I Do Wedding Exhibition

This weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the I Do wedding fayre at one of Derby’s newest attractions, the arena/velodrome.

OF COURSE I agreed to go and what better way to start off my wedding planning.

I have a few ideas of  what I want. These include the style of the dress, what kind of venue and who I want there but I have made no plans whatsoever.

We had the choice to arrive at 10am or 12pm so we chose 10am to get the first look at what was on offer.

We arrived just before the opening time and they were already queueing out of the door!

I chose to take my mum and my sister so they could help me narrow some things down and enjoy the beginning of the planning process with me.

The queue decreased fairly quickly after they began letting people in. They took our names and stamped our hands and we were in!

We were greeted with glasses of bubbly or Pink Lemonade Lucozade for my mum and sister and we were each given an I Do goodie bag (I will go into more detail about this later on).

As soon as we stepped in the main entrance, there were stalls EVERYWHERE dotted with guests, stallholders and helpers on every corner if you needed any assistance.

After condensing our bags down and drinking the prosecco, we chose to browse the stalls from left to right.

We were firstly drawn to a Stately Brides of Duffield and their gorgeous selection of dresses.

I just know that I’m going to have such a tough time finding the perfect dress for me because I love so many different styles and shapes but all of these above were truly stunning.

There were a number of dress providers at the exhibition which I will move onto later.

After having a browse round, I then fell in love with one of The Chocolate Kitchen‘s cakes below…

How awesome is this skull cake?! If Kane had no say in choosing a cake, I would definitely have this one! It’s so detailed and totally me.

All this looking at cakes me start to get hungry, but of course plenty of the cake stalls were handing out samples.

The Cakes Excetera stall was handing out the most amazing samples of red velvet cake (my favourite) which was layered with thick chocolate fudge sauce and I swear I fell in love!

We also paid a visit to the Diamond Photo Booth to have a chat and they were offering great deals for wedding day packages.

It’s definitely something I’d love at our wedding because it looks so much fun and you get a memory stick with all the photos taken on to look back at.

They’re so reasonably priced and I’ll definitely be booking with them in a few years time.

There were also some wonderful flower displays from a stall I forgot the name of (sorry!)

The only thing I am going to find difficult for our wedding is the flower situation.

This is because me and the majority of my family have THE WORST hay fever so I’m thinking that I’m going to have synthetic flowers.

Next up, we paid a visit to The Fishpond at Matlock Bath and took a photo with their board.

I had so much fun doing this and the ladies that ran the stall were so lovely and wanted us to get the first photo of the day.

Next door was Tiffany Jordan bridal shop which is just at the top of Iron Gate if you know Derby well.

I always walk past this shop and admire the stunning dresses in the window.

Pretty much all of the stalls were offering deals like this one if you booked there and then which was a great incentive but we’re really not ready to commit to anything yet.

I did fall in love with a dress from Tiffany Jordan though.

This dress was absolutely flawless but really not me at all. I just love the lacework and the delicate capped sleeves.

It was a few minutes to 11am and it was time for the first catwalk of the day so we took a seat and got comfy.

The show featured outfits from Tiffany Jordan, Moss Bros, The Wedding House, Slaters and Dressini.

Dresses, suits, kilts, mother of bride outfits, bridesmaids dresses and bridal lingerie were featured and they had some lovely pieces!

I absolutely adored this dress because of the sparkles, the light lace and the skirt.

This part of the show was hilarious because the men and boys were dancing around in kilts wearing shades. The whole arena roared with laughter and were cheering them on.

My sister fell in love with this bridesmaid’s dress in a dark blue/grey colour and I must admit, it was lovely.

This dress was one my mum’s favourites because of the all over sparkle and the shape of the dress.

After the show, which lasted around 30 minutes, we took a look round the right side of the stalls.

The first stall we came across was Dressini and my sister fell in love with a dress that she wants for a bridesmaid’s dress.

To be honest, I wasn’t keen on the jacket but the dress was beautiful – I’m not sure how right for a bridesmaid it was. But I mentioned that it might be great for prom or something.

Another stall we visited was Beau Belles which I am familiar with as I have had a bridesmaid dress from there previously.

We all fell in love with a dress that was one on show – but it was on the pricey side for me.

She’s an absolute beauty but she was over £1000 which is far too much for me.

We then came across a venue that has been stuck in my mind for a while because it’s really close and so picturesque.

Breadsall Priory is a luxury hotel and country club on the outskirts of Derby and has a vintage look to the building surrounded by fields of green and outstanding views.

Of course I had a chat with them and took a few leaflets.

I also saw the dress of my dreams; that I’m not going to show you because I am 99% sure that I’ll be wearing it on the big day.

I have an idea of the style I want and this fit that with the perfect amount of sparkle.

What I will tell you is that The Wedding House is the stand it belonged to.

Just some of the dresses that they offer – wonderful.

We also took a look at stall called Jewellery By Beth which stocked the most stunning hair vines and hair pieces which are all handmade and can be customised.

Me and my sister loved this silver hair slide which would be perfect for a bridesmaid or a special guest.

A stall that took me by surprise was White Taxi Weddings.

I have never seen a white taxi before and the fact you can get one to your wedding is pretty cool.

I love this idea but I’ve always had a dream to get a Ute to our wedding.

I had such an amazing time at the I Do wedding exhibition and I can’t wait to start planning my wedding properly because it has given me so many great ideas.

The last thing I want to show is what they gave out in their goody bags.

There’s quite a selection of different things including samples from Lancome, Dove and Wilkinson Sword which I cannot wait to try out!

Thank you to all the brands, stalls and I do for having me and giving me such a great experience.