Is anyone thinking about going to the National Wedding Show - London?

I'd love to go but I'm on hols that week, which is a shame. I was thinking about going to Birmingham the week after.

I quite like wedding shows and I have got good deals on my chair covers from one in Manchester. Even though I have almost everything I need I'll probable go along anyway!

I went earlier in the year. It was quite fun and we got a few ideas. It you already have venue, dress, cake, honeymoon, flowers and stationery, then a lot will be for interest as that's most of what we saw. But I did find my shoes there and it was fun. I got a BOGOF deal from a wedding magazine for tickets and I'm glad, as I think full price is a little high.

I went last year and it was really good. I didn't buy or book anything there, but it gave us a lot of ideas, plus you get a few freebies!

I went last year and it was good to get a few ideas, but I wouldn't go again. Trying on dresses was a bit like a cattlemarket!

I won tickets last summer and am glad I didn't pay to go to be honest. There are loads of things there but I found the suppliers to be expensive and as I already had a lot of things sorted I didn't find it much use really.

I went to one earlier this year. To be honest I didn't get much out of it, maybe i knew to much of what I wanted. I would recommend if you want to book a supplier and get the discount there and then - for instance if we hadn't got a photographer I may have looked more at these and picked one.

Was still fun dragging the boy round and a day out We went on the last day so didn't get any free stuff which also upset me

Hi,

We went before my daughter`s wedding last year and it was amazing. Quite top end with regard to the type of exhibitors but really gave us a good idea of what is about and lovely catwalk shows. You have to book slots to try dresses on and can only try a few at each stand but well worth it.

lynne

I went to the last one, it is handy having lots of different suppliers in the same place so you can get ideas on prices etc but to be honest i already had an idea of who i wanted to use for all mine so really just went for the day out it was good fun in that respect but can be quite busy and a long day so wear comfortable shoes i think the full ticket price is a bit much for what it is IMO!

I'm going to the Birmingham NEC one this year. Wedding magazine is currently running a 2-for-1 ticket offer.

I went to the Birmingham one in March and didn't think much of it tbf, i prefer the ones that hotels put on (and their free - bonus!)

All i remember is their were photo booths EVERYWHERE!! so if you want a photo booth go, otherwise i wouldn't bother

x

Yeah I think i'll be going. Same as you, I have most things sorted but it might give me inspiration for extras!

I would not go there to try on dresses. For the rest of it, if you're after ideas, it's good, and you will be able to meet and speak to a lot of suppliers, though they will all be on the pricey end of the market. It was very busy when I went and so big that I got quite tired by the time I'd been round the whole thing, but it allowed us to get a feel for the market in a lot of different areas. It's worth noting that most of the suppliers are based in the South-East, so if you are getting married far away from London it may be less useful (or you may have to pay for travel expenses).

In terms of freebies, the goody bag was alright (though a few random inclusions like some Tampax and a packet of instant porridge!) but not many of the stalls were giving stuff away. I was particularly disappointed by the lack of cake tasting opportunities - it's all very well having beautiful cakes but I wanted to taste them before considering buying anything! There were a few make-up trials who gave me little demos then tried to sell me very expensive make-up with lots of pseudo-science crap.

I enjoyed it, and if you're early in the planning stages it's probably worthwhile, but the only thing I actually ended up buying from a supplier we met there was our wedding bands. You may want to see if there are any wedding fairs near to your venue as well, so you can meet local suppliers who may be cheaper than the London ones.

That's so true! I'd forgotten how little cake tasting there was.....I was disappointed too!