Joy Lyn Photography | Chicago Bridal Show

Deciding to do a bridal show is such a hard thing for me! I did 3 or 4 in North Carolina, and they were never very successful. I chalk it up to poor planning on the hosts of the event, and the market there in general. So I agonized over whether or not do book a bridal show in Chicago. I knew that if I didn’t give one a try, I would always wonder whether or not I should have tried one. I spent the last two months scheming up my booth, and agonizing over which images I wanted to display.
When I was in Raleigh last month, I was telling my good friend Lauren, how I just couldn’t get the final pieces of my booth to come together. As we sipped drinks and chilled in their neighborhood pool, Lauren launched into many great ideas, helping me make a cohesive front for Joy Lyn Photography. Her brilliant idea was to give away custom koozies!! I took the idea and ran with it, ordering 200 custom koozies, with my logo and website. I was only slightly nervous when they didn’t show up until two days before the show! I added gray striped straws to go with the koozies, with a cute little saying that I punched out and attached to each straw. A lot of work, but so fun!
My mom has let me borrow this vintage washtub of sorts, and as soon I decided on koozies, I knew that I had to use this stand! It was perfect for water and koozies on one side and displaying albums on the other. Another item that came together last minute was the custom chalkboard. I had asked my friend Joanna (Emerson Creek gal, holla!) if she would create a custom chalkboard display for me. I gave her a few ideas, and she came up with the most amazing creation! She is so very talented!
Everything came together perfectly, and after hand wrapping and tying almost 125 brochures, I thought surely that would be enough. Little did I know that we would run out of water in less than an hour (I thought that 4 cases of dasani would be enough!) and then we ran out of koozies before the second hour was up. Everyone *loved* the custom koozies. We ran out of the brochures that I had hand wrapped, but thankfully I brought the extras along. I had no idea that the show would be that busy! I had so many great conversations with brides to be, and it was a great show overall. Megan (my sister in law) came to help with the show, and she was the perfect Joy Lyn Photography rep. Love her! I am so thankful for all of the input on my booth, and friends that helped me bring all of the details together, and of course Jamie, who has tirelessly helped me paint pallet after pallet. Love you, honey!

Enough of all that….on to the details…. (most of these are iphone snaps, as I just didn’t have enough time before the show started!)