Brides 2011 wedding show: A Journalistic Booth

It’s a wrap! Another Brides wedding show completed, I’m always amazed that it takes about 12 minutes for everyone to tear down what it took over 12 hours to set up! After 7 shows, I’ve learned to go for small, unbreakable, light items in my booth! The first year I had a plywood display that I painted and put wood trim on and then hung black & white photographs in frames. Well, luckily that was the year of “White Juan” (the snowstorm that shut down the city of Halifax for nearly a week), and the show was postponed until March. I say luckily because my plywood backdrop still had fresh paint and I had broken one of the nine matching frames I had prepared and it was crunch time! I remember picking up a bouquet of roses for my booth when the snow started, and I was in a panic wondering how I was going to get everything completed in time! After a few years of dealing with the loading docks and heavy furniture, I now look for things that collapse, flatten down, fold up, can be carried in one hand, don’t require roof racks, trucks or loading docks and don’t easily break! This year I completely revamped my booth after hatching an idea at the Brides 2010 show. I wanted to create a booth that had dimensions, one that had layers of things to look at and touch, one for the causal curious bride and one for the seriously interested alike. Although I am hesitant about themes I decided to go with one this year, that of a newsstand. I remain hesitant about themes at trades hows, because some people just don’t get them! I have to admit I confused quite a few people with whether I was selling postcards or if I would put their photo on a fake newspaper… However, I have to say these things became a conversation piece, something to talk about with a complete stranger, a jumping-off-board. All in all I think the booth did what I intended it to do– it encouraged people to come inside and look around and stay longer, and I liked the chance to talk with each of them. I explained that I had created a mock newsstand because of my documentary style of photographing weddings (ooohhhhhhh), that the newspapers were from a printing place in New York that claims that newsprint is becoming a new medium for some artists, and that I do offer postcard-style Thank You cards (or Save-the-Date’s). The wedding show is also always a great opportunity to see fellow wedding photographers and catch up with other wedding vendors. Nicole from Duly Noted and I were remembering that we started doing the show together (that year of White Juan), and how much has happened in our lives since then! Great to see you and meet you all…

The knives are part of “Bed Bath & Beyond’s” display, not mine!

No, the postcards weren’t actually for sale… I tried to create a vintage-looking sign for my “newsstand” that reminded me of the stands I saw in Europe.

Some people got to go home with a postcard or two…

My new letterpress cards from Studio Z, along with some digital “reproductions” LOL, a garden rose arrangement by Props Floral Design, and my new flush-mount album.

The mock newspapers, I’m so happy I followed through with this detail, plain white paper and digital printing wouldn’t have been the same at all!