If you are one of the lucky ones who got engaged recently, congratulations! You are in for a treat this week as Munsters longest running Wedding Show is returning to Cork City Hall Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th! Tickets for the show are half price at just €5 until 9th Jan, so it’s a steal! Tickets can be purchased at the door on the day, but to avail of the speacial offer book here
I will be working at the event myself, I will be on the door most of the day so if you have any questions feel free to come and find me!
For my own wedding, I found the wedding show an invalubale experience, which you might find surprising as my wedding was in Rome! Nonetheless, I used several Irish suppliers, a lot who exhibited at the Southern Brides Wedding Show and I will mention below….
To me, a wedding show is both a day of actual wedding planning, and also a real treat day out! Grab your girlfriends, your mum, or your hubby to be and make a real day of it. Theres a lot of entertainment on offer, 2 fashion shows during the day – hosted by Glenda Gilson (one at 2pm and again at 4pm) where you will see bridal wear, mother of the bride fashions and menswear. You can also hear some of the singers and musicians perform, and lets not forget the cake tastings!!!
There is simply no other place to meet so many suppliers face-to-face, and many brides will book a supplier not just because their work looks amazing, but because they make a really good impression – pleasant, reliable, easy to talk to, confident. This is an easy purpose to focus on – for example, if you’ve already booked everyone except a cake maker, this is most definitely your best chance of finding the right one. And let’s not forget – if you’re in a panic and need to make a booking at the 11th hour, this is your best chance.
When people hear I had a destination wedding yet I used several Irish suppliers the first thing they ask is “How?!” – but you’d be surprised just how much you can source at home! I thought I would have to purchase suits for our groomsmen rather than hire because I was having an Italian wedding – however I met with Morleys at the wedding show and to my delight it was explained to me that we could indeed hire the suits and keep them for a number of days, until it was convenient for someone to drop them back after our wedding! There was no extra charges for this service! I also used the award winning Trace of Cakes to design my dream wedding cake ( and yes, I magically got it all the way to Rome!). She is also a talented artist and we had her design a logo for our wedding and she also drew “our story” for our bespoke wedding invites pictured below! She is exhibiting at the wedding show this weekend, so be sure to stop by for a sample of her infamous chocolate biscuit cake! I also met Alan Dalton at the wedding show. Alan is a jeweller based in Dungarvan and specialises in one-off, handcrafted pieces. Alan designed the perfect rings to compliment my engagement ring, and also designed my husbands wedding ring. His service was fantastic and he is extremely talented. I even turned to him for advice last year when we were in Dubai and purchasing an aquamarine eternity ring and he told us what to look out for in quality and design.
Wedding Logo & Invite Sketches by Trace of Cakes 
Wedding Logo & Invite Sketches by Trace of Cakes
Even if you already spend every waking hour on Pinterest, or surfing the net for ideas, nothing compares to seeing it all in person. This is a great advantage – there are so many suppliers, you’re bound to see a huge selection of all kinds of things, from stationery to honeymoons. You’ll see things you never even thought of before! Take pictures of everything you like, and you may have your wedding all figured out by the time you go home. This is an absolutely fantastic opportunity for all brides who don’t know what kind of wedding they want – just go and see!