To fair or not to fair....

Hopefully this won't be how we end up!!  Image

As readers of my blog know last year Mr P was nuts enough to propose while we were in Paris (you can read all about here if you haven't already) and for a planner like me a large part of the fun of the wedding will be the planning. But before you can plan you need to seek information. And where does one seek wedding information I hear you ask? Well of course it is at your local wedding fair!

Now wedding fairs are strange places. Full of over excited brides and their mum's plus the odd stray fiancé looking around with trepidation at the rows of stall holders eager to talk about "favours" or "chair covers" or "save the dates" all words that until you start planning a wedding are unknown to the average man.

My darling fiancé is not dissimilar. I've managed to drag him to two wedding fairs - and that was purely so we could nose around the venue hosting it to see if it was to be "The One" (in fact the first one was, the second just a double check before securing venue no 1 with a deposit, so that was a winner of a show) however the teams of people with their pastel fabrics and old fashioned sales techniques did not appeal to my lovely man one bit.

For example he detests the current trend for using chair covers - especially at a £2.50 cost per cover (times that by 100 chairs for the ceremony and you can see why he's not keen) Colour coordination is one thing but a sea of swaddled chairs toning in with our colour scheme is a little too formal for us. Thankfully at our chosen venue the chairs are very nice - they have legs, seats and backs pretty much all you could wish for in a chair me thinks!

Videographers are another area Mr P is not keen on - not because having a video of our wedding is abhorrent (or at least I hope it isn't that!) but the ones we have met have been more Alfred Hitchcock (old and full of creepy ideas) than JJ Abrams (young and enthusiastic) and if their videos are as old fashioned as their DVD packaging then we may as well hire a sketch artist to caricature the wedding it would be more modern!!!

Of course there are always the photographers. Each of the wedding shows we have attended photographers have out-numbered the other stalls 3 to 1. We wither have a plethora of Dorset based photographers who focus on weddings or by hum they make a killing on the wedding circuit so its he who shows, wins! This is another area that Mr P and I are not yet aligned...I believe the photos are important - I mean after all those, the rings and memories are all you have left after the big day. And being a photo-phobe where a camera looms into view and I automatically pull my "camera" pose (think lunatic with a handbag and you won't be far off) I'm keen we find the "right" photographer who can take the obligatory few group shots but will miraculously disappear into the background and yet taking stunning natural shots as we enjoy our wedding reception. It's either that or I down 10 shots of vodka in an attempt to feel more comfortable in front of the camera - possibly not the best plan at 2 in the afternoon on my wedding day!

But back to the joys of wedding fairs...of course a big part of these shows are all the competitions to enter. I work in marketing, I know these competitions are purely to gather data so the firm can constantly try to sell us stuff. Does that matter when I'm faced with the chance to "win". Hell no, hand me a pen! Mr P simply rolls his eyes and edges nearer to the door knowing full well the plethora of direct mail recycling about to hit our doormat thanks to me.

Of course Mr P can relax in the knowledge that planning the wedding is well in hand with a freak planner like myself. He need only input and approve key items as he wishes (as well as sourcing all the music obviously) while I try and think out every element in advance - I mean that's why I have the wedding Filofax....in fact I can just imagine this being me on the morning of our wedding:

From the fabulous blog The Distracted Crab

So are you a wedding fair type person or are you like Mr P, see them as an unnecessary evil that were to be endured while we looked for a venue?

Lx