El Paso Bridal Expo
Posted on January 19, 2009
If you’ve been to the studio any time in the last month or so, you know that we’ve been prepping for a bridal show. Well, the booth’s finally out of the way in there, because the show was yesterday! Our booth this year was an all new design based on the lessons we learned at the July 2008 show. It was a lot of work, but the response exceeded my wildest dreams!
The album viewing bar and the open, endcap design really helped keep the congestion within the booth to manageable levels, even at the busiest times. The slideshow was a huge hit too; one lady brought a bag of popcorn and stood watching the column for what must have been 3 or 4 repetitions! I saw one person snap a cameraphone pic of our sign. Roz spent forever cutting out the pieces of our logo for this thing; it looked completely amazing.
We set up on Saturday; becuase we spent the first half of the week in Phoenix, we were still working on last-minute additions to the booth on Saturday, and we didn’t get down to El Paso until dinnertime. The ladies at the wedding insurance booth next to us were also setting up; fortunately, they didn’t mind me invading their space with a ladder a couple of times. The ride down was a harrowing lesson in why surveyor’s twine is not an acceptable substitute for cotton clothesline to secure a load; I’m thinking next year, we’ll rent a truck to get the set transported. After we got set up, we took the kids to dinner at Taco Cabana. Roz was annoyed it wasn’t Chipotle; I got her hooked on their heavenly burritos in Phoenix.
Sunday, things kicked off at 11:00 and didn’t even slow down until 5:15. We spoke to hundreds of brides and quincenaras; we also spoke to several local vendors about doing some cooperative marketing. We’ll get info out to everyone in the next week or so! Somewhere in there, I got an improptu dance lesson. I kept trying to tell the lady I’m the only man on the planet with three left feet, but I’m not sure she believed me.
The day closed with DJ Ivan (I find it hard to believe that anyone would advertise himself as “The Terrible”) showcasing all of the gorgeous dresses and tuxes worn by the fashion show models with that old runway standard, YMCA. Yes, the Village People YMCA. Roz even got in on the act!
Jason
LOVE the colors you used! How fun! Great presentation.
wow the booth looks amazing and so does your logo up there. Great job!
Wow, your booth looks awesome!
all honesty, one of the coolest booths I have EVER seen. SO AWESOME!!
This has to be the best bridal show booth I have ever seen. Way to go!!
Oh my goodness!! What an amazing booth! If I ever decide to do one of these shows I so want to hire you to come put it together.
Wow, your booth is awesome! It looks so cozy and comfortable like a studio and not like a booth in a bridal show. Great Job!
Your booth is gorgeous! I’m sure the show will be a success for you…
You made it so lovely!!! What a fantastic set up!
that’s a rad set up!
Thank you for coming to our show, hope to see y’all in July at the Wyndham! Regards: Ivan
Can I ask what material the walls are made of? I’m trying to do something similar for a show in January in Australia and have no idea how to keep them up without intruding on the next booths space with huge wooden props, any hints would be heaps appreciated!
@Sammy – The walls are really thin plywood over 1x4s. The booth is self-supporting; the trusses, column, and walls all hold each other up, which eliminates the need for buttresses into other booth spaces.
What a beautiful booth you have displayed. I have been researching hours how to create the walls for our booth in Houston, Texas.
I was wondering how you constructed it? Did you use a how to guide online or come up with this brilliance on your own? Either way, it is gorgeous!
If you could give me some sort of direction I would really times a million appreciate it and give you 100% credit on making the walls.
@Lauren,
The walls are self-supporting, and are built from 1×4 lumber edge-on and faced with 1/4″ plywood, the kind used as subflooring. Its prime attraction is the price – it’s cheap and moderately smooth. Joints between pieces of plywood on a single frame are finished with drywall joint compound, sanded, and painted.
I built the walls in pieces (you might be able to see the seams in those photos), and assembled them on-site with drywall screws. They stand up because the corners are screwed together – like a book that’s opened and stood up on a table, the 90 degree angle holds them up.
The ends of the walls, away from the corner, do try to sag at the top, so I used the corner column to provide support there, bracing the walls to the column with the same trusses the lights are hanging from.
I’ve seen other photographers do similar things using interior doors for the walls, but doors are short and tend to be expensive compared to custom-building a panel like this – which is called a Hollywood flat in the stage industry.
The hardest part of the construction, and of transporting the darn things, is the crown moulding. It required some pretty serious back-bracing, and sticks out from the wall, making it difficult to stack the flats to move them. I thought it added a lot to the final appearence though.
The final booth dimensions are 10x10x8 feet high. If you hit my vimeo, I have a video up that shows the booth assembly process, and which might help clarify how it all works. I’ll send you a link when I’m not on my phone.
Best of luck with your show!