Review: BrideWorld Expo-Redondo Beach, CA

A couple weekends ago, I got to attend my first Bridal Expo. I was extremely excited, but having done research ahead of time trying to see what I could expect from these type of events, how to get free tickets and thankfully a lot of brides who complain about their contact information becoming compromised, I cautiously signed up with my spam email, although I did enter my real address and phone number (the latter was a mistake).

BrideWorld.com has glowing reviews on Facebook for their wedding expos, which is much more than many organizers of similar events can say. I was hesitant to have to pay for an expo, since many are free, at least for the bride, or with a coupon code. I was unable to find any promo codes for this event, but it did have good reviews, and it was so close to my apartment that I felt like it was worth a shot.

The cost of BrideWorld's Redondo Beach Expo was $10 if you pre-registered (which comes with free address labels that certainly came in handy with vendors) or $12 at the door. Surprisingly my fiance offered to come with me, and he ended up being a great help, as he is great at ending awkward conversations.

Keep reading to hear about the location, registration, organization, vendors, my overall grade, and an update of how my contact information was used post-expo.

Location 

Hosted at the Crowne Plaza Redondo Beach and Marina Hotel, the hotel was easy to find. While the hotel only offered valet parking, there was a large beach lot available across the street for a minimal fee, and street parking at no cost a couple blocks away. We chose to park on the street for free, but being incredibly warm that day, I would have parked in the beach lot, had I known about it beforehand.

Inside of the hotel was gorgeous. They barely needed any signage, as the registration table was right in the front entry way, but I did notice a few signs around the hotel and I think one outside. There was a very large waiting area in the lobby that was right outside the expo hall, which was nice, as we had arrived early, being that I didn't know what to expect, crowd-wise. The hall where the expo was held was the perfect size for the event. While it felt a little crowded at first, once the other brides made their way to the booths away from the entrance, I didn't feel as overwhelmed.

Registration

It was a breeze signing into the expo. There were two lines to expedite the process. The women checking brides in were quick and nice. Each bride received a reusable bag from David's Bridal, and a comprehensive wedding planning guide that contains a lot more worksheets and information than advertising, which I've seen in previous free wedding planning books. I was a little disappointed that I didn't receive any free magazines, which they had advertised on their site, but I did receive a free pair of simple pearl beaded earrings for being one of the first 50 brides to arrive, which was not noted on Facebook or BrideWorld.com.

Organization

The entire event seemed very well organized. I didn't see any organizers around, but the booths were uniform. The vendors were well prepared and friendly. The space was the right size for the event, and as stated above, registration was not a problem. I've run dozens of 5K races and when registration is difficult, it sets a poor tone for the entire event.

Vendors

The vendors we spoke to were very nice, and not super pushy, which is a major turn-off for me. Vacation vendors were definitely the most prevalent, but there was a good mix between venues, photographers, entertainment and merchandise. Other than David's Bridal and their sister/brother store Men's Warehouse, I only noted one other bridal salon. I didn't see any florists, catering companies or bakeries present and the one food sample we got (an amazing cake pop) came from a venue that brought the treats to lure potential clients to their booth.

While the vendors were diverse, including most fields, I was however disappointed with the number of businesses present. BrideWorld.com and Facebook noted more than 80 vendors would be present and I doubt there were more than 40.

Overall Grade

Although I don't have much experience with bridal expos, having been to many races, which have similar set ups, I would give this event a 3.5 out of 5. I marked a half point off for lower vendor numbers, $10 admission cost ($20 total for me and my fiance), and for lack of actual giveaways (see update below). If this event was free I would have bumped up the score significantly, but I didn't feel it was worth $20 to walk away with a bag, a planner, and a couple business cards that I could have gotten at any other free bridal expo.

UPDATE

Well, lesson learned that you should never give away your real contact information at a bridal expo, even one that has glowing reviews. A few days after the event, I received a call from a company claiming that I had WON their major giveaway, which included either a free pair of wedding bands or a 3 day vacation to the destination of my choosing. Unfortunately every bride who entered got this call, so it wasn't a true giveaway, especially since I would have to sit through a 2 hour presentation regarding the housewares products the company sold, before I could claim either prize. When I said I was out of town during both of their potential presentation nights (which was true, but I wouldn't have gone anyway), the woman I spoke to got off the phone with me rather quickly.

I had set up an appointment with David's Bridal, in order to receive a $50 giftcard off a $250 purchase, which I was told did not expire, but it had an expiration date on the card of only three weeks later. As I am not getting married until Spring 2016, the card and the appointment are useless to me. I cancelled the appointment when I received my online confirmation a day or so later, but then a week after that the appointment was rescheduled and I had to cancel again.

Although I can't say that it can be directly attributed to the expo, I have been receiving telemarketing calls regarding consolidating my student loans since releasing my phone number. I did sign up for a few expos at once, so it could easily be from one of the others. Take that for what you will.

Two weeks after the expo, my contact information was released to many of the vendors at the expo, and I've been deluged with offers that may be helpful for brides that have a date, but alas, I do not, so into spam the emails go.

To anyone thinking about going to a wedding expo, I would advise you to create a spam email if you don't already have one, and also to create a Google Voice account which allows you to create a new telephone number, but will receive voicemails for you, rather than your cell phone ringing. Google Voice then transcribes the voicemails and delivers them to your email. So if it's a telemarketer, delete, if you've actually won something, which could happen, then you can call back, without having to deal with mystery numbers appearing on your caller ID during work.

I would also advise brides going to any wedding expos to beware of offers you receive or "win" as many of them are scams with presentations, or have hidden fees. I also "won" a free photo session and $100 credit with a photographer, but when I looked at their Yelp page, not only did every bride "win" the same package, but I discovered there were hidden deposits and their products cost an absorbent amount that I would never be able to afford with or without the $100 credit.

Always do your research and if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. It's unfortunate that so many companies within the wedding industry try to take advantage of sentimental brides that want throw the best wedding possible.