The sweetest little bridal fair in town
published May 22 2012, filed in News
Photos by Angela Higgins, courtesy of First Comes Love and Studio Bomba
You're engaged. Congratulations, well done you! You and your betrothed have been to a few bridal 'expos' and it's just not doing it for you. Sure, there are lots of exhibitors and some of them are wonderful but it's busy, there's 'doov doov' music playing, everyone's trying to get your attention and to be honest, it all starts to look the same after a while.
Enter your saviours, Angela Mitchell and Leah Dent of Mitchell and Dent and Studio Bomba. I spoke to Angela about how First Comes Love came to be.....
'We took Mitchell and Dent to one of the big bridal fairs a couple of years ago but it just wasn't the right 'fit' for us', she said. 'The people that we generally saw through Mitchell and Dent weren't really going to the big expos and then we got talking to a few like-minded exhibitors that felt the same way'. But what to do? Mmmm maybe we will just organise our own little bridal fair and hope that people come.....
..... and they did. Lots of them. Mesdames Mitchell and Dent organised the inaugrual First Comes Love Bridal Fair in 2011 and Perth brides (and a few grooms) said 'wow', 'yes please', and turned up in droves. I asked Angela about her favourite moments from last year. She laughed and said, 'People came! Leah and I said it was a bit like organising a really big party but not having any RSVPs. We weren't really sure if people would feel the same way.' What? Of course they do!
'Hearing such positive comments from people as they wandered through the fair was a real buzz for Leah and I,' shared Angela. 'We could hear people saying they'd organised everything and since then we have definitely seen a number of 'FCL' weddings where so many of our exhibitors have come together again. We have such amazing talented and creative people here in Perth - they went to such an effort to present their space. Exhibitors really loved meeting like-minded colleagues in the industry too. We all shared drinks at the end of the fair and many have gone on to collaborate with each other.'
There will be new things to see at First Comes Love this year including vehicles (Angela said 'no' to pink stretch hummers though). You'll find flowers and dresses, photographers and stationers, stylists and entertainers, hair and makeup and oh so much more. Did I mentioned that I would be there? I'm really chuffed to have been asked to exhibit and I'm looking forward to meeting a whole host of wonderful people.
For a full list of exhibtors click here.
First Comes Love is on at the Oxford Hotel in Leederville on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th May from 11am to 4pm. Tickets are $10 at the door (bargain!)
Tell your mum, tell your friends, tell your next-door-neighbour. And please come and say hello!