Just like your wedding day, the Bridal Spectacular bridal show is a time to celebrate you as a bride. It’s a day to be enjoyed, surrounded by your friends or family, hand-in-hand with your groom, feeling completely stress-free. Therefore, we at Bridal Spectacular want to do our best to ensure you’re well-cared-for as a bride. We’ve taken the time to put together a few tips for your wedding shopping to give you that simple, stress-free, and safe experience. Whether you’re shopping at a bridal show, online, or at local business, review today’s tips to protect your personal information while you enjoy every moment of your wedding planning experience!

Create a separate e-mail account to share with vendors and to enter wedding-related contests at bridal shows.

Create a separate e-mail account.

Once you find wedding professionals you’d like to further consider, it’s time to gather more information about their services, prices, and styles. To receive this information, you’ll need to give vendors a way to contact you. The best way is through e-mail.

To avoid a surplus of wedding-related e-mails in your personal inbox, create a new, separate e-mail account. With this, you can manage your wedding planning on your own time and work without risk to your personal account.

“When you are planning a wedding, you need the information these vendors want to put into your hands,” Debra Hansen, producer of Bridal Spectacular, said. “Once you no longer need the information, it is very easy to no longer check your wedding planning e-mail.”

Control your own destiny.

When you’re planning your wedding, you will need certain professional services—a photographer, a wedding gown, a caterer, a venue, etc.  Once you’ve chosen your preferred vendors, help these professionals meet your needs by giving them the information they need to do their best work. Share your likes, your dislikes, the way you met your groom, your vision for the big day, and the best way they can reach you for further planning.

“Every bride controls her own destiny and her own decisions as to whom she wants to do business with,” Hansen said as an empowering encouragement to brides. “These vendors are not out to hurt her; they want to help her.”

At Bridal Spectacular, we want you to love your experience!

Brides, help them to better help you. Control where you distribute your information, but also realize what a positive experience you can create by wholeheartedly partnering with reputable professionals who are experts in their field.

Be smart, but enjoy the experience.

When you plan your wedding, be smart. Don’t give out your social security number in exchange for a newlywed cookbook. However, you don’t fear every opportunity either. It’s okay to distribute your mailing address to Bridal Spectacular’s registration booth to receive a free subscription to BRIDES magazine. It’s okay to enter a vendor-based contest at the bridal show using your separate e-mail address. It’s safe to jump into the Prize Vault to catch the ticket for a free set of wedding rings. What we hope for you is that you’ll enjoy the wedding planning experience as you shop for your wedding day needs.

At Bridal Spectacular, we are here to take care of you. We remember what it’s like to be a bride—that nervousness to invest financially in wedding plans, that anxiety to choose the right vendors, and that giddiness to take one step closer to marriage with each passing day. Brides, trust us when we say: With Bridal Spectacular, you’ll love the bridal show experience.

Want to learn more practical wedding planning tips for safe shopping? View yesterday’s article, “Have fun, be safe! Six Tips for Safe and Secure Wedding Shopping (Part One).” You’ll discover how to gauge the reputation of a business, how to choose the best vendors for your needs, how to utilize online resources, and how to know the best way to pay. With these six tips in total, you’re on your way to completing safe and successful wedding planning!

Author: Allyson Siwajian © 2011

Photographs: © 2010