My thoughts on the UK Wedding Show in Coventry

So 2 weekends ago saw me exhibiting at the UK Wedding Show in Coventry on both the Saturday and the Sunday. To say it was a true revelation to me would be an understatement. It was the first time that I've exhibited on this scale, as previously I've only ever done the "local hotel with a six foot table and 2 chairs" wedding fairs.

In January 2010 I grabbed at the opportunity to have a stand at the UK Wedding show in Coventry, mostly because I needed to push the boat out a little further and leave my comfort zone behind. Spaces (for photographers) to exhibit at these shows don't come up very often, as the organisers limit the number of photographers that they have at each show. It makes perfect sense, as no bride would want to be confronted with 80 photographers, 5 dress shops, 2 cake people and a car company.

I booked a 3x3 metre corner stand at the Ricoh Arena way back in January, even before I knew that we would be moving into the area in the summer.

I have been to a couple of these shows, and most people's stands are a complete shambles and they don't make enough of this opportunity by putting in the effort and planning before hand.

I started my preparations by re-reading my friend Fiona Humberstone's book - Exhibit (available on Amazon). Utterly brilliant, and a real lifesaver. A must read for anybody going to an exhibition.

I also volunteered to assist my friend Gill Taylor on her stand at the National Wedding Show in October, sort of a dry run for my stand in January. An invaluable experience that I'm truly grateful to Gill for.

So along came October, and my mind turned to what am I going to put in a 3x3 metre space, because when you start to think about it, it really is alot of space to fill. Not even considering that I wanted to do it properly.

Everything from furniture, wallpaper, vases and flowers, display materials, frames with images to go on the walls and also a super duper Show Offer had to be thought up or sourced. Countless hours was spent trawling the internet, and asking advice from anybody that would listen (sorry you guys, you know who you are!)

Delivery vans started arriving and the house started to resemble a warehouse with boxes everywhere. And then the time arrived for Adam and I to start making the walls. Neither of us have ever wallpapered a thing never mind REALLY LARGE, VERY BENDY boards. With some good advice from my friend Matt Pereira (who has done all of this before) I felt armed with at least half a clue of what we were about to try.

I designed 4 new albums and had them made up over Christmas. I had loads of thank you cards, price lists, show offer cards and other bits printed, and also printed loads of things myself, and still the boxes kept coming in.

All in all, the level of effort involved and the difficulty was so much more than I ever thought it would be. And the question remains "Would I have gone ahead with it if I ever knew??" I don't know, but at least now it is all done and I have everything for the next show.

Of course there are a few bits I can do better next time, and some lessons I learned from this show that I will take with me to the next one, but that's how it's supposed to be, isn't it?

On to the show itself...

The response I got at the show was OVERWHELMING!! Everybody LOVED IT!

The exhibitors all came round and commented on how nice it looked. One lady asked if she could take a photo, because she wanted to go and decorate her living room exactly the same. The organisers came by and said that they were really impressed with my stand and wished that everybody had put in that much effort.

But most importantly, the brides LOVED IT TOO! Every bride that I spoke to had something nice to say. One girl came up to me and said that unfortunately she had already booked a photographer, but she now wishes that she hadn't because she wanted to come and sit down, have a chat and book me. Even after the show, as I've been speaking to different brides over the last week, they have all said how lovely my stand was, and they just wanted to come and sit down as it looked so welcoming.

So was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY.

All the lovely comments, compliments and bookings I received made all the hard work over the last few months utterly and completely worth it!

(Sorry that this post has turned into a bit of an epic, but it just shows how much I've enjoyed and learned from it.)

Here are a few images of the stand, please let me know what you think.











Midlands Wedding Photographer

Best Man - PLEASE TAKE CARE!!

I have just been sent a link to this Video clip, and to be honest after watching it for the first time my mouth hung open with the horror and sympathy I felt for the poor bride!

After watching it a few times, I can now see the funny side and have a bit of a giggle ;-)

So if you are ever in a situation like this one (or anything else similar - maybe a cliff top wedding) - Best Man "PLEASE PAY ATTENTION, and take care!"


EMBED-Clumsy Best Man Ruins Wedding - Watch more free videos

Win your Wedding Photography Competition

So this time last year I announced a Competition to Win part of your Wedding Photography, and this year I've decided to go one better than that!

The competition will be running for 11 days only, so be sure to send in your details ASAP!

Here are the details:

_____________________________________________________________
WIN your Wedding Photography Competition– valued at over £1500

The prize consists of:
* Wedding Photography by Liezl Croft from Preparations to Speeches
* Disc with High Res JPEG files
* Private viewing of your images at my studio
* Online password protected gallery for 6 months
______________________________________________________________

This competition will also be available at my stand (number 49) at the UK Wedding Show in Coventry at the Ricoh Arena this weekend (15/16th January) and next weekend at the Danesfield House Hotel Wedding Fair.

Here is a copy of the entry form that I'll be using on the stand this weekend...



...but in case you can't make out all the details, here is a list of what I need from you:

Your Name:
Your Partner's Name:
Date:
Venue:
Email Address:
Phone Number:

Also don't forget to send me your address as well, then I can send you some show cards in the post.

Please also read the Terms and Conditions for this competition is below, so make sure to read them before entering. (they are fairly simple and straighforward!)



The competition closing date is Monday 24th January, so hurry up and send me an email with all your details to info@liezlcroft.com

The winner will be contacted by telephone on the Monday and announced here on the blog by the latest Tuesday 25th January.

All the best of luck!

Happy New Year!!

First and foremost, I just want to take this opportunity to wish everybody a very Happy New Year. My wish for all of you is that 2011 brings you everything you can hope for and maybe even a little bit more ;-).

The last few months have been very busy for me, as October and November was spent photographing lots of families that wanted to give photographs and frames as Christmas presents. (There is still quite a few blog posts to follow from those.)

Then the weeks leading up to Christmas was spent completing all those orders, designing and ordering all the outstanding wedding albums from the summer, and making sure the orders made it to the recipients in time for the big day despite the snow doing it's best to try and prevent it! ;-)

Throwing into the mix, a new corporate client wanting a shoot 2 weeks before Christmas and to have it turned around and delivered by the next week, it turned into an impressive juggling act for a few days.

So, just when everybody went on leave and started to slow down to spend Christmas with family and friends, I started to step up a gear with the preparation for a big wedding show I am attending on the 15/16th January in Coventry (UK Wedding Show).

I designed and built a set (yes, it's a 3x3metre stand - i.e. mini living room), bought all the furniture, designed 3 new albums. Planned and ordered a whole bunch of frames and prints for the walls, revamped my offerings and price lists, wrote a communications plan and sourced some truly fabulous new products.

On New Year's Day I wrote myself a To Do List of things that still needed doing before the show, and I was surprised that it was still as long as my arm and I only had 2 weeks in which to do it all. So slowly but surely I am working my way through it all, and am feeling a very warm glow of achievement everytime I manage to tick something off the list.

So for all my photographer friends - I won't be seeing you at SWPP this year, as the show is unfortunately on the same weekend, and
for all my clients and other friends - business will return back to normal in a little while.

So if I had a glass of bubbly, I would raise it to the wonderful year ahead of us, and all the new opportunities it will bring us... I've only got a cup of tea though, so that will have to do for now ;-)... Here to 2011, may it be fabulous!

(Sneaky Peak from one of the shoots that I still have to blog)



Midlands Photographer