Beautiful Beginnings Bridal Show 2014

On Sunday, my mother and I attended the Beautiful Beginnings Bridal Show in Muncie, Indiana. This year, the event took place at the Horizon Convention Center, which is downtown. I had not looked at this facility when I was searching for venues, but this is a VERY nice venue. Although it is not what we were looking for, they DO have a ceremony site outside and a gorgeous interior! We spoke with Melissa at length about the venue and I would highly recommend it! If you want to check this venue out, ask for Melissa because she was super informative! Anyway, I love flower arrangements and the above image I personally took. These flowers were arraigned by Lazy Daisy and I was really impressed with what they offer.

Lazy Daisy had vintage handkerchiefs wrapped around the bouquets and others had lace. They also said they would rent out glass vases for free! The overall feel was very rustic and outdoorsy. I loved their flowers!

This STUNNING lace cake was on display from Under the Sun Bakery located in Frankton, Indiana. I fell in love with the lace and the sprig of green on the top. Mona, one of the owners, quoted this cake at about $100 which I thought was reasonable.

This was another cake on display, which the owner quoted at around $300. I am loving the natural wood cake stand and charger idea. I think I am going to see if my lawn care extraordinaire, Randy, can make me a bunch for the wedding! Their cake was good, however we decided yesterday that we will be using Amy and Kelcy at Slice of Heaven Cakery in Lapel, Indiana.

This picture was taken inside one of the reception rooms of the Horizon Center. My mom and I had a fit over the Christmas lights underneath the tablecloths. Now, no matter what venue we choose, I must do this!

The Horizon Center also had two of these really cool lighted fountains with flowers around them. It was very impressive looking and fun! I think you could also move these around to where ever you wanted.

This was yet another cake by Under the Sun Bakery. Notice the impressions in the icing and all the flowers on top are real. So adorable!

The Verdict:

I would say this bridal show was more successful than the one we went to in Indianapolis. Not only were there far less people in attendance than the one in Indy (the Muncie one had a $6 a person entry fee but the Indy one I reviewed in a previous blog post was free), but there were only about 35 vendors, which made it manageable. It was much easier to talk to individual booth attendants about what they offered and to discuss options and prices. 

AND - I think we found our photographer!

Dale Pickett Photography

Dale Pickett and Sally Wolf had been recommended to me by two different people previously. However, after viewing Dale's webpage, I thought for sure he would be at the top tier of photographers in terms of cost. Their photographs are STUNNING! However, after speaking to Sally at the bridal show she was able to tell me just how flexible they are and how affordable they can be! Most photographers have you pick "packages" where they give you a number of hours and then you must buy prints from them. In other words, you do not have the exclusive printing rights to the photos - which also means you cannot put them on Facebook, e-mail them to friends and family, print your own, have collages made, or anything like that without their permission. Usually this permission will cost you an extra $1000 on top of them simply providing the photo sessions. 

Dale and Sally DO give you the disc of all your photos and you can print at your leisure or they can do prints or books for you. I really needed the option of printing my own pictures or making my own books on Shutterfly because Groupon has a deal about once a month on books or prints where you can get a bunch of nice items for really cheap. This was very important to me because I did meet two wonderful photographers at the Indy bridal show - but their packages were $4,000-$5,000 and then you had to get all your prints, books, and canvasses through them. This is simply not something we could ever afford. Dale and Sally also will do shorter photo sessions to save on the cost. Because honestly, I do not think our wedding will last for 12 hours so why need a photographer for that long?

MCL Cafeteria Catering

Biggest Surprise of the Day:

Did you know MCL Cafeteria does wedding catering? No? Neither did I. They have a TON of stuff on their menu and are really CHEAP! And no, it is not all fried chicken and roast beef. We received a great booklet with pricing from the manager at the Muncie, Indiana MCL. She was WONDERFUL in explaining how they do delivery and you can have a plated meal or a buffet. They even have china and linen options! The way they do their pricing is you pick ONE entree, two sides, a roll of choice, and then you can add salads, desserts, drinks, etc. 

Example: Family style lunch and dinner - where you pick it up and set it up yourself. You pick packages that serve 10, 15, or 25. So, for 150 people that would be 6 packages of 25 - so you could get 3 of one entree and 3 of another if you wanted. Grilled Teriyaki Chicken is $219.98 per package for 25 guests. So, if you got Teriyaki Chicken for everyone it would be $1319.88 - THIS INCLUDES TWO SIDES AND A ROLL. 

Do you have any idea how cheap this is?! It is less than $9 a person! I am almost positive we will be going with a BBQ smoked meats meal for our wedding, but the prices at MCL cannot be beat! For the sides you can order Mashed Potatoes and Gravy (let's face it, no matter how casual or fancy your wedding is going to be, you NEED mashed potatoes because everyone will eat them) and Steamed Broccoli. Or you could do Broccoli Cheese Bake and Cole Slaw. They have 10 - yes TEN side options available. They have 12 entree options as well. You can pick from 5 different rolls...including cinnamon rolls! The only things that this option does not include are salads and drinks. But honestly, drinks are almost always cheaper if you buy them yourself at the grocery.

The difference between this meal deal and the "Full Service" meal plan is that with "Full Service" you get table linens and they deliver to your venue. I think the pricing for the meal deals above is more for like if you are going to pick up the trays of food and set it up yourself with Sterno and all that. The manager however said she can work with anyone regarding any aspect so it was not that big of a deal. However, the pricing for Full Service is still EXTREMELY reasonable at $16.95 to $22.95 a person for buffet or $30.95 for a served meal. For the $22.95 a person buffet, you get THREE entree options! For the $16.95 a person plan you get a salad, ONE entree like stuffed chicken or lasagna (there were 10 options), TWO sides like potatoes or carrots or baked beans (there were 15 options), and a roll (3 options to choose from). With this option you ALSO get DRINKS - water, tea, and coffee. For 150 people this would cost $2542.50. Still, very reasonable for a wedding! Even if you did the top tier of the buffet at $22.95 a person it would be $3442.50. The average cost of the main food for a wedding (not including appetizers, snacks, or extras) is about $4,400.00 according to a recent survey. With MCL being almost $1000 cheaper than that for a 3 entree options you really cannot go wrong!

Overall I would say the Muncie Bridal show was very successful, and luckily I will be able to attend again next year since our big ceremony will not happen until October of 2015.