Bridal Show Expo: Ethan Allen, North Andover, Massachusetts

This bridal show at Ethan Allen in North Andover had the typical wedding photographers, florists and DJs.  We got to sample foods from yummy local caterers and wedding cake bakeries.  In fact, I sampled some food from a caterer in the city I grew up in, Haverhill, Massachusetts, who I just might hire for my wedding.  She was one of the few vendors that seemed enthusiastic about working with me for my small wedding, instead of sympathetic or eager to end the conversation in hopes of snagging the next bride with a longer guest list and subsequent price tag.  Plus her food was yummy, and she had fliers with her (reasonable) price list in black and white.  It doesn’t get much better than that!

Another fun thing at this bridal show was visit a spa for makeup and skin care type stuff.  They had this machine where you stick your head in and it shows you everything that's wrong with your skin.  That way you get to feel ugly and want to pay them lots of money to cover up your skin with makeup. 

I tried it and she said she could see my skin is dry (which I don't think of as a problem for me because usually it's oily!  But I guess in winter, yeah.)  And she said I have dark circles under my eyes which could be from dehydration (yes) lack of sleep (yes) or hereditary (probably).  But other than that she said my pores look good, which was surprising.  And there was very little discoloration, which was not surprising.  There was a mirror in there that I could look down at while she looked in at me, and to me it just looked like I was very freckly!  It was actually kind of cool!  I mean, not that I would want to suddenly have a ton of freckles, but it was funny seeing what I look like with them.  Under a completely unnatural blue light, that is.  Which reflects off the retinas so I looked possessed.  A blue, possessed, freckled woman. Interesting experience!  But it didn’t sell me on how they could make me look amazing on my wedding day, so I’m not really hot on hiring them. 

That’s the interesting thing about bridal shows.  There are so many different vendors there, you never know what you’re going to come away with.  I’d tried lots of yummy wedding caterers from all over Massachusetts, but this was the first one that seemed to want to work with me, and have a good vision for what my wedding would be like.  So all in all, it was a productive wedding expo!