AHey all, I am attending my first bridal this januarynand I will be taking 4-5 dummy wedding cakes for examples and a whole lotta charm ;) to those of you who have gone to bridal fairs, how much did they help you out? Did you end up getting a lot of business from it? I'm hoping it gives me the boost I've been needing as far as getting my name out there!

Thanks!

Over more than 5 yrs time I have attended 4-6 of them (in 2 different states). Only 1 or 2 really increased my business enough to pay for the cost of the show :( BUT......... it's hard to base *your* outcome on others. Every show is different. There are soooooooo many different circumstances one cannot really compare one against another.  Best advice is to get *true* #s from the people putting on the show and pray for good weather :)   

I think it does depend on your area, your circumstances, the number of cake vendors at the show, etc.  I have had very good luck doing bridal shows.  They are expensive, but I viewed it this way:  How many cakes would I have to book to recoup the cost of the show?  In my case, one good wedding/groom cake will pay for the show.  Any other cakes I book is gravy!

And it's a great place to connect with other vendors, and making a great connection with a vendor can bring you business for years to come!
 

I participate in 1 large show each year.  I have had really good success at this show.

The main thing is you have to stand out from the other bakeries.  Make sure your dummy cakes are stylish, up to date and have several different designs/color.  I have 1 all white, 1 ivory, 1 bright yellow with red flowers and 1 black and white with a pop of green for color.  All my cakes have sugar flowers on them.

Also, pass out mini cupcake samples that will stand out (not just chocolate and yellow cake).  At the show I just did there was a bakery passing out full size cupcakes.  I was around the corner from them, so the trash can at my booth was the closest trash can that was out of sight from the people with the big cupcakes.  So many brides were throwing the cupcakes away saying the servings were too big since they wanted to try everything at the show.  Bite size works best.