I day dreamed and realized it’s a new year and over the holidays many men had the courage to pop the “marry me” question to their significant others. There’s a formula, right? Holidays, family, good times, and talk about weddings. On my commute this morning I bought a newspaper and sure enough, it’s time for bridal fairs and wedding shows!
Modern Bridal put out a nice spread in the newspaper and announced their 30th year in the industry. After visiting other shows out there, they are one of the largest shows in California. This year they have six shows scheduled from today. The dates are:
- January 17th at the Plesanton Hilton
- January 24th at the Claremont Resort & Spa
- February 21st at the San Ramon Marriot
- February 28th at the San Francisco Concourse
- March 28th at the San Jose Convention Center
- August 15th at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco
I was late on my wedding show stuff and missed the January 10th show at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco. I was really tired of weddings in 2009. Tickets are $12 except for the ones at the Ritz-Carlton which are $20.
I’ve rated the Modern Bridal shows in terms of accessibility, vendors, and overall atmosphere (Yes, I’ve been to all of them, in the previous years).
Pleasanton – 8 stars
Pleasanton has easy parking and the vendors are really happy to help you out. The brides are generally fresh at this time and don’t have any ideas on what they want. The vendors are down to earth and friendly.
Claremot – 6 stars
Parking is hard. The layout is crowded. The vendors are good but I never left there feeling like I found a great deal. It’s really quiet in the hotel and I think people are afraid to make noise or there are rules on sound levels.
San Ramon – 7 stars
The San Ramon show is just like the Pleasanton show.
San Francisco Concourse – 8 stars
I really like the San Francisco Concourse show. The layout is good and the vendors are really nice and helpful. Much better than the one that happens at the Ritz (I’ll get into that later). If I had to divide San Francisco, the concourse is where you go if you want to learn how to spend less than $50K on your wedding and the Ritz is where you go if you want to spend more than $50K.
San Jose – 9 stars
I had to think of the other bridal show companies out there and after thinking about it, the San Jose show is really great. The walk from the garage to the show is little away but not too bad. The vendors are happy and helpful. Make sure you take advantage of the rest of San Jose while down there like TheTech. The San Jose show is probably one of the best shows that Modern Bridal puts on.
Ritz-Carlton SF – 5 stars
Parking sucks and the vendors are stuffed into small rooms. I’d avoid this show. The only reason I did was to find some cool vendors in San Francisco. Unfortunately, I was wearing jeans and they didn’t really want to tal k to me.
One thing to remember is that the locations are vendor specific. In other words, don’t go to the San Ramon show looking for vendors who can help you out in Redwood City. If you’re looking for venues, definitely attend the shows. My other tip is to check out the websites for some of these shows, they usually give discounts. Also, by ordering your tickets early, you skip the long lines at the registration table.
It’s wedding season!
References:
Modern Bridal
