Sydney Bridal Expo ... A day out for me

The Sydney Bridal Expo was on this weekend - 4th and 5th February at the Sydney Entertainment Centre and after receiving a brochure in the mail for it as we'd been to the same one last year which was very informative and had lots of great stalls. I thought I'd buy myself a ticket to this years one. I asked both my bridesmaids (that live in Sydney) if they'd like to come but unfortunately, they were both working.. and because FH is currently overseas, that counted him out as well, so I figured I'd just go along myself, in my own time and look at the things that I wanted to see.... Yay!

Brochure I received in the mail (my photo)

I brought myself a ticket online through the Australian Bridal Service website for $20, you save five bucks purchasing them online and it's a faster entry when you get there as well which makes it so easy and you don't have to wait in line at all. 

Bridal Expo Ticket (my photo)

So I got up after a sleep in... so good, headed to Eckersley's in Taren Point to grab some more metallic card for my pocket folds as I had run out of it while making them last night. I managed to make 9 of them so I was very proud of myself as they look pretty good. And then set my Navman to take me to the city from Caringbah. 

Outside the Entertainment Centre

Bear in mind that highway driving is still quite scary for me as I'm still on my red p's (about to go to greens, when I finally sit my test) and hate highways with a vengeance, but I did really well if I say so myself. It took about half an hour to get to the city or just a smidgen longer due to the traffic at Brighton Le Sands because everyone was out on the beach enjoying the lovely sunshine. My Navman took me through the city through the eastern distributor (which is tolled but took out heaps of waiting in traffic which was great) to a parking centre right beside the entertainment centre. I was pretty happy with this and only had to walk less than 5 minutes and I was at the front of the Sydney Entertainment Centre and ready to go in... 

Bird cages (my photo)   

There were no lines which was great as it was 12:45hrs, my ticket was for 1300hrs, and they let me go in early. It was hardly packed at all which was awesome, cause I hate being bumped and banged by people walking past me. And it meant that you could see the exhibits as well.  But the only downfall to going by yourself and trying to check out the suit places, they didn't really talk to you if you didn't have your man with you. I tried to talk to one lady at one exhibit and she practically ignored me and went to talk to the couple behind me. How rude!!!

More bird cages but no purchase :(

My main reason of going was to look for bridesmaid dress ideas, get groom suit info stuff for FH, suss out jewellery and shoe options, find a bird cage, and see if there was anything that i'd missed from my list of things to do. AND the big thing, fill in as many competitions for honeymoons, accomodation, jewellery etc. I wasn't to fussed about seeing the bridal show as I'd already found my dress and a lot of the show was about the Wedding Dress. I bumped into Linda Marsden, one of the celebrants that we'd interviewed and she was very pleasant to talk to, and asked if i'd booked with her or not... I had to say no, we'd chosen someone else but thank you very much, and it was a nice friendly start to the expo. 

Random people at the expo (my photo)

I wandered around and felt kinda left out that I'd hadn't brought anyone but also glad that I hadn't brought anyone as I didn't have to keep stopping and looking for them, so was a bit mixed about that one. I got into the main area of the dresses, suits, photographers etc and was bombarded by photographers asking if you wanted a pamphlet, I just decided that eye contact was the devil in this circumstance and avoided it if possible with the photographers and they funnily enough left me alone, instead of having to say sorry I've already got my photographer but thank you very much.

White My Bite Pamphlet

I found a teeth whitening stall which was very interesting. For $79.95 you can buy yourself a whiten your teeth at home kit, which works well if you don't have any obvious caps, crowns etc on the front of your teeth. I've got a small filling in one of my top front teeth, so will go to the dentist (am due for a visit soon) and ask if it's on the front and whether it will be visible if I whiten my teeth. You can apparently get something to cover over your fillings so they appear white, so I might do this if it makes it easier. The girl was telling me a story about how her hubby did the whitening treatment and said that he's got a cap on his front teeth and the tooth went half white, so he went to the dentist and they covered over the cap so it matched the white which is pretty cool. The company is called White my Bite and have linked this to their web page if anyone is interested.

Spurling Dresses (my photo)

And then to the bridesmaid dresses, there was a patch of about four of five of them and they had some beautiful dresses. I have no idea what I want for the girls now. I originally thought black, cocktail length strapless satin dresses, now I'm trending towards black floor length chiffon dresses for that romantic pretty feel.  Spurling Bridal had some gorgeous wedding dresses and suits in their display and they also had these beautiful purple bridesmaid dresses strapless and one strapped which I thought were gorgeous and helped confuse me even more. But I do definitely know that I'm going to get some beautiful sparkly jewellery to glam the black dresses up. Have ordered some off eBay a week ago, so are looking forward to receiving them in the mail. I think it's coming from USA so I've got a little bit of waiting to go...

Gorgeous Bridesmaids Dress (my photo)

I spoke to a lady from Exclusively Bridesmaids and she was very pleasant and helpful and said that she'd email me some information on the dresses as I'd stated that I was confused as to what I wanted for the girls now due to one of my girls saying that she wasn't sure whether she'd be able to wear a strapless dress due to having a bigger bust than me. I love strapless dresses as I wear them all the time and I've only got a small bust, so I do forget about these things and need to be reminded. The lady said that the dresses were boned and could cater for all bust sizes. So that's a bonus. Only problem is that I know I'll be having to pay an extra $100 for each dress by going through this company as my budget is only $200 for a cocktail length dress, but hell, what's an overtime shift for a pretty bridesmaids dress.

Some of the stalls at the expo (my photo)

While wandering back through all the stalls making my way out, I stopped at some of the hotel venue stalls and asked about the pre - wedding night accommodation for me and girls. I spoke to The Grace Hotel, Amora Hotel and Sofitel and they said to contact them and check out their websites for specials and room rates. And I forgot to mention, filled in as many competitions to win things relevant to the things that we needed or maybe thought would be nice. I kept stopping at the candy buffets. And thought that would be cute to have but dam it is probably something expensive and FH would most definitely say no to it....haha.. 

So afterwards, I got into my car, set the Navman, and guess where it took me after I'd missed a left turn, across THE HARBOUR BRIDGE, arrrghhhhh. This was very scary for me, but once I'd chilled out, worked out how the hell to get back across again, after driving around the little cafe areas in North Sydney, I was back on the bridge going dam, I wish my car was a little bit higher so I could see over the barrier across to the opera house as it was such a gorgeous day. 

Sausage Sandwich (my photo)

Got onto the Eastern Distributor and headed back towards home, through Brighton Le Sands, smelling everyone's yummy BBQ's and I thought screw this I want a sausage sandwich as the smell had been torturing me during the drive, it must of been stuck in my car. So I pulled into Bunning's for their weekend BBQ and today they were collecting for the local softball club. I also resisted going into Bunnings and buying up a storm which I usually do as I love that place. I've currently put a ban on going into the garden section as we don't have any more room on the balcony. I sat in my car listening to the hot chilli peppers on the radio,  eating my sausage sandwich with bbq sauce thinking how good life was.

Bella passed out (my photo)

Now I'm at home writing this post, my pamphlet haul sprawled across the floor for when I feel like investigating them (not as many as last time thank god). And the monster kitten has curled up on my feet for once (a very random blue moon event), she's so content so I don't want to disturb her even though my feet have gone numb.. haha.... So the plans for the rest of the day will be spent snoozing on the couch, creating my pocket folds, waiting for an overseas phone call from FH (yay) and watching New Years Eve. 

What a lovely way to spend a day by myself.... 

All the lovely pamphlets (my photo)