Perfect Planning

Planning Tips

Perfect Planning

Sixty-five percent of couples get engaged over the holiday season, and we’re pretty sure that almost all of them go to The Seattle Wedding Show, the longest-running and largest wedding show in the region, celebrating 20 years this January 16 and 17, 2010. We sat down with founders Barb and Don Berger to get the backstory on the show and their advice on how to tackle it.

How did you get started in the wedding-show business?
Don Berger: I worked at Brocklind’s on Capitol Hill when I was attending school at O’Dea (on First Hill). After we married we opened our Black Tie tuxedo shop and that grew to a chain of 14 formalwear stores. All of the wedding shows were held in malls and you had to have a store in the mall to participate, so we thought, “Why not put on our own show?” We started at the Seattle Convention Center in 1990 with 40,000 square feet and a pretty small budget, and we’ve been there every year since.

Now the show covers 120,000 feet of space and features almost 400 vendors. Besides being the biggest, what makes The Seattle Wedding Show unique?
Barb Berger: We are the biggest, but we are interested in quality more than quantity. One of the biggest misconceptions is that all of our vendors are pricey, but the truth is that it’s very important to us to feature a wide range of vendors, very low-priced ones as well as more expensive ones. The advantage is that we have vendors represented in every category, so you can plan your entire wedding in one weekend.

What are your favorite tips for couples attending the show?
Barb: I can’t say it enough: Plan ahead! Save $2 and buy your ticket in advance, go online and print out a map and take it with you. Brides should plan to attend on both days—Sunday is free if you also go on Saturday—so make the first day for looking and bring your fiancé the second day for making decisions together.
Don: Leave your coat in the car; bring your girlfriends, your mom or your mother-in-law on the first day; and have fun. Bring your fiancé on the second day—grooms have become so interested in planning the food and music, as well as the cars and tuxedoes—plus they can carry all the bags of freebies and information!

How much time should a bride plan to spend at the show?
Don: The average bride spends five hours at the show—even longer if they try on dresses or get their hair and makeup done. We have spent years making the show as easy for brides to navigate as possible: We mix different vendors together so brides won’t get sensory overload from looking at an aisle of all flowers or all very expensive vendors. If you want to find only one vendor, such as a florist, preplanning and marking all the florists on your map is especially good advice for planning your attack.

What should brides know before talking with all these vendors?
Barb: Be direct and up-front about what you are willing to spend. Sometimes savings are offered for booking at the show, and brides should ask about that. If she already knows her wedding date, she should let the vendor know right off the bat. Otherwise she could spend 30 minutes getting excited and talking with a vendor who is already booked on her wedding date, and that would be a disappointment for both of them.

What sort of vendors are found at the show?
Barb: Our goal is to provide a nice mix in a lot of price ranges. The first thing couples need to book is their facility, so we have a lot of venues from all over, not just downtown Seattle but from Leavenworth to Mount Vernon to Poulsbo. And we keep every category limited so we don’t have a show of 400 photographers.

What is the best reason for someone to attend the wedding show?
Don: Five hours in our show would take months to do on your own, even for couples planning entirely on the Internet. It is an opportunity to meet the owners of the businesses and see their incredible displays and get terrific ideas. The show is a great value for your dollar.

What is your favorite thing about the show?
Barb: Basically that it’s just really, really fun. The fashion shows are truly incredible, there’s so much cake to eat and the brides just have a ball. They’re all smiles and flashing their rings and you can see the sparkling from end to end. We couldn’t have picked a happier client if we tried.

As a Northwest couple celebrating your own 39th wedding anniversary, what are your favorite tips for couples planning their wedding?
Don: When you are planning, enjoy the process and don’t build it up so large. Remember what is important. Don’t get so caught up that you forget what it’s all about. We understand how important the day is, and we don’t take what we do lightly. Our goal is to help take the stress out of the process.
Barb: We could have never imagined how elaborate weddings would become and that we’d be a part of it. Now it is our family business and it’s a labor of love.