Elite Wedding Show @ Sage Gateshead | UPlanIt Outings
“We have so much to talk about, this is only the first part!”
Gale force winds couldn’t stop us from enjoying the Elite Wedding Show at Sage Gateshead. Three of us met up after braving the winds out in the quayside, with the full intention of discovering new wedding suppliers and learning about their businesses. Well, we certainly did that — but we also had a fantastic time having fun and getting great ideas for our own weddings! Before I go on, I want to let my colleagues tell you about their own experiences. After all, they were there too!
Sam:
On Sunday 1st March, I made my way to the Elite Wedding Show at Sage Gateshead. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky but the wind was as cold as ice — Erin and I dashed our way to the event to get away from the gales! It made me appreciate how close my workplace is to the Sage, even though it was a 5-minute walk, when you start to shiver 5 minutes is no longer a short distance; I could not bear another second walking in the freezing cold!
Heading inside, we were greeted by two lovely women who were in charge of the registration. A couple of days earlier, we’d registered for goody bags, filled with vouchers and cute little samples of suppliers products — and they didn’t disappoint!
As Erin and I headed over to a few of the stalls near the entrance, my eye caught a glimpse of a formula one car simulator. For someone who is a huge fan of formula one, I desperately wanted to give it a try, but first I had to have a chat with Nigel, who works for Prime Entertainment. They provide a variety of challenging activities you can have at your reception, and Nigel was such a wonderful person, he even let me try out their products! There was the giant love heart reaction test which has buttons around the board and you have to quickly press them in under 30 seconds. If you have a slow reaction like myself, you get the spectators in the back shouting where the light is, so either way, you’re getting your practice on! Afterwards, I explained to him that I was desperate to have a go on the formula one simulator as I can be quite competitive, so I asked Erin to join me and see who gets to the finish line the fastest — I ended up crashing near the end which made me finish 1 minute 04 seconds. The overall conclusion to these products is that once you’ve received your score, you want to aim better and try again, so the products are a great idea for any icebreakers and building a strong relationship with your families etc.
My second vendor really stole my heart, Martin Duffy, a talented magician with such a kind-hearted personality but an incredible mind to trick the guests. After having a chat with him, he gave us some examples of his performance which blew my mind. I’m a person who gets fascinated in magic and I get so frustrated thinking about how they’ve done it so easily. The first one he showed was a double-decker card trick; he asked Erin to pick a card on the top of her head and imagine she has the cards in her hand, shuffling and picking a card from the middle. He then brought out the real cards and spread it out on the table, to which he asked Erin what card she chose (3 of Diamonds) and as he finished spreading the cards there was one flipped upside down — It was Erin’s card! Amazing! After showing us a few more tricks, he explained to us about what benefits there are to having a magician at your wedding; very similar to the F1 simulator, It’s an excellent ice breaker to start of your night, makes the guest’s chat and have a great laugh, and can also be very interesting for the kids to at the wedding.
Overall I and my other colleagues spent a good 2 hours having wonderful conversations with suppliers and learning what their product/services do for the customers, I have met some friendly, intelligent suppliers who have really caught my attention. I thoroughly enjoyed my time speaking to the suppliers, everyone was extremely lovely; it gave me a great understanding of how each business is unique with their work and how they fit into the wedding industry.
J:
My Sundays are normally spent lazing about with a little bit of work (if I have pressing deadlines) and the odd workout squeezed in; however I spent Sunday, the 1st of March differently. I attended the Elite Wedding Show event at The Sage, Gateshead. I’m usually quite observant and watchful of happenstances before attending leaving the house and if I were to listen to the gust of the wind simply refusing to let me out of my taxi, I would have just headed back home. But then again, I’m not good at listening to my intuitions, especially when it feels like I am being told not to do something. Why would the wind try to stop me from getting out of the taxi? I am glad I didn’t listen!
It was a pleasant event. Networking and speaking to passionate, fun-loving business owners. Smorgasbord stood out for me — passion for her business and the overlooked skills in the North-East punctuated her sentences; doing her bit to ensure that the region succeeds by sourcing locally. I connected with Monsoon simply because I felt represented by their display. Don’t get me wrong, all vendors were at the event to showcase their businesses and I am certain that their service and products are for everyone, however, I felt that Monsoon made an effort to diversify their appeal and it worked for me. It was the first thing I noticed and made me just want to carry on talking to their representative, which I did and enjoyed. Crazy Pix was fun and holding a pose for a mirrored camera was not as easy as I thought. Lost my good photo because I couldn’t hold still long enough. It was a subtle reminder that I am getting old, choosing to age “gracefully”. We got a good photo in the end with my colleagues, something fun to remember the day by.
Erin:
It was so amazing to see the fabulous displays from suppliers across the North East, I couldn’t just pick one as a favourite. We spoke to so many suppliers, but the first DJ supplier I got to talk to really clicked with me. The Disco Co had a great stand, and we had a good chat about their business; while he spoke to me and explained that they take three playlists (basically a ‘want’ for songs the couple definitely wants, ‘maybes’ for songs they don’t mind not hearing but it would be nice, and ‘do not plays’ for your agadoos and bird songs) it got my brain thinking about my own playlists. I could see him working in my mind’s eye as we talked about what his company offers, using ambient lighting from light stands rather than disco lights that get in your eyes, watching him peek at the request cards they have on their DJ table and working out when to play what. He was an absolute pleasure to be around and certainly on my list of people to check out!
I also saw the lovely Sponge and Sugar Cake Company and was delighted to see a purple and silver cake on display. There are so many gold leaf cakes available; I see them advertised on Pinterest often so they seem pretty trendy. I’m not one for trends, so you can imagine how excited I got. We also discussed the amazing lego cake that she made; the one on display had lego bricks but they showed us the original which looked exactly the same except the bricks were made of modelling sugar! She really showed such a commitment to her craft that it touched my heart, and internally I could see all the boxes ticking for my own big day!
Now we don’t want to overload you with all the information of the big day so we’ve got a part two waiting in the wings for you to check out later — remember to watch this space!
Big thank you to Dawn Marie Wedding and Events for arranging the Elite Wedding Show! We had a blast!
See you next week.
Guest written parts by Sam (samantha@uplanit.co.uk) and Erin (erin@uplanit.co.uk).
