The event ran from 12PM to5PM, but we only stayed about 2 hours. It is advertised as an event that will take up your whole day, and for that reason all of the fashion shows are at the end. I might have insisted on staying if I didn't already have my wedding dress picked out. All in all, I really have no idea how people could stay there all day. There weren't many booths, and many of the vendors weren't interested in talking. However, that may be because my fiance and I weren't interested in the high dollar vendors, and any of the all-inclusive wedding venues were out because my mother is doing the catering and the cake. Not to mention that the chiropractor and diet booths were not anything I was interested in, and both times I had to practically fight them to leave us alone. I get that a lot of people go on diets before they get married, in fact I'd love it if I'd just get off my ass and go to the gym, but I'm not interested in some crazy diet. Despite the many, many booths that we were not interested in there were two in particular that hosted vendors we're already working with.
Twelve Stone Farm is a wedding venue about an hour and a half north of Duluth, Georgia. It's a beautiful venue with horses (though I don't like horses, they terrify me, I'm calmed by the fact that they're fenced in) and a variety of settings. They have a large pavilion that is an obvious choice for the reception and a variety of places to get married at, including one spot with a simply beautiful arch covered in greenery. Also, yes, they do allow dogs. I asked for a quote? $1000! Can you believe it? We've been planning on booking Gwinnett Historic Courthouse, and they're about $700 more with crazy restrictions (requiring a cop on presence for there to be any alcohol) not to mention that the parking is annoying to me, much less my many many traveling relatives. As an added bonus, Bradley had settled for GHC, but he actively likes this venue. A husband a wife run it (and do fun things like fun days) and the husband runs a professional lighting business, which means if we decide we need lights we can work with our venue for them. The woman that runs it has a list of vendors that have worked with them before, for renting tables and other supplies, but she is super low key. Depending on table and chair costs (as the tables and chairs came with the other venue) this venue could be perfect! I emailed them last night and I've had my fingers crossed since.
The other vendor we found we hadn't even been looking for. We've known that we were going to go on a cruise for our honeymoon, we've never been on a cruise and I've never been out of the country. I'd already looked at Royal Caribbean to see our options, which were kind of blah because they were mostly Mexico. Not that there is anything wrong with Mexio, but I was hoping for something farther away. So, knowing we wanted a cruise, we made sure to stop by the cruise booth when we passed it. Husband and wife, Mark and Valerie Macdonald are cruise planners. Using a travel agent hadn't even occurred to me, but when I talked to them and learned that there isn't any extra charge to use one, and that they could find cruises going to Asia or Europe I got excited. Not to mention that they were so nice and personable! Once we get booked (which should happen soon) we can start working on a budget and book our honeymoon with them!
The expo was certainly worth the money and the time. Plus I got a free Taylor Swift shirt, in my size none the less, from the Q100 booth (still not sure why they were there...). If there is a wedding expo anywhere near you, go! Go now!
Approx. nine months until the wedding.
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