This past weekend was the first time I had a booth at the Winter Wedding Show for the Wedding Planner and Guide, the largest wedding show in Wisconsin! The organizers have asked me for years to set-up shop there, and I always said nahhh. But this year I’m trying to get out there more, to put more energy into weddings, boudoir, and my new Foxy Studio. The wedding show seemed like a good way to meet more people who would want wedding and boudoir photos taken. Boudoir photos are a wonderful wedding gift for a fiance!! We had some wedding show specials and people took advantage of those- hooray!
The show was super time-intensive, especially since it was my first time doing it. It was money-intensive too (running a small business is expensive!- I should probably blog about that someday also). Kat and I worked for weeks (maybe months?) to create flyers, pamphlets, business cards, and photo galleries. And design the booth. And buy things to make it look extra cute (which I think we nailed, thanks in large part to Nikki Hansen Oboikovitz, my super artsy stylish friend!).
Here are my takeaways:
- People in Wisconsin are SO nice. I’ve lived here for 13 years and it continues to surprise me. Vendors, staff, and attendees were all so kind and considerate.
- The Alliant Energy Center, where the show was located, is HUGE and has a great staff. They also have big carts for you to schlep things around on, and it is legit fun. They also appear to allow vendors to drink beer while they’re setting up booths. Or at least they don’t stop you…
- Wedding shows are overwhelming and exciting at the same time! People are understandably overwhelmed by all the options and really appreciated that we weren’t pushy.
- I am still an extroverted introvert. I was so happy talking to people, telling them about Foxy Studio and empowerment and boudoir. But at the end of the day I was really tired.
- Having a friend there to help was invaluable. On Saturday Kat came with me and on Sunday Des (from the other blog post) helped out.
- People of all ages and genders love seeing photos of naked women. RetroViewers (generic viewfinders) were a big big hit, a good way to get people laughing and to start genuine conversations about bodies and boudoir.
- U-Haul is really cheap for around town moves and a great way to haul truckloads of stuff (we basically took all the furniture from the studio and set it up in my booth!).
- Vendors really look out for each other and find ways to collaborate. It never felt competitive. Also, Madison is still really small- I knew a lot of the vendors there, which makes me really happy.
- People seem to really love my boudoir photography, which feels pretty excellent!
- Despite the time and money, the show was totally worth it! We connected with a lot of potential clients and it felt really good to get Foxy Studio out there some more.
- And finally, free pizza is the best.
If you saw us at the wedding show, give me a shout-out, I’d love to hear from you!!!
