My First Weddings Showcase

I attended the New York Magazine Weddings Showcase today here in NYC and it was definitely an interesting day. I was undecided before I got there whether I should pretend to be a bride (who just happened to accidentally leave her 5 ct diamond engagement ring on the sink counter this morning, OOPS!) or whether I should use this as an opportunity to SELL, SELL, SELL Paper Bride as much as I could. Does anyone out there know of a class called: How to tell everyone in the world how fabulous your products are and not look like an idiot while doing it? or perhaps a course entitled: My stuff rocks and if you don't buy it/write an article about it in your magazine/or sell it in your store, you're dumb. If you find one, tell me pronto....I need it. Luckily, due to the unforseen circumstance of running into a former colleage fo mine from my publishing industry days, I actually managed to get some Paper Bride whoring time in...though, I'm not due any credit since it was an unintentional drive by promotional moment (baby steps, right?). The marketplace area of the show was peppered with an interesting vendor here or there, but the most fun I had was at the seminars.

Flower & Event Impresario Preston Bailey spoke about making your day special (though he failed to mention how most clients of his spend more on their flower budgets alone than most brides do on an entire wedding), but he was funny and fabulous and is insanely talented. Sylvia Weinstock everyone's favorite black-rimmed glasses wearing cake diva did a seminar as did Marc Friedland, whose company Creative Intelligence has done invites for virtually every celebrity on the planet. My hands down fave seminar, however, was given by New York Magazine's Best Bets editor Rima Suqi. I must admit that the spy in me was there to simply find out how she chooses products (in the hopes that one day we would get into her column), but the shopper in me (who already subscribes to her Best Bets Daily email) was lovin all the ideas and resources she was giving for bridesmaids and groomsmen gifts. Mind you, I don't yet have bridesmaids or groomsmen, but I loved the info anyway. She was also so smart and sassy, you just couldn't help but smile whenever she was talking. In a colossal blown opportunity, I did not introduce myself. But rest assured that Rima will be getting a cute little Paper Bride package in a month or so to make up for my scardey-cat moment of panic.

So, here's what I came away with (nothing too earth shattering): Brides still love to spend money on everything and anything; NY brides, in particular, probably spend at least double what the average American bride spends (Rima Suqi even mentioned this in her seminar "$20 dollars for a NY bride is probably like $5 dollars for any other bride."); Mothers still seem to have a significant influence on their daughter's weddings and decision making (though I also suspect this is magnified here in NY); I still don't like meringue, and brown is still v. hot. OH, and I also came away with one of the heaviest most crap filled gift bags I've ever received...the strangest inclustion: a bottle of bar-b-que sauce. Brides and bar-b-ques...this one will keep me up all night.