The studio attended the first big bridal show through Forever Bridal here in Raleigh NC. It was quite an adventure getting there, with many design decisions to be made along the way. I knew at the beginning, about 2 months ago that this project was going to be big, but I had no idea it was going to be this involved. One of the toughest challenges we faced was the look and feel of the booth. I wanted to stay true to how the studio is themed and maintain our strong brand look & feel. In keeping with this outline, we were able to narrow down our ideas. It was not unusual for debates on the finer details to spring up at any time and scouting around the city or internet for products was common practice during the last month or two.
Now that we understood that the booth was going to maintain the company brand image, which are the colors (blue, white, silver, black) and a clean, crisp, whimsical feel. We were able to pick out the furniture we would need to fill the booth. We were also able to decide which of the many shades of white we would use! :) Seriously, we have gotten to know the local Lowes Valspar rep since refurbishing the studio and now painting the booth. It’s a great contact to have, as we can ask all about the different paint choices.
I hand built the booth and Tiffany painted it. There’s roughly 4 layers of paint on each wall, with a final coat of paint to create a pearl shimmer effect. The logo was projected onto one wall using a laptop and video projector. An outline around the logo was sketched onto the wall with a pencil and painted over with a metal grey mixture. In fact the grey was mixed with many of the paints used on the wall already, with the end result sporting a grey metal pearl shimmer effect. Pretty cool stuff when you get into it and we certainly did!
A few weeks ago we made a trip out to Ikea to purchase a loveseat, table and 9 halogen lights. This is the new Ikea in Charlotte NC and a much easier drive then the trek I used to do up to Washington DC. Roughly half the time, making it so much more comfortable a journey to do. I really recommend heading out there if you like the contemporary European furniture look.
The products used at the show had to be designed, printed, bound, shipped and checked. This was quite a long series of tasks to complete. I wanted to make sure everything was consistent with all that I wanted to hang in the booth. The booth centered around one 100×52 inch canvas, which is of the recently award winning image, enhanced by the studio and printed by Simply Canvas. With an image canvas this big, it is really important to spend some time examining every detail. I literally spent a good few hours zoomed tweaking the pixels and airbrushing. It’s a curse being a perfectionist!
A series of smaller 20×30 prints and one 40×40 print were made by WHCC. The 10×10 flush mount albums were printed and bound by Image Capsule.
All three vendors, Simply Canvas, WHCC and Image Capsule have wonderful professionally finished products that I would give to relatives as gifts. I believe in them that much.
We also had a lot of flyers, business card magnets, business card cookies and of course my letter pressed business cards. The flyer and business card magnet were designed by the studio, and printed through Overnight Prints. The business card cookie was made by a wonderful Patisserie & Confiserie in Carrboro called Miel Bon Bons. The cookies went in no time at all and were very unique at the show. The letter pressed business cards were designed and made by Studio Z in California.
I thought I should go all out and do what I’ve been wanting to do in a while. In keeping with the consistency I want to project, I had Sew You Like It in Cary NC embroid the company logo and name on black shirts for the team. They did an awesome job and I think it continued to promote two of company’s core values: consistency and quality.
Lastly, I asked Mike owner of Fleurtations, a wonderful wedding flourest in Raleigh NC if he could supply the flowers for the booth. Being the kind gentlemen he is, two amazing bouquets were in our booth on the day of the show.
Here are three big grid layouts, with a collection of images that show how we built the booth and how it looked.
[caption id="attachment_210" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Forever Bridal Show - Building the Bridal Booth"]
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[caption id="attachment_211" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Forever Bridal Show - Canvas Delivery"]
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[caption id="attachment_212" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Forever Bridal Show - Working in the Booth"]
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[caption id="attachment_213" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Forever Bridal Show - Loading up the 16' Truck"]
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[caption id="attachment_214" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Forever Bridal Show - The End"]
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[caption id="attachment_215" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Forever Bridal Show - Apple iChat Time"]
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[caption id="attachment_216" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Forever Bridal Show - Funny Moment"]
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A big thank you to the team and all that helped get us ready.
The Team:
- Warren McCormack
- Tiffany Schaefer
- Jen Potter
The Vendors:
It was great making or strengthening friendships with:
A big thank you to all the brides, bridemains, mother of the bride and grooms who came into our booth on Sunday. It was an absolute pleasure meeting you all and learning more about your wedding. Our booth never stopped being busy and the five hours whizzed by. I enjoyed every minute of it and was sad to see the end.
I have now started seeing couples from the show, creating their collection wish lists and understanding the finer details of their wedding day. It’s great fun meeting up, getting to know one another better, in a more relaxed environment. My assistant, Elizabeth, has been contacting 20+ couples to arrange appointments to come into the studio. I have quite a number of appointments booked now over the week. I encourage any couple who came by the booth to come by my studio and review my work some more. Just contact the studio and come on by, we’d love to see you.
