Today I was at the Complete Wedding Expo at the Schaumburg Hyatt Regency. It was great to talk with all of the newly engaged people who are planning weddings for 2007 and 2008. As always, I hold a drawing for various prizes. The prize for this show is $400 of wedding photos should you decide to book with me. And the winner of today’s drawing is Anna Rinaldi who is getting married September 8, 2007 or 9/8/7. Congrats Anna!

And the winner is…. Samantha Jackson. Ijust thought I would get that out of the way right away. Earlier today, I was at a bridal show at the Elgin Holiday Inn. At most bridal shows, I hold a drawing for some sort of wedding related prize. Congratulations Samantha, I will be personally contacting you to arrange a time for your complimentary engagement session.

While there were not a lot of people at today’s show, I did get more of a chance to speak with the brides as they came through. However, the couple that made the biggest impression on me were already married. As the story unfolded, it seems they got engaged on Tuesday and married on Friday! Talk about no time to plan a wedding. Wow!

Today was the last bridal show of the spring season for me. I never know what to expect at a bridal show. Some shows are so busy you can’t even take a breath and questions are being thrown at you from every direction. Other shows are a bit slower and I actually have a chance to talk to the brides and hear about their wedding plans. Today’s show was one of the slower shows.

While some of the other vendors don’t like the slow shows, I think it gives me time to give each visitor to my booth a little bit more personal attention. Part way through the show, I realized the folks at the formalwear booth across the aisle were sending the brides my way. At the end of the show we got to talking and Vince told me he could tell I really cared about my clients and paid attention to the details. I’m happy my way of business is visible to others. Now I just have to wait and see if anybody decides to book me as a result of this show.

After the show, I visited Debbie and Bob, Melissa’s parents (my January 27th wedding) to design their parent album. Just before Melissa’s wedding, I knew I needed a new sample album. Her wedding was so beautiful that I decided to use hers. I also wanted to prove to myself that I could design an album in the week following a wedding. After the sample album design was completed I let the happy couple view my new sample design. However, they wanted to see the book before going any further.

6 weeks after the wedding my new sample album arrived. This proves to me that I can deliver a client’s album within 3-4 months of their wedding! So now, while my client’s friends are just getting their proofs three months after the wedding, my clients will be getting a finished album!

When I arrived at Debbie and Bob’s house, I showed them the sample album. Debbie and Bob were so thrilled with it, they wanted to use it as the basis for their parent album. Several times Debbie mentioned that she never would have thought to have included some of the background images and used them as I did. They gave me a list of about a dozen changes to the sample album to further personalize it for themselves. I can’t wait myself to see how the finished parent’s album comes out.