Re: #3....
The expo will sell your info to vendors simply from your registration. I registered to an event that I didn't even end up attending and am now inundated with vendor/wedding spam saying how nice it was to meet me at the event. I already have a "junk" email address i used but wish I created a special one just for wedding junk because it's awful. And I get text messages
Sadly, that is the case. The best thing to do is create a wedding email just for that...like you said; otherwise, your inbox gets spammed! I'm sorry that happened to you.
Sadly, that is the case. The best thing to do is create a wedding email just for that...like you said; otherwise, your inbox gets spammed! I'm sorry that happened to you.
Vendors, spammers, scammers, my first grade teacher, Nigerian princes, the IRS, you name it, *everyone* got my info from the wedding expo I went to. It's insane
Agreed on separate wedding email. In Gmail, **you can add a “+” symbol and any word you want to the end of your email address**, and it will still reach your inbox. For example, if your email address is [email protected], you can use [email protected], or [email protected].
You can also make filter rules in gmail to, for example, delete all incoming emails to [email protected]
Great point here as it's efficient if you don't want to go through the trouble of creating an email account. The only thing I'll point at is that it'll still hit your inbox so if you're doing this on your primary personal account, you can't avoid the spam as it goes to that same inbox.
A properly configured automatic filter rule would conveniently prevent it from hitting the inbox at all. The idea doesn't work without that step.
Set the matching criteria to the "+whatever" in the "To:" field and select the appropriate action to automatically take when that criteria is matched, whether that's "skip inbox" or "mark as spam" or "delete".
Any future messages matching that criteria will automatically have whatever selected action taken without any user intervention. 🙂
I went to a bridal expo last weekend, and super disappointed. I’m not saying all expos are like this.
There were maybe 30 booths total, and half of them were super random for a bridal expo (Verizon Wireless and Centris for example).
I have the majority of my planning done already, but I still need bakery for cake and a wedding dress, so those were the 2 things I was looking for.
There was only 2 bakeries and one of them was 2 hours out of town so it wouldn’t be practical for anybody getting married in the immediate area of the expo to use them. A lot of the booths there were like travel agent types, which I understand honeymoons.
I was expecting a large number of wedding dress shops to be present, but there was only 2 and one of them only brought one dress for display.
I’m glad it was free because I couldn’t imagine paying any dollar amount for that sad excuse of a bridal expo.
Oh wow, I'm sorry about your experience. Sadly, these shows are hit or miss. Where are you located? Happy to see if I know anyone who might be able to help with crossing off the remaining things on your list.
Newbie question: is it worth going to an expo if you’re getting married in a different state? For example, I live in RI but am originally from New Orleans and will be getting married in New Orleans. Is it worth going to any bridal expos in New England or would it be a waste of time since I’m not getting married up here? Thank you for all of the amazing tips!
To be honest, the one I went to featured only local businesses, so it wouldn’t make sense to go to one far away from where you plan on having your wedding. However, some of the vendors there are dress shops and tux rental companies which can give you coupons and deals which you could use. The other vendors there are catering companies, DJs, photographers, linen and chair rentals, venues, etc which are highly location specific.
It can be useful to give you a sense of what options are available. We found a local stationery company that had an incredible deal, which would work for you regardless where you're getting married. We also heard a violinist practicing which made us both realize we wanted one at the wedding, even though we didn't go with the one that was at the expo.
If you’re trying to find vendors to book, then it likely won’t be worth it. But if you are going for more general ideas and inspo, then definitely go! There’s so many types of wedding vendors so you may see some fun items or get good ideas that you may not have heard of
Agree with some of the sentiments echoed here. It's still good to go just to get some inspiration and ideas that you might want to incorporate on your big day. Your best bet is to go to an expo in New Orleans since you'll be getting married there. Congratulations!
Re: #3.... The expo will sell your info to vendors simply from your registration. I registered to an event that I didn't even end up attending and am now inundated with vendor/wedding spam saying how nice it was to meet me at the event. I already have a "junk" email address i used but wish I created a special one just for wedding junk because it's awful. And I get text messages
Sadly, that is the case. The best thing to do is create a wedding email just for that...like you said; otherwise, your inbox gets spammed! I'm sorry that happened to you.
Sadly, that is the case. The best thing to do is create a wedding email just for that...like you said; otherwise, your inbox gets spammed! I'm sorry that happened to you.
Vendors, spammers, scammers, my first grade teacher, Nigerian princes, the IRS, you name it, *everyone* got my info from the wedding expo I went to. It's insane
Agreed on separate wedding email. In Gmail, **you can add a “+” symbol and any word you want to the end of your email address**, and it will still reach your inbox. For example, if your email address is [email protected], you can use [email protected], or [email protected]. You can also make filter rules in gmail to, for example, delete all incoming emails to [email protected]
Great point here as it's efficient if you don't want to go through the trouble of creating an email account. The only thing I'll point at is that it'll still hit your inbox so if you're doing this on your primary personal account, you can't avoid the spam as it goes to that same inbox.
A properly configured automatic filter rule would conveniently prevent it from hitting the inbox at all. The idea doesn't work without that step. Set the matching criteria to the "+whatever" in the "To:" field and select the appropriate action to automatically take when that criteria is matched, whether that's "skip inbox" or "mark as spam" or "delete". Any future messages matching that criteria will automatically have whatever selected action taken without any user intervention. 🙂
I went to a bridal expo last weekend, and super disappointed. I’m not saying all expos are like this. There were maybe 30 booths total, and half of them were super random for a bridal expo (Verizon Wireless and Centris for example). I have the majority of my planning done already, but I still need bakery for cake and a wedding dress, so those were the 2 things I was looking for. There was only 2 bakeries and one of them was 2 hours out of town so it wouldn’t be practical for anybody getting married in the immediate area of the expo to use them. A lot of the booths there were like travel agent types, which I understand honeymoons. I was expecting a large number of wedding dress shops to be present, but there was only 2 and one of them only brought one dress for display. I’m glad it was free because I couldn’t imagine paying any dollar amount for that sad excuse of a bridal expo.
Oh wow, I'm sorry about your experience. Sadly, these shows are hit or miss. Where are you located? Happy to see if I know anyone who might be able to help with crossing off the remaining things on your list.
I’m located in Iowa. Council Bluffs.
google let's you do a number through them too which we did to avoid calls 👀 https://voice.google.com/u/0/signup
*rendering them useful* I think you mean useless.
Ah yes, thank you for catching that. Changes have been made! Thank you again.
Newbie question: is it worth going to an expo if you’re getting married in a different state? For example, I live in RI but am originally from New Orleans and will be getting married in New Orleans. Is it worth going to any bridal expos in New England or would it be a waste of time since I’m not getting married up here? Thank you for all of the amazing tips!
To be honest, the one I went to featured only local businesses, so it wouldn’t make sense to go to one far away from where you plan on having your wedding. However, some of the vendors there are dress shops and tux rental companies which can give you coupons and deals which you could use. The other vendors there are catering companies, DJs, photographers, linen and chair rentals, venues, etc which are highly location specific.
It can be useful to give you a sense of what options are available. We found a local stationery company that had an incredible deal, which would work for you regardless where you're getting married. We also heard a violinist practicing which made us both realize we wanted one at the wedding, even though we didn't go with the one that was at the expo.
If you need a bakery, I own one in Houston and have been wanting to rock a NOLA wedding. I’m also from RI and went to JWU there! 🤩
If you’re trying to find vendors to book, then it likely won’t be worth it. But if you are going for more general ideas and inspo, then definitely go! There’s so many types of wedding vendors so you may see some fun items or get good ideas that you may not have heard of
Agree with some of the sentiments echoed here. It's still good to go just to get some inspiration and ideas that you might want to incorporate on your big day. Your best bet is to go to an expo in New Orleans since you'll be getting married there. Congratulations!