We have been attending the Ottawa Wedding Show for a few years now and I have yet to be disappointed with the quality of the show or the return on investment for us, but this year was even more amazing than previous years.
Dave and I not only had a great time chatting with all the fantastic couples who came through the doors, but we also had a really wonderful time catching up with some of our favourite wedding vendors.
And although there were very few lulls in the crowd this year (which is a great thing for the business, not so great for my feet, throat or hunger levels), I did manage to grab a few shots from the show floor to share with you all.
Despite my ideas and plans following the Tie the Knot show, our booth didn’t get any significant updates. Hopefully they are coming soon such that we will be able to include them in ourĀ next show (which isn’t for quite some time). That being said, I still love our booth and I find it is still drawing in our ideal clients as they walk around the show floor.
A quick shout out to Capital Florist, who provided such great high quality greenery for us at our previous show that I was able to use some of them (dried out of course) to finish off our table at this show too! AKA – we totally forgot to ask her about new greens before I started packing up the truck on setup day and thankfully the stuff from February was still in great shape! Just another reason to go to a professional florist for your needs because you really do get nice, quality products.
This also happened to be the first year the lovely ladies from Opportunity Knocks Events joined the show. By now I am sure you all know how much we love working with these awesome people but in case that is new to you, you should definitely go check them out because they do such amazing work with their weddings, both local and destination!
I was completely blown away by the decor setups throughout the floor and although I didn’t have time to get to all of them (seriously guys, there were like minimal lulls in the crowds), I did spend some time at the Lavish Events decor setup and their actual booth and they were both so gorgeous and unique!!
We were actually lucky enough to have two of our favourite DJs at the show and even luckier that they were both within eye shot of us – meaning it was super easy to send people to them both as we could simply point couples in their direction(s)! We have been lucky enough to work with Derek fromĀ Driftwood Music a couple times now and it is always a good time (which is made great when his wife Tara accompanies him to shows and the like and we get to hang out with them both).
There was just something about Alta Vista Flowers‘ booth that just drew me in instantly. I absolutely loved the arrangements they had put together and wreath at the back of their booth was simply a piece of beauty!!
So, as I mentioned, we had two of our favourite DJs at the show this year (within pointing distance no less). Bob from Octave Entertainment does such an amazing job at his weddings and we have loved getting to work with him over the years (and hope to again soon too!). I had fun grabbing some details of his booth, including his awesome new logo that I just love!
And of course I had to grab a shot of Temple’s Sugar Bush as they really are one of our favourite venues out in Perth. A gorgeous setting combined some of the very best people and truly delicious food! We are so excited every time we get to work there!
Now it may seem odd to have a shot of another photographer from the show, but if you haven’t checked out Willow & Wander‘s work and you love that slightly darker, matte style, you should definitely head over there (after you finish here of course). Melissa not only does beautiful work, but she is super sweet and down-to-earth too!
Slight tangent – I love the Ottawa photography community for so many reasons, but the number one reason is how it really is a community. Okay, so technically we are all in competition, but when you get right down to it, we aren’t, not really. We each attract a slightly different couple with our work, approach to wedding days and just with our personalities in general meaning that the perfect Stephanie Beach bride likely isn’t a good fit for Willow & Wander (and vice versa). And I love that the cream of the crop photographers know this and aren’t afraid to chat openly about their work with other local photographers.Ā All of that to say that we had a really great little chat with some of our favourite photographers (who also happen to be super talented by the way) at the show after the first day and it was just so nice to be able to do that.
I think the best way to start wrapping up this post is with some photos of beautiful wedding cakes. These puppies were the first thing attendees saw when they came to the show and I simply could not resist grabbing a few shots of each of them. The bakers (Sweet Song Cake, Kakes by Judy, Cucina Dolce, and My Sweet Shoppe) did such a wonderful job with these display pieces!!
The show really was super fun, albeit incredibly exhausting. As great as it was to chat with all the vendors and potential couples, it was equally as nice to have the truck unloaded and returned and to be able to just sit and enjoy the silence for a little while after it was all done. I am still definitely looking forward to next year’s show though!
