Wedding Expo in January

BrittanyLouHoo

Has anyone ever attended a wedding expo in OBX before? Was it worth it? Did you get lots of valuable info? The next one is in January and FI and I are thinking about attending, but we don't want to spend the $1000 for the trip if it's not really worth it.  Any thoughts/comments/etc are appreciated. TIA!

jendem8

I can speak as someone who hasn't gone... in some ways I wish I had gone last January, but I don't think it's necessary by any means.  I couldn't make the 2011 expo, so I went down a couple of weekends after.  It was nice to meet with some vendors for more extended periods of time.  The OBX is dead during January, so the people who were there/opened were more than happy to talk for hours sometimes (and they give lots of recommendations for other vendors).  I think that you should definitely try to go to the OBX a couple of times before the big day (to set up tastings, florist appts, etc.), but I feel like the expo might be too crazy to really talk to anyone (again, I don't know this first hand though).  You have so much time between now and then to research, that you'll probably get a sense of which vendors you'll work well with before then.  HOWEVER, if you don't have time to research, then it might be a quick way to get a quick sense of everyone in a short period of time.  This message board gives so much helpful information, that you can get great advice by just asking questions to all of these girls (and guy) and reading past postings.

So all in all, in this confusing post, I feel comfortable with the fact that I missed it.  I think it was helpful to research first, set up longer appts., and make a couple of trips to finalize everything.

jlbmousie

I went to the wedding expo this year.  It was a nice set-up, very crowded, and so much food.   There was little time to speak with any of the vendors because there were so many people.  

The one nice thing is that every vendor was having some kind of drawing for gift certificates, discounted services, etc.  In won a $200 discount from a videographer.  In the end I was able the videographer and I were able to work out a deal. I didn't use the $200 discount and I am getting him for 13 hours of coverage because my wedding is in the off season. 

Personally, I would save the $1,000 and put it towards something else in the wedding or plan a trip and come down for a week.  I would suggest coming before Memorial Day or wait until after Labor Day when all of the tourists leave.  The weather is still beautiful and the vendors will have more time to spend with you. 

In addition, the OBX wedding association has links to most vendors websites where you can have time to browse, not be pressured, and find out pricing.

Best of Luck