The Big Fake Wedding - Memphis Mandysue

Earlier this month Shaun and I
attended a unique twist on a bridal show- The Big Fake Wedding. The concept
behind this event is instead of walking around talking to vendors at their
booths to experience wedding vendors at a fake wedding. This was a fun bridal
event and offered the best swag; I mean that’s not why I attend these things
but check out the loot I left with:

The rolled up item is this print:

The Memphis event was held at a
Thursday night at The Prop Cellar. We actually considered this location so were
a little worried attending a “wedding” there was going to give us major venue
regret but luckily we still love our venue. Don’t get me wrong, it was a really
cool space to attend someone else’s wedding at but a little too quirky for us.
We’re just traditional people.

Upon entered I was given a canvas
bag to hold swag in and a program for the event. There were a few rows of seats
up front like would traditionally be set out for a ceremony but most seating
was at tables set-up around the space. Each table was decorated by a different
florist or event planner, which was pretty cool. My one gripe on this set-up
would be that each table was very overdone, it would be too much at a real
wedding – for example, our florist had three centerpieces grouped together on
one table; at our wedding there will be one centerpiece per table (I mean come
on, they’re already expensive enough)

The table we sat at:

Once all the “guests” were seated
the processional began – yep there was a complete bridal party. The bride and
groom were the already married event organizers who renewed their vows. The
minister was even real – I forgot his name but he’s the single’s minister at
High Point Church, which is where we just completed our marriage class.

After the ceremony the DJ played
some music and guests were invited to mingle and grab some bites. Food was
offered in three stations – a general appetizer area with southern style food,
a biscuit bar complete with everything you could possibly want to put on a
biscuit, which I thought was a really fun idea and an ice cream station – this was really cool, they had too cold
blocks they were making mini ice cream sandwiches and ice cream “lollypops” on
– yum! The food was delicious and provided by Sweet Potato Baby – whose chef was on The Food Network, and the ice cream station was provided by Simply Delicious. After entertaining our taste buds we walked around to check out all the
tables. They were all so pretty but all I saw was $$$$$.

In the entrance area vendors had
small “booths” so brides could stop by and chat with them. Because this was an
evening event and had more of a party feel I expected a lot more guys in
attendance, but even at this event Shaun was a rare groom participant. This
event had a smaller amount of vendors than prior bridal shows but a nice
variety of rentals, Florists, photographers, planners, stationary, attire , lighting
and fun stuff. Here’s some of the
favorite vendors we saw:

Flowers from one of the tables designed
by Kacie Cooper:

Amy Hartelust, she does bouquet
paintings. I LOVE her work and am seriously considering this; I initially wanted
to have my bouquet preserved, until I found out it would be over $500 – getting
a painting done is seeming like a real beautiful alternative.