This weekend I attended the gorgeous luxury wedding fair Quintessentially Wedding Atelier hosted in the iconic Langham hotel in London. The show bought together an impressive selection of some of the most desirable UK and global luxury brands. The event was hosted by Quintessentially group, award-winning luxury lifestyle management and concierge services. So as you can imagine, every aspect of a wedding was expertly catered for, with the most premium suppliers offering their services.
The Exhibitors
There were some spectacular stands on show in the stunning setting of The Langham ballroom and it’s adjoining rooms. The set display by award winning Ricky Paul floral design dominated the room with their explosion of pink blooms, complete with glass covered floral aisle and 3-D framed floral art. Luxury retailer Harrods had re-created their signature store front in a cute illustrated pop up set, complete with luxury wares from the likes of Manolo Blahnik and Alexander Wang. Beautiful craftsmanship and detailed embellishment really drew the eye to the feminine bridal wear by Needle & Thread, as did the delicious pastel sweet treats at Laduree. And what Bride-to-Be can pass up on a bespoke beauty consultation in the Dior on site beauty suite; a sensorial space infused with the brand’s delicious scents.
The Trends
Statement Florals were everywhere; entrance archways, transforming staircases, tumbling out of huge urns on pedestals, and even arranged in a suspended winged heart. Extravagance was the order of the day, whether composed of wild flower varieties or the more refined and delicate blooms such as roses and orchids.
Personalisation is just a popular with luxury wedding clients as with the rest of the market. There was a wealth of suppliers on hand to help curate a very personalised occasion. From bespoke hand crafted lingerie by Luna Mae London, to custom designed bottles and personalised labels at Svinazzando Prosecco.
Innovative Lighting was displayed around the venue with stunning LED light up trees curtesy of Twilight Trees, and a fantastic range of cordless rechargeable lighting designs by TDC Cordless Lighting. This is a great way of offering clients spectacular light solutions for wedding venues with limited electrical capacity, and minimises the imposition of electrical wires in the wedding decor.
Tips For Exhibiting Your Luxury Wedding Business
There was a real mix of the very engaging and the easily passed over. If you hoping for a profitable return and high level of engagement as a luxury wedding fair exhibitor, then you really have to consider how you can best attract those potential clients.
- Attention grabbing stand design – As I walked round the event I gravitated to the stands that really stood out with bold and impressive or innovative displays.
- Interact with your potential clients but don’t overwhelm them – Moving around the event there was a real variety of manpower on the stands; with some where the products were left to speak for themselves, and others attended by as much as 5 sales consultants. Work out what will work best for your business.
- Use Giveaways and Competitions to grow your mailing list – getting potential clients to leave their details or sign up to your mailing list can be made so much easier with clever giveaways and competitions. I could barely get close to the Giuseppe Zanotti stand, where they were offering a prize of a pair of shoes worth £600 in exchange for completing a customer information card. And Debrett’s, the authority on etiquette, were running a competition that saw entrants download their wedding planner app and post a screen shot of the home screen on social media to win a luxury wedding hamper.
- Use Video or Demonstrations to help potential clients visualise your expertise – this is a great way to show couples exactly what you can offer them when they employ your services. At the Atelier we saw calligraphy demos by Leeming Brothers luxury stationers and hair styling at the pop up salon by Bardou. Quintessentially Weddings, planner’s of the finest high profile weddings used video as part of their stunning stand; to showcase the most beautiful images from their weddings around the world, and quote their high profile client testimonials.
