The bridal show is over. Yesterday was a whirlwind. It wasn’t too dissimilar from planning a wedding. Months in advance you are planning, coordinating, purchasing, building, drawing, emailing, calling, and going crazy. Then the day comes. I woke up early, got some last minute things together, picked up Jaclyn and headed down to the RI Convention Center. I kind of had that “new kid on the block” feeling, since this was the first time we attempted a bridal show.

 

 

The night before, my dad and I brought the bulk of the materials, including the five sheets of 4′ x 8′ chalkboard painted plywood walls. We built the walls on site (with an in between Home Depot trip for some more wood that we needed). My dad took off after the heavy lifting was done and my friend Laura (Andrew’s girlfriend) graciously came by to lend her super art skills. You can see her doing her magic in some of these set up photos. We used an overhead projector (remember those?) to give us a guide. I made a 1:1 mock-up in Photoshop of the back wall and printed it to transparency paper.

 

 

It was about 45 degrees in the convention center (literally). All the back garage doors were open so we were essentially outdoors but had a roof over our heads. After four hours your body really starts to get cold down to the core.

 

 

After building the walls (yes, for the first time, there was no trial run like a normal person would/should have done), I had the too-late realization that an 8′ x 8′ booth is, well, tiny. It would have been OK except the Bluecube was a total space hog. We made it happen anyway.

 

 

Tara and Jaclyn made some pretty sweet paper flower props for the brides to hold when they used the Bluecube at the show. When it was all said and done, forty five brides had gone through the Bluecube for a chance to win it at their wedding. On top of that, there were plenty of people that we got to talk to that declined to have their mug shot done on-site. I didn’t keep count, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we were able to meet over a hundred brides.

 

 

How cool is that? I have never talked more in 7 hours than I did yesterday. Jaclyn, well, she’s a pro talker but even her voice was a little hoarse when we wrapped up.

 

 

We had an awesome time and loved getting to meet so many people! Our booth was stashed in the back corner of the show, but that didn’t stop us from being flooded the entire time. Can’t wait to follow up with everyone and continue the conversations.

 

 

It was great to unveil everything all at once. The new packages. The new website. The new look. The new people. I had expected it would be enjoyable, but I was actually surprised at how fun the whole thing was. It was, however, a ton of work. I got home at about 6:30 and it felt like it was 11:30. When I woke up this morning, it felt like I had been hit by a truck. In a good way, you know?

 

 

Gigantically huge thanks to my dad for all his help, time, and brainstorming as I planned everything out. Big thanks also to Laura for taking the time to come by and leave her mark on the chalk walls and preventing the booth from looking like a third grader wrote on it. Also to Jaclyn for hanging out for 7+ hours with me and doing an awesome job conversing with everyone. Thanks to my wife for having to hear me talk about this for so long, giving me the time to spend on all the preparations, and helping out in all sorts of ways along the way. Lastly, of course, all the people that came through and spent some time with us.

 

I feel like I’m giving an acceptance speech for an Emmy. Anyways, we’re ready for another one! As soon as I sleep a little bit…

 

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