Brighton Savoy Bridal Expo

When we visited Brighton Savoy about a week ago, the sales rep. reminded us that they were having a Bridal Expo the following week. The expo, held on Sunday 17 July was at the hotel itself and was of a smaller scale. Of course it wasn't as big as the ones at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Though it was small, it also meant that we got to see other smaller scale wedding suppliers apart from the usual ones at the large expos. The expo was held at the Seaview room itself and spanned out to the open area leading to the Gala Room and Wellington Room.

Kat's Cakes and Formal Hire - the first few booths we saw	Tables were elegantly set up in a nice wedding theme
Beautiful table centre pieces were on display	A large diamond ring table centre piece
Bridal Diva - wedding gowns in plus size for the slightly more rounded figure	One of my favourites - Fancy a Macaroon Tower for a wedding cake?
Another beautiful table centre piece in a lovely decorated Wellington Room	Vintage bridal rental cars if you're into the old stuff for your wedding
View of the Wellington Room set up for a wedding - more for smaller number of guests like less than 80 or something

I also received a goodie bag with heaps of free brochures and two thick bridal magazines inside. A couple of them were more for brides in the Mornington Peninsula and so weren't too useful. But there was no harm in getting ideas from other regions.

We chatted to the guy about the Macaroon Tower and found out it was about $700 for that. Bought some home to try and they were really tasty - but not sure about spending that much for a "wedding cake". Brighton Savoy sales execs. were also around to give advice and help. I think the expo made it an inch closer to us making a decision on our reception venue.

Bridal & Couture Sample Sale - Bay View Eden

I received an invitation to the Bridal Couture and Sample Sale this year at the Bayview Eden Hotel. I can't remember how they got my contact details but anyway Ammie and Daisy were nice enough to accompany me there. I pre-registered for us since it was $5 for those who did and $10 who paid at the door.

The event ran from 11am - 4pm. And there even had something called the "Hour of Power" where if you were willing to pay $50 extra, you can bring a friend in an hour earlier to view all the dresses, shoes and accessories before anyone else. I didn't bother about that and we just went at the normal time. :p Here are some snaps:

Entrance - promoting the i-do.com website with stacks of free bridal mags as door gifts.	Ammie and Daisy browsing at dresses and checking out if there were any nice ones. :p
Assistant from Brides of Melbourne booth helping my put on a "tutu" like gown. I was laughing because I thought it looked funny.	Mannequins line up around the booths. Ammie especially like the one on the right with this small pocket-like puffs on the gown.

The event probably occupied only a couple of function rooms and wasn't that big and so we sort of finish browsing in an hour or so. But some of the retailers did have some pretty items at reasonable prices. I almost bought a pair of shoes - but they didn't look too good after putting them on.

We were almost at the end when I chanced upon this gown at the Bride's of Melbourne booth - same one I tried the "Tutu" like gown. I tried it on and even though it was way too long - it just felt wonderful as this was the first gown that fitted quite well.

I was hesitating and pondering about whether to get it or not at $500, but Daisy and Ammie were both saying that it looks gorgeous. I wasn't sure about the prices for alteration as well. But the gown was indeed unique with sort of a slant at the skirt area where the top joins to the bottom.

In the end, I wasn't sure if it was because the lady offered it to me for $400 or it was because I had tried and browse too many gowns already and was itching to make a quick decision and get one, I bought it anyway. After that I started having ideas on how mum can sew more beads and sequins or somehow personalize it and make it more unique. That is, after I get the damn length altered first!

Here are more pics from the event that day:

http://picasaweb.google.com/melchenyi/BridalCoutureSampleSaleJul2010#

Melbourne Bride Wedding Expo Jun 2010 and Brides of Melbourne Bridal Gown Sale

Bride Magazine organises the Melbourne Bride Wedding Expo once a year around the 3rd week of June. The event runs for two days at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Having won a pair of tickets from a facebook competition, it was such a bonus to go in free last week on Sat the 19th of Jun. Cousin Kayla and Ammie joined us as well - just to see what a wedding expo was all about.

We actually attend their expo back in 2007 as well when I was still working for Victorian American Imports - a car conversion company which imports amercian vehicles and converts them to right-hand drive. It was just early browsing that time and more research of the hummers used as wedding transport. But this time we had a better reason for going! ;)

Here are some snaps from that day:

The rest of the photos can be found at
http://picasaweb.google.com/melchenyi/MelbourneBrideWeddingExpoJun2010#

We found that there were less retailers as compared to the Ultimate Bridal Event expo which we attended last month and some of them were those that we had already visited at the other event. They also had Fashion parades from Bridal Retailers in Melbourne, showcasing bridal gowns and men's suits.

There were however, have a few more retailers that were more specific to Melbourne and those that weren't too high end. One exquisite worth mentioning was the Sisko decorative chocolate displays. And I also liked it that the Photo Booth company were there for people to take some crazy shots! But if you're really looking for an expo with lots more retailers and cheaper by $5, Australia Bridal Service's Ultimate Bridal Event seems the better one.

Yesterday, Darling and I also popped by Melbourne's GPO in the morning for the Brides of Melbourne Bridal Gown Sale. I knew right before hand that this shop's pricing were more on the higher end, but I just wanted to check it out anyway.

Some snaps from the shop exterior:

I didn't really have a good impression of this bridal shop. Firstly, you were made to line up and take a ticket before they let you in. And then you were assigned an assistant which gave you only like 15 minutes to pick a few gowns to try on. Can you tell me how can someone made such an important decision in such a short time frame?! It was like they expected huge crowds to flock in and grab all their gowns on sale and so only gave you about half and hour there including trying and picking out your gown.

I would never make such an important decision and spend a few thousand dollars in an impulse. Even on sale, their gowns were at least $1000 and above. And so as you can guess, in normal periods, gown prices are about $2000 and above. And photo-taking wasn't allowed too. So how can you go home and ponder about whether the gown suits you? As much as I didn't really like this shop, I hate that I actually found a gown design that I like on their website. Let's hoping I have some luck with a similar design somewhere else. :p

Australian Bridal Service: Ultimate Bridal Event May 2010

The Australian Bridal Service organises wedding exhibitions twice a year in Melbourne and Sydney. And so to get ideas and inspiration, we thought we'll attend one of them just to see what it was all about.

They call it the Ultimate Bridal Event and it's usually held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre or the Royal Exhibition Building.

There were heaps of retailers on display including car hire services, cakes, gowns, men's formal wear, photography and videography, rings, singing bands and DJs, flowers, stationary and gifts and lots more. Every two hours or so, they also have a bridal fashion parade with models strutting down the catwalk in the latest gowns and suits.

Here's a link to the full album: http://picasaweb.google.com/melchenyi/UltimateBridalEventMay2010#

In our point, there's no need to go for all of these expos. Just attending one or two will be enough as most of the retailers exhibiting are usually the same and sometimes too much ideas will give drive you nuts anyway! :p