This year's Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair

Wow - What a day!  I was overjoyed when I woke up to see the sun shining last Sunday morning and felt really excited driving up to the Zoo to get ready for the Fair.

The first half-hour is always a bit nerve-wracking, wondering whether anyone will turn up, if I’ve missed anyone off the table plan… have I forgotten anything important (like my crockery!), but as soon as the exhibitors arrived and started to set up, I knew it was going to be a great day! 

I spend a lot of time researching exhibitors as I’m passionate about keeping the Fair as vintage or vintage-style as possible and that’s part of the fun.  But the REAL fun starts once they start setting up their stalls and I have to stop myself drooling over their goodies or just being overwhelmed by their creativity. I could say something about everyone, but I think the photos speak for themselves (and I’d bore you all with my enthusiasm).

While I was running around directing people to their places and overseeing the set-up, the brilliant Kirsten (aka The Little Wedding Helper) was styling my own Bristol Vintage stand, which looked just beautiful.

And then, of course, even more importantly, all the brides-to-be arrived!  The gorgeous weather brought a long queue for the first hour and then a steady crowd throughout the day.  I met some lovely clients and there was an amazing buzz throughout the venue.  I saw lots of happy faces as people browsed the stands and chatted to our lovely wedding folks.

I also had several tearful moments (I’m known for blubbing at the slightest happy thing) seeing brides trying on and discovering THE dress, every one of them looking stunning!

At the end of the day and over a glass of bubbly, I felt happy knowing that lots of visitors had found something for their special day and that my exhibitors had an opportunity to show their stunning wares to a really fabulous group of potential clients.

So a big thank you to our wonderful exhibitors, all the amazing visitors we had, to the truly unflappable team at Clifton Pavilion, to our gorgeous ‘bridal’ models, Holly, Katy, Abbie & Sonali and to my great and very generous team of helpers, Katie, Sarah, Ngaio, Lisa, Lottie & Rich – without whom I would have been running around like a headless chicken!

We’d love to hear about your day at the Fair so please do send us your comments and photos.

Meanwhile, take a look at two gorgeous blogs who’ve featured us : Peach and Jo Photography and House of Istria.

Do check back soon for some more fabulous pics of the day… many more photos to come.

Ali.