Exhibitor information for the seventh annual
Noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, October 28, 2012, Wilmington Convention Center
Make the best of this great sales opportunity
See video from 2010 show:
Reserve your space Submit exhibitor agreement
Ensure you have a space at the Cape Fear Wedding Show: submit your exhibitor agreement. You may complete the agreement online, or download a printable copy to fill out and submit by mail. Online:
to exhibitor agreement. Hard copy:
to printable PDF form.
Select your booth Review floor layout chart
Booth selection is on a first-come, first-served basis. Review the chart and
request your preferred locations on the floor, in order of preference. Choose booth:
to floor layout diagram
Optional services Download order forms
Electric power outlets and approval for food & beverage sampling
must be requested directly from the Convention Center. Download forms here. Electricity Order: to printable PDF. Food Sampling: to printable PDF. Wine Sampling: to printable PDF. Internet Access:
High-speed wireless internet connections cost $15.95, payable to the Convention Center by credit or debit card, and are set up on site
during the show set-up period.
Wilmington’s number one wedding planning resource presents
our seventh annual fall wedding show, planned with the upscale elegance
you've come to expect from ‘Cape Fear Wedding.’
Again this year, the show will take place
in the new Wilmington Convention Center. Our community's first facility
specifically designed for trade shows, the Center allows us to accommodate
more vendors, in larger booths than other venues permit. We enjoy far better
ambience than competing locations: No gymnasium atmosphere, no floor-covering tarp.
Visitors have covered, on-site parking in
the Convention Center's attached parking deck, eliminating any bad-weather
worries.
This show is the perfect opportunity for
the Cape Fear region’s leading vendors to meet with hundreds of brides,
including the growing ‘destination wedding’ category.
Approximately 120 ten-by-ten-foot booths
will be available for $400 each; double booths are an additional $300.
Table, linen and sign are included. Electrical service is available as an
option by direct arrangement with the Convention Center. Also available for
exhibitors is high-speed internet access, allowing live, interactive
demonstrations of website features. Limited wireless (Wi-Fi) access is available
free anywhere in the exhibit hall. Exhibitors who need a broadband connection for
streaming video or other high-volume link can get a dedicated, high-capacity
wireless connection for a modest charge. Transportation vendors have the option
of displaying limousines and other motor vehicles next to their booths in the
exhibit hall.
The show will also feature such
unique touches as a special Bride's & Groom's lounge, an on-going
fashion show, music and dance demonstrations and other extras for both exhibitors
and guests. Your completed exhibitor agreement
and a 50 percent deposit will reserve your space and ensure best choice of booth
location. Booth availability is first come, first served, with priority
to Cape Fear Wedding advertisers.
Don't miss the chance to be a part of this essential
marketing opportunity.
This preview of the 2011 Cape Fear Wedding Show features an interview with Editor John Meyer and photos from 2010 by Lisa Brown of Bella Rose Photography. It aired on Wilmington's WILM-TV10 on Oct. 8.
Another video from 2010
Cape Fear Wedding Show
This look at the first-ever event in the Wilmington Convention Center was recorded and edited by our friends
at Brick Street Cinema. This downtown Wilmington videography studio is the video division of DJ Professionals & Video.
Why Bridal Shows Work and why this one is special:
Bridal shows remain the only place where the
public can see, touch, taste, hear, compare and ask questions about
products that are displayed side by side under one roof.
Bridal shows provide a lot of new prospects in a short time.
Imagine how many potential new customers you could meet in one
day.
Exhibiting allows your prospects and customers to immediately
comparison shop. If you really have something of value, they'll
know it right away. This helps you cut down the sales cycle and
outshine the competition.
Bridal shows allow more opportunities to demonstrate your products
and to put your sales literature directly in prospects' hands.
They give your potential customer the hands-on opportunities so
important in the sales process.
Exhibitors are provided detailed contact information on the brides
attending the show, for use in follow-up marketing efforts. You can
tailor your message based on the specifics of each couple's wedding
plans.
Bridal shows are great relationship-builders with customers.
Whether the attendee is already your customer or one you would
like to have as a customer, you have the opportunity to communicate
with them in a non-pressured environment.
Booking just one wedding will more than likely pay for the booth
space and then some.
Our show is extensively promoted to brides, through the
printed pages and the web site of
Cape Fear
Wedding, broadcast, online and print advertising,
plus personal invitations mailed to the hundreds
of couples who register with us to request wedding planning information.
A third of the brides who register with us live outside our area
but are planning “destination” weddings in the Cape Fear area.
Most of them are unfamiliar with our local venues and wedding
vendors. Our show is your only chance to market directly to these
brides.
This show is presented by Cape Fear
Wedding, known for its elegant
presentation and user-friendly organization.
Our show has earned a reputation for its stylish, upscale features. Unique touches
that attract and hold brides' attention include runway bridal fashion shows
and the Bride & Groom's lounge, which offers guests a place to relax, enjoy
refreshments and enjoy the on-stage presentations.
The show’s Autumn date gives you an opportunity to make early
connections with the many brides who will already be making plans
for their spring and summer weddings. And it's not too early for couples
selecting a venue for fall wedding dates the following year. Many
brides book their wedding and reception sites a year or more in advance.
Reserve your booth now to secure online exhibitor agreement.
About the Wedding Show
Overview for exhibitors
Directory of exhibitors
Booth layout chart Marketing ideas for exhibitors
About giveaways
Tips for a successful show
Survival tips for exhibitors Exhibitor agreement
Secure interactive online form
Printable form (PDF format)
Exhibitor guidelines (PDF format)
We'll select best door prizes
for special on-air promotion
Exhibitors are encouraged to offer door prizes to brides who register at your booth. The show's
organizers will select the best of the door prizes offered by exhibitors to be given away in a show-wide drawing
and promoted in advance by our radio partners. These selected prizes will be mentioned in on-air promotional announcements in the days
preceding the show, and will be announced by our celebrity MC during the show. These prizes will be awarded by random
drawing from all admission tickets.
Special rules for food vendors
Anyone planning to serve food samples MUST apply for a "Temporary Food Establishment" license from
the New Hanover County Health Department AT LEAST 14 days in advance. The deadline for applications is Friday, October 1, 2012. The application must include a menu and $50 fee. This applies to all food samples, including baked
goods, other than pre-packaged snacks or candies that don't require heating or refrigeration. For more information, contact
Alicia Pickett at the Health Department's Environmental Health Services office at 910-798-6667.
Wilmington Convention Center also requires that any exhibitor planning to offer food or drink samples
must have written approval from its in-house food & beverage director. This must be requested AT LEAST four weeks in advance. Sampling of wines or beers by licensed vendors may be permitted with prior approval from the Convention Center. to download sampling request form. to download wine sampling request.
The new Convention Center
The 2010 Cape Fear Wedding Show was the first-ever event to take place in Wilmington's brand-new
showpiece, the long-awaited Wilmington Convention Center. The building includes the first exhibit hall in Southeastern North
Carolina specifically designed for exhibitions and consumer shows like ours. Until then, we had to make do with improvised spaces like gymnasiums that weren't well suited to
the best display of wedding vendors' work. That changed when this long-awaited public facility opened on November 14, 2010.
We are proud and gratified that our bridal show introduced this building to brides, grooms and the public. Efforts to build a true convention center for Wilmington go back many decades. Several serious
proposals in the late 20th Century were shot down by political opposition. The present
building, under construction for two years, is the culmination of many years of efforts by the City of Wilmington,
business groups like the Chamber of Commerce and Wilmington Downtown, Inc., and the hospitality industry in New
Hanover County.
For more,
to Convention Center site.
