Once you start planning for the big day, you’ll probably realise that there are A LOT of wedding fairs happening in Singapore. There’s some kind of showcase or roadshow happening almost every weekend, and of course you probably already know about the regular big fairs that are well-publicised.

Since there are so many fairs and they’ve been running for so long, it must be a good place to pick up great deals, right? Perhaps, but there’s more underneath the surface that you should understand before going to one.

Before we go any further, let’s take a quick look at the advantages of wedding fairs:

Lots of vendors

Wedding fairs, especially the bigger ones, are a convenient way to find vendors that will take care of many parts of your wedding. Think venues, bridal studios, florists and decor, etc., all in one place. If you’re short on time, this is an easy way to explore multiple options at one go.

Great deals

Just like anyone who braves the crowd at an IT fair knows that there’ll be worthwhile bargains, the vendors who participate in these fairs (or even the organisers) are likely to dangle discounts, gifts or other perks to secure your business.

Inspiration

Some fairs, especially the ones where venues are involved, are specially designed and set up to give you inspiration for your actual day’s theme and designs.

With that said, here are some of the wrong reasons to go looking for deals at a bridal fair.

What you see is not always what you get

Picture this – you see an incredible collection of gowns at the booth of one bridal studio. You can totally imagine yourself wearing some of them for your pre-wedding shoot and on the actual day. So you talk to the consultant, sign a package and go home happy.

But guess what? When it comes to the actual selection of gowns, the ones you saw that day are part of the ‘premium collection’ and will cost more to rent.

This happens a lot more than you might think (and we know this because we had friends and family complaining to us). Because of logistics and space limitations, a bridal studio will only bring their best gown collections to display at a bridal fair. Of course, this is also to wow you with their incredible designs.

But be careful! The gowns you see may not be available under your package. Hence, you should always ask the consultant first before signing on the dotted line.

The sales pitch

Vendors usually have to pay quite a lot of money to participate in a bridal fair. That means they need to sell enough deals to cover their costs, or they’ll be cutting some of the frills out of the package they sell you to maintain their profit margin (which comes back to our point above about premium gown selections – this is just one example).

Here’s another little secret – sometimes, the folks you speak to at a fair aren’t employed by the studio. They could simply be temp promoters for the period of the event.

So what do you do in situations like this?

Remember what we said earlier about there being many wedding fairs and many good deals?

Don’t let #fomo (fear of missing out) affect your judgement. There’ll be other opportunities for you to snag a bargain, especially if you’re not in a rush.

At the same time, if you’ve already done your homework beforehand and are keen on a certain venue, vendor or style, then by all means go to a fair that you know they’re participating in, and secure a good bargain for yourself.

The prizes

We’ve heard of cases where couples get enticed to sign a package at a bridal fair for a chance to win the grand prize. It’s usually something very attractive like a big amount of cash or reimbursement of what you paid. But what are your odds of winning?

More importantly, weddings are a once-in-a-lifetime affair. You don’t want to be stuck with a package you’re not entirely happy with (even if it’s free!).

As with everything else in your wedding planning journey, do your research, don’t rush into decisions, and make sure you ask plenty of questions to understand what you’re paying for!