Bridal Shows: A War Story

Back in January and February, this town was inundated with bridal shows. Of course, I was interested. I remembered attending one when was I was 13 and my aunt was getting married. Some people thought I was the bride. That made me particularly upset because I couldn't even drive, and in my mind at the time, no one should get married without a driver's license. Obviously that was the real issue. Not the fact that I was 13. But I was still looking forward to the day when I actually was the bride and could take home all those cool pamphlets. Also, cake. I heard rumors of cake samples, so that was truly my (and Tom's) ultimate goal!

Anyway, fast forward 10 years and there Tom and I stood, preparing to enter our first wedding expo (bridal show? bridal expo? What do you even call these things?)

We attended two. Both of them were pretty much the same, have blended together in my mind, and went something like this:

Enter bridal show. Sign in. Receive coveted bag of pamphlets I have been looking forward to for the past ten years.

Walk in, instantly overwhelmed. I did not realize there were like 63 florists, 85 DJ's and an endless supply of tanning places in Central Illinois. Also, why is techno and flashing lights happening at noon on a Saturday?

Oh, and all of these people want to talk to us? We don't want to talk. Let's just smile, wave, pretend we don't hear them, and zero in on that table with the cake and gourmet cookie samples.

And then eat two of every sample.

We soon realize that Tom is outnumbered. Very outnumbered. It seems for every bride, there is an army entourage of ladies.

And there we were, Tom and I, just trying to find more cake and vacation giveaways to enter. And the people were everywhere.

Brides. Everywhere. I have no idea why, but it made me panicky. At one point Tom and I hid in a corner eating a pasta sample. We just looked around, mildly terrified.

So after taking some boxed cake samples for the road,

We ran away. And did not return. The world of wedding planning is a strange, tulle-covered, sparkly chevron place of mystery and peonies. Since most of my friends are far away, Tom and I hang in there together.

(In case it wasn't obvious by this post, I am practically counting down the months until we go sample wedding cakes! )

Did you attend bridal expos? What was your experience like?