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Wedding fairs
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hey guys, just a question relating to how to get into wedding fairs as a supplier. is it just a matter of ringing up hotels to find out when they are having one? or is there a list of upcoming fairs on some site?
also typically what is the price of getting a stand or does it vary widely?
I’d imagine that ya just ringing them would be the best approach.
Of course you’d have some sort of cost associated with having a stand outside
of whatever the event organisers would charge.What I mean is, leaflets, backdrops and the list….
No idea of cost I’m afraid. They might have different prices depending on the type of supplier…
Some hotels run their own wedding fair and in some its an outside compsny that do it. Its not cheap to have a stand at these fairs. It can be from €700 to €4000 depending on hotel profile, stand space, location in room, etc, You get all kinds of folk attending these, some will be couples with serious intent, some will be couples out for the “day out”. Generally they are only looking or “tyre kicking” as they say. Most will already have decided who they are going to book but just want to see what kind of deal they are getting.
I have done about 5 fairs over the years but will never do one again as its a waste of money, I can’t say I’ve got more than 4 or so weddings as a result. I believe when I had taken the costs of the fairs, my time attending, etc I probably broke even – so I would have had the same result if I did nothing at all.
Just my experience ….. it could be different for someone else.
I’m inclined to agree with Gerry on this. You’re better off spending your money on some targeted marketing, your website, some sample albums or a promotion of your own (spend xxx Euro and get a free parents album, etc.)
Best thing to do, however, is visit a few of these fairs yourself as a visitor. Check out which photographers are there and make a note of which ones aren’t (as that can be just as revealing!) Stop and have a chat with some of the florist, wedding attire and venue stands that will be there and do a bit of networking. They may well have other photographers that they favour, but it never hurts to talk anyway and make the suppliers aware that you’re “out there”.
great thanks guys. have all the leaflets/backdrops etc etc…
yeah they seem expensive alright. the big wedding fair in dublin was charging approx 2.5k for a small stand.
I read alot of the brides wedding forums and the majority seem to say that they booked their photographer through a wedding fair.Its a lot of money. You would probably need 4 weddings to actually cover your costs there. If I were to spend 2.5k on a wedding stand, I feel I would need about 8 to 10 weddings booked on the day to make it worthwhile from a cost & effort point of view. It may well be that Dublin brides book at wedding fairs but they deffo do not do it in Galway. Down here they go along to get an idea of what it costs I think.
Gerry, I’m glad you have given insight into this form of advertising with your experience.
Have been sceptical of this approach to advertising, I say the web is definitely the way to go (weddingonline etc).
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