So I finally got brave enough to sign up and pay (ouch!) for a booth at the wedding show here. I am so nervous. I ordered cake dummies from Dallas Foam and they should be here any day. But I am super nervous about the whole things. Any tips or suggestions? I did get some notes from Michelle, THANKS! I am still not sure what I want to do about my samples. The last show I went to as a guest they were handing out these huge pieces of cake that they were cutting from real wedding type cakes. I thought it was a waste because there were so many things to try that I threw most of them out plus it was awkward and hard to hold and eat. I was thinking about doing mini cupcakes in 3 different flavors. Any suggestions?
TIA,
Jenn

The idea of mini cupcakes sounds good until you think about how many you will have to make and how to transport them along with everything else you will be bringing.

When I did bridal shows, I gave out very small samples of an actual wedding cake. Each tier was a different flavor. After a while, there was an announcement that my booth was serving up a new flavor.

Having water and napkins available will make your booth more inviting as well.

Good luck. I know the price of a booth can be brutal. Maybe offer a slight discount if a couple books that day.

Michele

I know what you mean about making the mini cupcakes and transporting them but I don't want to have to spend the time cutting a cake. I would rather take that time to talk to people and answer questions. I will bring napkins but hadn't thought about the water. Good idea.

What if you made the mini cupcakes and put them in those little Solo plastic cups with lids? (you know, the kind they put salad dressing in for take-out) Then you could put frosting/filling in one too.. No mess for you once you are there, and they would be easy for people to hold...

Bridal shows are so much fun! I did my first ones last year. The money is a tough pill to swallow for the booth, but is WAY worth your money. I did two shows last year and got over 50 bookings. That says a lot!!! What I did last year is make 3 different sheet cakes and we sliced them in tiny peices. 1" x 1" I had someone serving my cake for me so I could talk with the brides. I had about 6 dummy cakes made up all displayed nice and professional looking....lots of business cards, fliers that I had made up about my business and a bridal show special if they booked with me. I also had a raffle table for a free wedding cake. I did this to get the leads. I know that they usually give you a list of all attendees a month or so later, but this way I was ahead of the game! This year I am doing three shows and I can't wait...Just be friendly, and have fun! You won't be sorry that you did it!!! Good luck!

I would bake a sheetcake, and use a small round cutter to cut circles out and pop them into mini-cupcake papers. Throw some icing on and you're done.

Much easier and faster this way (and you can use the scraps for cakeballs).

Grats, I still don't have the guts to commit.

But, I love the mini cupcake idea, only because you can make as many flavors as you want a piping a dollip of frosting on them will be a snap.

And if you offer some special filling you could pipe some of them with a filling and then pipe the frosting (I'm seeing an assembly line in my head for some reason). Different color frosting for the flavor of the cake and/or filling.

As far a transporting, I think if you used sheet cake boxes, pretty much easy to stack in the car/truck.

As you can tell I have thought about in some detail but am still a whimp about spending the money on a booth.

I just made up a raffle slip ahead of time with Brides name, Grooms name, Wedding date, Address, Phone # and email. Between the free samples and the raffle, my booth was so busy! I just made up a sign saying free weddding cake raffle. i brought a container to put there slips in. What was cool was when I was less busy, like august, I called all of the weddings in august and offered them a special discount. I also had another sign saying if they booked their consult that day that they would get a free gift. You can make it anything you want at the consult. I just brought my calandar and was able to schedule several consults too!

I have done about 7 shows and am getting in a groove. I bake 3 2 layer 1/2 or 1/4 sheet cakes, on the short side. I put in a filling and make 3 different flavors. I cut the sheet cakes so I get about 100 sliced out of a 1/2 sheet. (cutting it 5x20). It is small but on it's side it looks good and I have found that it is more than enough for a sample.

I then put the cake slice in the middle of a 4" eclair cup making it like a taco shell. I place them, already cut and in eclair cups, in 1/4 sheet boxes. Each box is 1/3 flavor A, 1/3 flavor B and 1/3 flavor C. This way I open one box at a time and the rest can stay cool.
I also make them up several days ahead and pop the boxes in the freezer. This way there is no big scramble the day before.

When I take them out at the show, I have some big charger plates. I place napkins, plastic forks and those little white paper plates on the table nicely, next to the 3 chargers, each filled with one flavor. Then re-fill as needed.

I do LOVE that idea about the cake raffle. I will definitely do that! Sometimes those lead lists that you get from the sponsors have made up email and phone # on them. so with the raffle, they will put correct info in order to win a cake!

Best of Luck!