The People Who Organised The Event!)
Bride are a company that operate over the UK but for this post I’m talking about the south west based company that do everything weddings. They put together wedding shows and showcase some of the best talent that the south has to offer, their events are always busy and spot on for what people are looking for. They also release monthly magazines, which you can get free at the wedding show; all magazines showcase local suppliers and help with every step of your wedding journey so you’re not left confused or missing something before the big day!
They hold a few events throughout the year and over the South West, I only know about the ones in Bournemouth to be fair but if you check out the bride website you’ll be able to find a lot more information which is forever being updated.
Is A Wedding Show Worth It?
Everytime, you’re going to be able to meet new people, new suppliers and best of all get new ideas. We walked away with different wedding ideas and wedding decorations ideas that we had never thought about before but now love. You might walk away with a wedding photographer, wedding florist or new wedding dress ideas. There are so many positive reasons why should go to a wedding show, one that some people don’t think of is finding suppliers you’d never go with, finding out what you don’t like about them and being able to ask future suppliers questions based on your dislikes. One example, I wanted a confetti photo done at the wedding, one photographer said they couldn’t do it and then I asked every single photographer in the hall if they could do the picture. That’s why a wedding show is so amazing, even if I’ve just found out my venue doesn’t allow confetti!
Wedding Show Conclusion
A wedding show is worth it, out of all the wedding shows I’ve been to I have to say the bride one is the best one by far. We have been to some really BAD wedding shows around Bournemouth that either have no structure or hardly any stalls. A wedding show is worth it if you want to know how to get free wedding stuff and meet new wedding suppliers. We didn’t take many photos of the day just because we got so invested due to planning our own wedding but if I ever visit again or if bride invite us to a future wedding show I’ll be sure to take loads of pictures and maybe even do a vlog!
