Best Way to Sample at Bridal Shows

I posted a couple of weeks ago about my latest showing at the Chattanooga Bridal Show.  One of the comments on that post was about how I provide cake samples to the attendees of the bridal shows.

Now I've seen samples done several different ways.  The most common method I have seen is a sheet cake that is cut into small portions and handed out.  I don't like this method because not only is it messy, but it takes someone (maybe you) away from interacting with your customers.  There's not a lot of room in a 10 x 10 booth for employees - I would say no more than 3.  You don't want one of those people cutting cake.

 Then there's mini-cupcakes and cupcakes.  I have never tried mini cupcakes, just because I hate making them so much!! :-)  But I did try full-sized cupcakes at my first couple of bridal shows and it was a total disaster,  Some people thought it was too much cake and wouldn't even take a sample.  Some people were so enthralled by the cupcakes that they just wanted to know how many they could get and take home to kids, nieces, etc. And the people that did want cupcakes also wanted something to carry them in.  So I bought cups and lids.  That just increased my costs!

What I have found that works best for ME is using the Solo 2 ounce condiment cup with lid.  I will cut a small circle our of a sheet cake to fir in the cup and I still have room for icing and a filling, if necessary.  Then the lids go on.  I also put a small label on the lid with my business name, website, and phone number. The cup size offers the client a nice 2-bite sample; the lid allows the the client to pop it in their goodie bag to take home, and the label reminds them about who made that awesome cake later on.  The best part is that I make them up a couple of days before and just set them out in the booth.  They stack nicely and it allows people to take one and run if they want to.  And I'm available to talk flavors or otherwise discuss cake with my potential clients.

For those that have done bridal shows, how do you provide samples?

Bridal Show Booths Revisited

 

This weekend Chad and I participated in the Pink Bridal Show.  It was sort of a last minute decision; I didn't have any cakes booked for the weekend and I really do think they help promote not only customer relations, but vendor relations as well.  Here are some tips I have learned from my previous shows.  I may have touched on some of these topics before, but it bears repeating.

If the event allows you to setup your booth the day before, then you should do it.  The actual day of the show is very tiring, you'll need to start the day with all the energy you can muster.  Setting up the day before also allows you a "second chance" if you accidentally forget something.

Don't be afraid to rearrange your booth.  The show promoter will generally give you an 8-foot table with 2 chairs and a small sign with your business name on it.  If you want different tables, let the promoter know or bring your own.  Look at other vendors' booths, see what they are doing.  Don't copy them, but use them as inspiration.  In the photo above I have used none of the items that am with my booth.  I ditched the sign, the chairs, and replaced the 8-foot table with 2 6-foot tables and 4 highboy tables.

Don't sit in your booth.  The reason I ditch my chairs is that I want to be on my feet and energetic when potential customers walk by.  I'm very interested in their business and I want to look that way.  If you're sitting, customers will walk by without engaging you or when you start to get up they will say "No, don't get up, we're just looking".  Don't believe me?  Find a booth where someone is sitting behind a table and watch the action.  Odds are the only thing you will see going through it are tumbleweeds.  Or better yet, go by a booth where people are packed in like sardines.  I bet they're not sitting.

The aftermath of standing all day and booth teardown is that you will be tired.  Give yourself some time the following day to recoup.  But you want to be near your phone too.  These brides have spent all day searching for the perfect vendor.  They are excited and they want to iron out details.  Monday morning they will start calling.  Make sure you are there to answer the phone!

The last thing I'll mention is that while you are in that booth, make sure to have your patience pants on.  You might get the same question 100 times in that 5-6 hour span, make sure you answer with last as eagerly and energetically as the first.  Remember why you're in the room... Brides are there to find information, but it's also a job interview for you as a vendor.  Your cakes can taste delicious, look amazing, but if you give the customer an eye roll over a "silly" question the customer may just decide to pick your competition over you. 

So stay positive and have an awesome week!!

This Ain't Your Mama's Wedding Show Booth

Chattanooga is not a very big "wedding market" according to The Knot and other big wedding sites.  We have to stuff ourselves into Knoxville, Nashville, or Atlanta and that just confuses our brides, especially when you consider each is over a 2-hour drive away!  Luckily, we have two big bridal shows in the spring and the 3rd annual "This Ain't Your Mama's Wedding Show."   We are trying to find some super awesome brides that want very cool cakes!  This is just what we needed!

Since we are looking outside the box, we wanted to try something different with our booth.  That darned Pinterest, it gets me in more trouble!  I found someone had made this type of ombre feather boa background and I had to make it!  I found a great website for cheap and great boas so give them a shot!  The boas already come with a loop on the end and we slid them over a thin clothesline type rope.  Then, I took a small piece of floral wire to bunch up a little of the boa to hide the loop that looked ugly.  We wanted to tie the backdrop to columns or something, but we were on a brick wall.  Even the biggest command adhesive hooks would not hold the weights of all the boas, so we had to buy a stand.  It came from Amazon.om and was only $65 and was called a Photography Backdrop Stand.   We used glitter scrapbook paper for the flags and black construction paper for the letters.  It was a lot easier to haul around than our big signs we normally used.  We really liked the "DIY" look and feel of it!

We also decided to add some rustic style flowers in mason jars and some offbeat flavors for sampling.  Our mango sample was SASSY with some cayenne and since it was St. Patrick's day we made Irish Car Bomb cake.  What is that you ask?  Guinness chocolate cakes, ganache with Jameson whiskey and icing made  with Bailey's Irish Cream.  YUM!

We are very proud to be a part of this show and to be a Chattanooga Wedding Cake vendor, small market or not!

This Ain't Your Mama's Review

Cake decorators get very few perks... Occasionally we get a better parking spot while delivering cakes, and I guess we get all the free cake scraps we want!  But this weekend we were invited to visit the This Ain't Your Mama's Wedding and Party Expo.  We love working with brides that think outside the box, so we really wanted to be a vendor, but all the available vendor spots were already taken.  But the coordinator of this event, Ayesha from Homespun Parties and Events was nice enough to invite us to the show as her guests.  And I'm SO glad we attended.

This was really unlike any bridal show we have attended and in a good way.  There were some traditional wedding vendors, but there were lots of artists there actually selling their wares onsite.

We ran into some old friends:

Meghan and Eric from Soli Photography

Rich Smith from Rich Smith Photography

But we also met some new friends too!

The Button Florist

These "floral" arrangements were SO cute!  They were made from antique buttons and upcycled materials, and if the artist, Celia will pardon the pun, were as cute as a button.  These would be so great for a bride that wants to keep her bouquet as a keepsake or maybe even some cool boutonnieres for a steampunk wedding!

Large Kusudamas by The Paper Pimpernel

I have known about Darcee, the artist behind The Paper Pimpernel for some time, but this is the first time we have met.  Darcee takes origami to a whole 'notha level with these beautiful, delicate, paper flowers.  I have a couple of upcoming brides that plan on using her paper flowers and one is looking to have matching edible versions on her cake!  Maybe Darcee can give me some pointers!  Photo appears courtesy of The Paper Pimpernel.

White Lace Headband from Judith Lauren Designs

I knew I would like Jill from Judith Lauren Designs the minute I saw her cute little booth and her awesomely glittered high heel shoes.  Jill makes very affordable bridal jewelry and accessories and they are all available on her Etsy Shop, or she can custom make pieces to suit your needs.  She was very passionate and energetic about her work and I'm sure we'll all be seeing great things for her in the future! 
Picture appears courtesy of Judith Lauren Designs.

If you're in the Chattanooga area look for this show again next year and make plans to attend.  If we're not there as vendors, we'll certainly be back as guests!!

New Favorite Wedding Colors

We decided not to participate in the two area bridal shows this Spring, so it's not been crazy busy like this time last year.  My big sister is recovering from a small stroke so I decided to visit her in Maryland for a little while.  It was very lonely without my sweetie, but someone had to make some money and take care of all our kitties!  If I'm not baking, we have no cakes to blog about!  Chaddy will not let me only do one blog a week, so it's dummy cake time!  All my display cakes need to be replaced.  They are old, dirty and I'm super tired of looking at them! 

The hardest part of making a display cake, for me,  is deciding on ONE design.  Pinterest is killing me!  There is so much inspiration out there to get your wheels turning that it becomes overwhelming.  I mean, OVERWHELMING.  So I have start with some guidelines.

1.  It's not a cake contest.  I don't have to use the hardest techniques or do everything I know, on one cake.  No one is judging them!
2. These displays are for brides, not me!  It's not my wedding, so I should tailor the designs to types of looks that my brides like and can afford. I would love to add an extra $500 worth of gumpaste flowers to a display but I don't have that customer at this time (maybe one day, Sylvia Weinstock!).  
3. Combo of 1 & 2... Keep it simple.   Sure, I have the rare bride that wants something really different, but most want buttercream icing, a little color, a few flowers, a little personal detail (monogram, graphic from the invitation, etc).

We will see if I can follow my own rules in the next few weeks!  I still want to be proud of these cakes and they should represent my style too!  This little cutie cake is the first in a group I'm going to make in the same color scheme.  I just love this gray and yellow combo!  My idea here was to get the bands of color without using plain ribbon (which is a constant these days).  It was hard for me to paint flowers a "not so natural" gray, but it had to be done!  Tee hee!  A lot more "could" be added, but I'm trying to follow rule #3.  If you think differently, please tell me!  Also, I want to make some gumpaste "billy balls" for one of my upcoming displays, so if you know how to make them, please let me know! 

Bridal Show Booths for Beginners

I spoke on Friday about tips I had learned during previous bridal shows.  Kate over at the Spread the Love Blog posted a comment and said that she had never done a show before and wanted some more information for those of you that have never done a bridal show.  Since we just did one this weekend (meaning it's still semi fresh in my mind) I thought I would talk a little more about it... call it Bridal Show 101.

If you have never done a bridal show, they can seem daunting.  At least in my area, we have 2 big bridal shows, one in July and one in January.  There's always more people (vendors and brides) at the January show.  Chad and I went to a bridal show (as guests) before we did our first show.  We later found out that most times, the promoters of the show will allow potential vendors in for free if you just ask.  Walk around and look at booths, especially ones that are in your industry.  Take notes and/or pictures as you walk around... this is required homework! 

As I mentioned before, there will be a promoter for the show.  They take care of securing the venue, setting up the booth space, promoting the show, and taking your money!  But this is an investment - you have to look at the cost of the show as a business expense.  Think to yourself how many cakes you would need to sell to make your money back on the show.  In my experience, the price works out to be about 2 weddings.  The promoter will usually give you a 10x10 booth with one 8 foot table (with cloth) and 2 chairs.  You can get additional tables or even power ran to your booth (if you need it) for an additional fee.

Remember what I said last time about acquainting yourself with other vendors?   If you need some pizazz or booth filler on the cheap, these other vendors can be a godsend.  Linen companies will often times lend you cloths or florists will gift you an arrangement if you just put up a "Linens/Flowers provided by ..." card.  Some sweet treats in return couldn't hurt either!

Now, what should you bring to the booth?  Being in the cake business, you have to show that your cakes look good and that they taste good.  I do this by bringing in dummy (styrofoam) cakes and bite-size cake samples.  The samples were the hardest thing for me to perfect, and I'm still not sure they're "perfected".  My first show I brought full-size cupcakes in 3 different flavors.  I spent the entire show "selling" these cupcakes.  Now I take my samples in small (2oz) souffle cups, each with a lid that has my business name, phone number, and website.  It's more sanitary and with the lids people can take them with them if they want.  Not to mention that I get 53 samples from one thin 1/2 sheet cake!  And I try to take just one flavor; if I take 2, I only put one out at a time.  And if you do bring dummy cakes?  Make up a card or sheet that lists what each cake serves and how much you would charge for it.  People WILL ask.

If you don't have (m)any cake dummies, bring a scrapbook or a video DVD featuring your cakes.  I did this once - I brought a 32" LCD TV with a mini DVD player.  It looked good inside the booth, but 10 feet away the screen looked tiny.  I didn't like it at all.  I brought in a scrapbook once too; people tended to crowd around.  It too created a bottleneck that I didn't like.

Other things I take to a show:
  For Display
My own tables and cloths (underneath will also double as storage!)
Cake Stands (for dummy cakes)
Signs or banners
columns to display cakes
carpet tiles
brochures and business cards
client signup / callback sheets (remember pens too)
forks and napkins (for samples)
  For Setup and then Hidden Underneath Table
small step ladder
small collapsible dollie (the venue will have these, but you may have to wait on one)
small toolbox (hammer, pliers, wire cutters, tape, measuring tape, pins, etc)
camera
paper towels
glass cleaner
Tide pen
wrinkle release spray
  For Yourself and Any Helpers
snacks / bottled water (but keep them out of sight)

The most important thing to bring?  Your big girl patience panties!  Seriously, you will get asked the same question(s) over and over and over.  People will look at all your cakes and then ask, "Do you make cakes too?"  Just smile as big as you can and shake your head yes!  The brides that I still struggle with?  The "I'm the bride, what can I get for free?" bride.  At every show I have at least one walk into my booth and ask that very question.  I just hand them a single sample and thank them for stopping by.

Do you have any other questions?  Did I leave something out?  Post it in the comments and I'll comment back with the answer!

Bridal Show Tips

If you're in the wedding cake business, then you'll eventually participate in a bridal show.  Our next bridal show is the Chattanooga Pink Bridal Show happening this weekend, July 24, at the Chattanooga Convention Center.

We have been to several of these shows and it seems like we learn something new each time.  We also see people doing something wrong at every show, so we thought we would share some of the things we have learned over the years.

Give your chairs to your competitors
Seriously, it's hard to engage potential customers when you are sitting down.  Bridal shows are usually 4-5 hours long, and at the end your feet will be hurting, but you'll have much more positive interactions with your brides.

Don't let anything come between you and your customer
Specifically, I'm talking about props or even your table.  At the last bridal show, there was a vendor that had their table at the very front of their booth with 2 tri fold project boards showcasing their business.  The 2 people manning the booth were sitting behind the tables in their chairs.  The end result?  The booth looked empty and customers won't stop at empty booths.

Stay Positive and Happy
Bridal shows are hectic affairs.  You work extra hours making samples, not to mention the time and labor involved in putting your booth together ad making it look good.  It's enough to make anyone tired and grumpy.  Save all that for after the bridal show.  During the bridal show you want to be at your best; smiling and personable.

Meet Other Vendors
Take some time before and after the show to introduce yourself and network with other vendors.  Especially your competition.  A few years ago we walked around after setting up our booth and stopped by another bakery's booth.  We stopped, introduced ourselves, and wished them good luck during the show.  Fast forward to just a couple of weeks ago.  I got a nice e-mail from the owner of the bakery.  She was going out of business, and wanted to thank me for being the first other cake vendor to be nice to her.  As a token of her appreciation, she was referring all her past customers to me.  It was totally unexpected and all due to a few minutes of pleasantry.

There are lot of other things I could go into detail on but, as I mentioned before, I have a bridal show to get ready for!!  What bridal show tips do you have??

Bridal Show and Duff Meeting

Duff Signing our Ace of Cakes book

Wow, what a whirlwind weekend!  We worked on our show cake until 4 in the morning, setup our booth, finished 1400 samples, networked with vendors, and had a brief encounter with Duff Goldman!  It seems that all of the advertising brought in a lot of potential brides and cake fans from around the area.

At only 1 hour into the show, we had to leave out booth and wait in line in the VIP room to get Duff autograph.  This took us almost an hour and we only got to spend about 15 seconds with him.  We really hoped we would have had more face time with the Ace of Cakes!.

Than it was back to our booth and a few minutes later at 3:00 Duff came onstage for a live interview.  Since we had been out of our booth for so long, we had a line of brides waiting to talk to us, so we didn't get to hear a lot of what he said.  The tidbits we did hear:

• He told bakers and potential bakers to make sure they always value their work and make sure they always got paid for their time.  You bakers out there know that we have all made this mistake.
• The biggest news was that Duff has purchased a bakery location in Los Angeles and will soon move out there to start Charm City Cakes LA.  Geoff will be promoted to executive chef and will be running Charm City Cakes Baltimore.  I was SO shocked to hear this, Duff without Geoff is like peanut butter without jelly!

At 4:30 all the bakers in the competition were asked to go over to the competition area and wait by their cakes.  Chad and I left our booth once again and went and waited (and waited).  Eventually we were told that only one baker from each team (sorry Chad!) could go back stage with Duff to wait for the competition results.  When we got back there, Duff was not there, the coordinators had whisked him to some back room area.

Our cakes were judged, but we weren't present for the judging, and we didn't get to see our score sheets, but my brother was nearby taking pictures when Duff starting judging our cake.  Duff's first words were "Damn, that's a nice cake!". Whooooo, I was on cloud nine when I heard that (still am)!

Duff wasn't the only celebrity there!

We also got a visit from Shannon from Family Bites Blog!  She came all the way down from Nashville!  We hadn't seen here since the Food Blogger Forum back in September and it was good to catch up with her.

Rumor even has it that she got so close to Duff at point that she could have hugged him, but resisted the urge!  LOL!

And we met some new friends too.  I spoke to these 2 ladies for the longest time.  They are aspiring decorators and we talked about the wonders of modeling chocolate.  Once it was all said and done I don't even think they told me their names.  So ladies, if you happen to read this post, please leave a comment and introduce yourselves!!

As always, I appreciate all of you that stop by and read my blog and especially those of you that take the time to comment on my posts.  This blog has been cake poor for the last week or so, but I will definitely have a cake for you on Tuesday.  I am doing my first cake for Icing Smiles this weekend!

Formal Affair 2011 Cake Competition

OK, so the bridal show and the cake competition is finally over!  Sadly, we did not win, but we had a great time making the cake and an even better time visiting with the other cake competitors.  There is a lot of great cake talent in Chattanooga, and it was great to see everyone's different styles come together.  I am proud to be among them.

I will go into greater detail in future posts, but today I'll be discussing the cake competition.

This is going to be a lengthy post, so click the link below to read all about it!

Still Working on Competition Cake!

OK, gang... so really the only extra time I have had since the last post on Tuesday was to find another picture of Duff to post - at least it's cute and cartoony, right?

Chad and I have been up until almost midnight every night working on decorations for the big cake at the Formal Affair Bridal Show on Sunday.  If you are in the Chattanooga area, drop by the Trade Center for a chance to see Duff Goldman, and maybe even see me too!  I am proud to report that we are just a wee bit behind our schedule, but we are having a good time even though we are getting really tired at this point.

I still have all day (and night) today (Friday) and I'll have time on Saturday after we set our booth up to put on those finishing touches.  We'll take a camera and maybe even ask some of our photog friends if they'll snap plenty of pictures for a nice mega-post on Tuesday to make up for these last 2 wimpy ones!

Chattanooga Competition Cake Teaser

OK, so I am SO not ready for this week!  This is the queen mother of busy weeks for me!  A bridal show on Sunday, a large tasting at the Chattanoogan on Thursday, and then our Duff Goldman competition cake during the show on Sunday.  It's enough to make a girl pull her freshly colored hair right out!

So what's getting pushed to the side?  I suppose it will be the blog... but I did want to post something though.  I really wanted to show you my progress on the competition cake, but...

I found out recently at a wedding professionals meeting that a lot of the local bakers (my competitors and competition for the show) also read my blog.  I certainly don't mind, but since I don't want to give too much away, I suppose you'll all just have to live with this tiny slice of a teaser photo!

OK, so I really have to go now... SO much to do!  Toodles!!

Premier Bridal Show in Chattanooga

This weekend Chad and I setup a booth at the Premier Bridal Show in Chattanooga Tennessee.  For 5 hours this 10x10 booth was our home away from home.  The show promoters said there were over 500 registered brides, but we had a steady stream of people ALL day long!

I was happier with our booth than ever before.  With my brother's help we added the 2 new pink scrolly signs and I had posters made of my new logo hanging on each side of the booth.

In previous years, I have brought in crate after crate of full-sized cupcakes.  This year I did much smaller samples in souffle cups.  It was a nice two-bite sample and each one was lidded.  It was nice that everything was sealed and much more sanitary.  And I didn't spend half my time there with rubber gloves on refreshing the cupcake stand!

With every bridal show I do I learn something new each time, which will be nice when I do the next one... in 2 weeks!  Whew!

Scenes from the Chattanooga Bridal Show

So last weekend we setup a display / tasting booth at the "Premier Bridal" Bridal Show in lovely downtown Chattanooga TN.  This was our little 10 x 10 home away from home for four hours on Sunday.  We met SO many happy couples looking to sure up all their wedding needs.

Our "dummy" cakes were a big hit, as well as the cupcake samples we brought.  We brought 1000 cupcakes, and at the end of the show we only had about 200 left!

Bridal Show Goodness

Wednesday already? Where has the week went? I must still be reeling from the wonderful Premier Bridal Show we were a part of on Sunday. This is the first time we have had a 20x10 booth and we had to scramble to get our layout just right. We brought all of our new faux cakes and they were a big hit, as we hoped they would be. I haven't got the final tally back from the show producers yet, but we met hundreds of brides and most knew exactly what they wanted; something very contemporary that matched their style and personalities. We have already had brides contacting us and we have a whole pile of names that we will start scheduling consultations with today.

In the last 2 pictures, pay particular attention to the AWESOME columns and cake stands that my talented big brother made for me! Aren't they just great?!? He made all the cake stands except the silver and glass ones. I keep telling him he needs to setup a website and sell these professionally. I'll keep on until I get him talked into it - that's what bratty baby sisters do!